Army Group Oberrhein (Germany)

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The German Army Group Upper Rhine (German: Heeresgruppe Oberrhein) was a short-lived command of the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) during late 1944 and early 1945 on the Western Front in World War II. Army Group Upper Rhine was formed on 26 November 1944 and was inactivated on 25 January 1945. Its one commander was Heinrich Himmler.

This army group was also known as High Command Upper Rhine (Oberkommando Oberrhein).

Contents

[edit] Creation

Following successful Allied offensives in November 1944 that forced the Saverne and Belfort Gaps, reaching the Rhine River, and liberating Belfort, Strasbourg, and Mulhouse, German dictator Adolf Hitler ordered the German troops around Colmar in Alsace to hold fast. German Army Group G was stripped of defense responsibility for the area around Colmar and the defense of the Rhine River south of the Bienwald.

To defend the Upper Rhine, the Germans organized Oberkommando Oberrhein on November 26, 1944.[1][2] Hitler placed German Interior Minister Heinrich Himmler in command on December 10,[3] believing that Himmler's presence would stimulate extraordinary efforts by both German military and Nazi Party officials in the region.

The designation of the command as an "Oberkommando" also meant that it was an independent theater-level command that answered directly to the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht , or OKW) rather than to the Army Command in the West (Oberbefehlshaber West, or OB West). OB West was the German command responsible for the rest of the Western Front. With Himmler in charge, the practical effect was that Oberkommando Oberrhein answered directly to Hitler. This introduced a largely disadvantageous schism into the German high command for operations on the Western Front.

[edit] Organization

Army Group Oberrhein controlled the German Nineteenth Army as well as several regiments of the German Replacement Army (Ersatzheer) that were mobilized by Wehrkreis V as an emergency measure in reaction to the successful Allied offensives of November 1944.

[edit] The Battle for Alsace

On December 16, 1944, the Germans attacked in the Ardennes, forcing the movement of large numbers of U.S. troops north out of Alsace and Lorraine to counter the German attack. In January, additional U.S. troops were moved north in response to the German counter-offensive into northern Alsace, Operation North Wind (Unternehmen Nordwind). Taking advantage of the stretched Allied lines, Himmler ordered the recapture of Strasbourg. German troops assaulted across the Rhine near Gambsheim on January 5, 1945[4] and soon occupied a bridgehead including the towns of Herrlisheim, Drusenheim, and Offendorf north of Strasbourg. South of Strasbourg, German troops in the Colmar Pocket attacked north toward Strasbourg on January 7, inflicting painful losses on the French II Corps, but were ultimately unable to break the French defense.

Reinforced by elements of the 10th SS Panzer Division, the German troops in the Gambsheim Bridgehead held their own against U.S. and French counterattacks during January 1945, manhandling the U.S. 12th Armored Division at Herrlisheim. The German successes of January, however, marked the high point of Army Group Oberrhein's successes. The Gambsheim Bridgehead, and further to the south, the Colmar Pocket, would not be reduced by Allied forces until well into February 1945, but Army Group Oberrhein operations after mid-January were defensive in nature.

[edit] Inactivation

With the defeat of Operation Nordwind and the impending collapse of the Colmar Pocket, Army Group Oberrhein was inactivated on January 24, 1945, and the responsibility for the defense of the Upper Rhine region was again returned to Army Group G.[5] The staff of Army Group Oberrhein was used to staff the newly-formed Eleventh SS Panzer Army on the Eastern Front. Hapless as a senior military leader, Heinrich Himmler was next sent to command Army Group Vistula on the Eastern Front.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tessin, "Oberbefehlshaber Oberrhein"
  2. ^ Schramm, p. 419, (translated) "On this day, all Army, Air Force, and Waffen-SS troops from the south edge of the Bienwald to the Swiss border are placed under the command of the Reichsführer-SS and given the mission to prevent a crossing of the Rhine by the enemy. In support of this, all Volkssturm will be mobilized. Reports from the Reichsführer-SS will be made directly to the Führer."
  3. ^ Clarke and Smith, p. 485
  4. ^ Clarke and Smith, p. 513
  5. ^ Clarke and Smith, p. 548

[edit] Article Sources

  • Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht, 1944-1945 Teilband I, Percy E. Schramm, Herrsching: Manfred Pawlak, 1982.
  • Riviera to the Rhine, Jeffrey J. Clarke and Robert Ross Smith, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1993.
  • Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS 1939-1945, CDROM edition, Georg Tessin, Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1973.
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