This was the first major step towards the army of today, with a brigade group comprising of armour, infantry, an engineer squadron and armoured reconnaissance regiment, opposed to divisions comprising of solely infantry of armour ( the first case of mixed brigades being used effectively was near Soltau, April 1945, by 4th Armoured Brigade, led by Brigadier Carver). These mobile forces made great thrusts to isolate pockets of German troops, which were mopped up by additional infantry following close behind. To the south, Patton's 3rd Army was to drive east to Chemnitz, about 40mi (64km) southeast of Leipzig, but well short of the Elbe, and then turn southeast into Austria. [35], To the north, the British crossings had also gone well, with the ground and airborne troops linking up by nightfall. 18th Base Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. British Army of the Rhine : The BAOR, 1945-1993 - Google Books [33], Another important aspect of Montgomery's plan was Operation Varsity, in which two divisions of Major General Matthew Ridgway's XVIII Airborne Corps were to make an airborne assault over the Rhine. There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). German military historian Rdiger Overmans (, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 21:59. BAOR orbat for the early 80s | Army Rumour Service Communications and Security Group (UK) (224 Sig Sqn). For the period 1 March 1945-20 April 1945 they recorded 343,321 killed and wounded in the East (62,861 killed, 280,460 wounded) versus 22,598 killed and wounded in the West (5,778 killed, 16,820 wounded), an East vs. West ratio of about 15:1 in killed and wounded. Alfred Price. The 11th Armoured Division (Great Britain) | Holocaust Encyclopedia Because of the poor road network on the east bank of this part of the Rhine, a second 9th Army corps was to cross over the promised Wesel bridges through the British zone north of the Lippe River, which had an abundance of good roads. Marston Moor order of battle - BCW Project [55] The British and Americans contemplated an airborne operation before the attack. All had been unceremoniously repulsed by the vastly superior Allied forces. One of the British divisions arrived from Italy after the start of the campaign. During transition to war, the support units of BAOR would have formed the British Rear Combat Zone headquartered in Dsseldorf, which would have supplied the fighting forces and guarded the lines of communication within West Germany. 3rd Squadron, 13th Signal Regiment (Radio), Royal Signals, Royal Air Force Gatow Station Flight, (2x, Berlin Ordnance Company, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 504th Commander Royal Army Service Corps (CRASC) (Overseas Deployment Training). 262 Signal Squadron Royal Corps of Signals. Even when the hopelessness of the German situation became obvious to his most loyal subordinates, Hitler refused to admit defeat. In the center of the front, defending the Ruhr, Kesselring had Field Marshal Walther Model commanding Army Group B (15th Army and 5th Panzer Army) and in the south Paul Hausser's Army Group G (7th Army, 1st Army and 19th Army). But two days later, on 15 April, they had to abandon these hopes. All the armies assigned to cross the Rhine had elements east of the river, including the Canadian 1st Army in the north, which sent a division through the British bridgehead at Rees, and the French 1st Army in the south, which on 31 March established its own bridgehead by assault crossings at Germersheim and Speyer, about 50mi (80km) south of Mainz. The XV Corps' 45th Infantry Division fought for six days before taking the city of Aschaffenburg, 35mi (56km) east of the Rhine, on 3 April. See: Wallace, Linnel, Lt. Col., Commanding Officer, Office of Military Government, United States, Luftwaffe serviceable aircraft strengths (194045), Fifth Army History, Race to the Alps, Chapter VI: Conclusion, "Son of former German president stabbed to death while giving lecture in Berlin", "Angela Merkel: 'For us in Germany, it led ultimately to liberation from National Socialism', "From loss to liberation: How Germans view celebrations of Allied victory over their Nazi ancestors", "Bomber Command: Campaign Diary: AprilMay 1945", Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, Rape during the Soviet occupation of Poland, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_Allied_invasion_of_Germany&oldid=1142343264, World War II operations and battles of the Western European Theatre, Battles and operations of World War II involving Canada, Military history of Canada during World War II, Battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom, Battles and operations of World War II involving the United States, Battles and operations of World War II involving France, Battles and operations of World War II involving Poland, Battles and operations of World War II involving Belgium, Battles and operations of World War II involving the Netherlands, Battles and operations of World War II involving Hungary, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from July 2022, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from February 2021, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from public domain works of the United States Government, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Further West in Belgium was the British Communications Zone, which was headquartered in Emblem, outside Antwerp and tasked with receiving reinforcements and supplies from Great Britain and to co-ordinate their onward movement to 1 (BR) Corps. [31], By 28 March, the 8th Armored Division had expanded the bridgehead by only about 3mi (4.8km) and still had not reached Dorsten, a town about 15mi (24km) east of the Rhine, whose road junction promised to expand the XVI Corps' offensive options. Although he declined to increase the size of the American crossing force beyond two divisions, he agreed to keep it under the 9th Army rather than Second Army control. A captain of the 506th wrote, "At one point the men were so weary that [on] the order to rest . The initial advance into Romania, the First JassyKishinev Offensive in April and May 1944 was a failure; the Second JassyKishinev Offensive in August succeeded. british army of the rhine order of battle - Greenlight Insights My representation of this capability for my 1980s British Battle Group will include. Additional losses in the Rhineland further weakened the German Army, leaving shattered remnants of units to defend the east bank of the Rhine. The British military presence in Berlin comprised 3,100 men in three infantry battalions, an independent armoured squadron, and a number of support units. HQ Allied Mobile Force & 249 Signal Squadron (AMF(L)). The executive committee of the Army Board was responsible for the 'detailed management of the Army.' British Army - Order of Battle - GlobalSecurity.org The re-designation of Force Troops Command (FTC) to 6th (United Kingdom) Division (6 (UK) Div) will provide the Armys asymmetric edge , orchestrating Intelligence, Counter-Intelligence, Information Operations, Electronic Warfare, Cyber and unconventional warfare. 5 Ordnance Battalion, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 6 Ordnance Battalion, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Bielefeld, 2 Aircraft Support Unit, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Detmold, 1st (BR) Corps Troops Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Bielefeld, 20 Electronics Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Minden, 71 Aircraft Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Detmold, 110 Provost Company, Royal Military Police, Sennelager, 115 Provost Company, Royal Military Police, Osnabrck, HQ 1st Armoured Division & Signal Regiment, Royal Signals, Verden, 11th Postal & Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers, Verden. Still, by 11 April 7 Army had penetrated the German defenses in-depth, especially in the north, and was ready to begin its wheeling movement southeast and south. Also on 28 March, elements of the U.S. 17th Airborne Division operating north of the Lippe River in conjunction with British armored forcesdashed to a point some 30mi (48km) east of Wesel, opening a corridor for the XIX Corps and handily outflanking Dorsten and the enemy to the south. 529 Air Support Specialist Team Corps of Royal Engineers. On October 9, the 1st Battalion, 120th Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, was ordered to take part in an afternoon attack on the fortified village of Birk, three miles north of Aachen. HQ Western District & 241 (West) Signal Squadron, Royal Signals. 34 Evacuation Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps, 31st District Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Catterick. british army of the rhine order of battle US General George Marshall estimated about 263,000 German battle deaths on the Western Front for the period from 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945, or a longer period. PDF Fire and Fury Games - designers of wargame miniatures rules Positioned on the North German Plain, it is the command element of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG). Fire and Fury Games - designers of wargame miniatures rules British Air Forces of Occupation, Royal Air Force (c/o British Army On Rhine 1) ***** ***** No. (see. There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). 608th Signal Troop (Cipher Equipment), Royal Signals, 68th Transport Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport, JHQ Rheindahlen. Thousands of prisoners were being taken every day; from 16 to 18 April, when all opposition ended and the remnants of German Army Group B formally surrendered, German troops had been surrendering in droves throughout the region. On 6 May, the Polish 1st Armoured Division seized the Kriegsmarine naval base in Wilhelmshaven, where General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the fortress, naval base, East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions. Brigade groups took over from divisions as the smallest operative units. Its primary combat formation was British I Corps. The 6th United States Army Group was an Allied army group that fought in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.Made up of field armies from both the United States Army and the French Army, it fought in France, Germany, Austria, and, briefly, Italy.Also referred to as the Southern Group of Armies, it was established in July 1944 and commanded throughout its duration by General . 6th Division focuses on Cyber, Electronic Warfare, Intelligence, Information Operations and unconventional warfare through niche capabilities such as the Specialised Infantry Battalions.". Sub-units are generally about 100 personnel strong. The British Army is the land warfare branch of the British Armed Forces. Heeresarzt 10-Day Casualty Reports per Theater of War, 1945 [BA/MA RH 2/1355, 2/2623, RW 6/557, 6/559]. 3rd Armoured Division was the corps' reserve formation. But, the site and the Forum are not solely for the ex-services community. Active Edge: The Army, Germany and the Cold War At the top of the Army organisation is the Army Board of the Defence Council. [36], Adding to the Germans' woes, the 6th Army Group made an assault across the Rhine on 26 March. Simpson now had both the opportunity and the means to unleash the power of the 9th Army and begin in earnest the northern drive to surrounding the Ruhr. Once the Ruhr was surrounded, he wanted the 9th Army transferred from the British 21st Army Group to the U.S. 12th Army Group. Structure of the British Army in 1989 | Military Wiki | Fandom 5 (Gibraltar 177983) Field Battery, 94th Locating Regiment Royal Artillery. Nowhere, it seemed, were the Germans able to resist in strength. The rest of the 9th Army would remain in reserve until the bridgehead was ready for exploitation. Although the defense of these sites was somewhat more determined than that XII Corps had faced, the difficulties of the Boppard and St. Goar crossings were compounded more by terrain than by German resistance. Journal of the US Army War College. 1944: Across The Rhine Download | GameFabrique Does anyone have an order of Battle for RAF in 1949? The Red Army also pushed deep into Hungary (the Budapest Offensive) and eastern Czechoslovakia and temporarily halted at what is now the modern GermanyPoland border on the OderNeisse line. The officer in charge of the unit capturing the area, typically a company or battalion, accepted responsibility over the town. As the Soviet threat increased, so BAOR became less of an occupational army and assumed the role of defender of Western Europe, and as a major contributor to NATO after 1949. 4th Security Company, Intelligence Corps. The predecessor to British Forces Germany, the BAOR was active from 1919-1929, and then 1945-1994. Isby and Kamp, Armies of NATO's Central Front, 1985, 251-255. The British Army of the Rhine had a presence in Germany for 70 years. Battle of Rolia - Wikipedia is infantry division. [7] In 1967, the force was reduced in strength to 53,000 soldiers, compared with 80,000 ten years earlier. [30], Two more 3rd Army crossingsboth by VIII Corpsquickly followed. On the whole, Western Allied plans were excellent as demonstrated by how rapidly they met their objectives. Deutsche Kriegs-gefangene des Zweiten Weltkrieges. british army of the rhine order of battle. But the other discovery made by the 3rd Army on 4 April horrified and angered those who saw it. Original British Expeditionary Force 1st Division 2nd Division 3rd Division 4th Division 5th Division 6th Division Divisions formed in late 1914 and 1915 7th Division 8th Division 27th Division 28th Division 29th Division 1st and 2nd Dismounted Divisions Guards Division The Divisions of Lord Kitchener's "New Armies" (technically Regular Army) While this was short notice, it did not catch the XII Corps completely unaware. Regimental headquarters are administrative and ceremonial in nature. British Army of the Rhine - Wikipedia [36], Simpson began by moving elements of the XIX Corps' 2nd Armored Division into the XVI Corps bridgehead on 28 March with orders to cross the Lippe east of Wesel, thereby avoiding that city's traffic jams. Back in the 1950s, a posting in Germany was being actively encouraged as a vast British Army presence continued to expand. Also looking forward to going home, tens of thousands of freed forced laborers and Allied prisoners of war further strained the American logistical system. BAOR had command of four Areas or Districts: I Corps District; British Army operations after 1945 - The National Archives Elements of the 1st Army's V Corps made first contact. As heavier equipment was ferried across the Rhine, both divisions began pushing east, penetrating 36 miles (4.89.7km) into the German defensive line that day. The displaced residents nonetheless had to find housing on their own. GMT Games - BAOR: MBT Expansion . Las mejores ofertas para WW1 military Stereoview card British Army Gurkhas in battle at Chapelle #25 estn en eBay Compara precios y caractersticas de productos nuevos y usados Muchos artculos con envo gratis! The deployment and distribution of the divisions of the Wehrmacht and subordinate units of allies on March 1, 1945. 23rd Base Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 37th (Rhine) Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Mnchengladbach, 62nd Rear Combat Zone Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Mnchengladbach. In July 1944, soon after the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944), the British 11th Armoured Division broke out of the Normandy beachhead and advanced into France, before turning northward to Belgium. [44], The Elbe River was the official eastward objective, but many American commanders still eyed Berlin. As subsequent waves of troops crossed, units fanned out to take the first villages beyond the river to only the weakest of opposition. After the end of the Second World War the British Army was drastically reduced in manpower to such an extent that the former British Rhine Army consisted of only two British divisions, the 7th Armoured Division and the 2nd Infantry Division. [50], While the Allied armies in the south marched to the Alps, the 21st Army Group drove north and northeast. As the division's area of operation was hilly and woody 19th Infantry Brigade based in Colchester was added to it. Total given for serviceable Luftwaffe strength by 9 April 1945 is 3,331 aircraft. . After overcoming stiff initial resistance, XV Corps also advanced beyond the Rhine, opposed primarily by small German strongpoints sited in roadside villages. Uniquely and rather confusingly, the Infantry, which is a collection of regiments, was organized in 1957 into Brigades, which were not fighting formations but rather provided depots for training recruits to the three or four regiments within the Brigade. The crossings would be preceded by several weeks of aerial bombing and final massive artillery preparation. Even before the encirclement had been completed, the Germans in the Ruhr had begun making attempts at a breakout to the east. Although Kesselring brought an outstanding track record as a defensive strategist with him from the Italian campaign, he did not have the resources to make a coherent defense. [32][pageneeded] The intention was to create a line from Bremen south to Neuwied. 31 General Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps, 82nd Field Medical Equipment Depot, Royal Army Medical Corps, Dsseldorf, 382nd Field Medical Company, Royal Army Medical Corps. At the very beginning of 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, had 73 divisions under his command in North-western Europe of which 49 were infantry divisions, 20 armored divisions and four airborne divisions. 98 Squadron - Fassberg Middle East Air Force (Ismailia and Abu Sueir) . During Operation Lumberjack, Operation Plunder and Operation Undertone, German casualties during FebruaryMarch 1945 are estimated at 400,000 men, including 280,000 men captured as prisoners of war.[18]. The BAOR at this point still consisted of 80,000 troops. 1st Artillery Brigade (Hildesheim)HQ/Signals Battery (Hildesheim)2 x Heavy Field Artillery Regiments (Hildesheim)2 x Missile Artillery Regiments (Hildesheim)7th Air Defence Brigade (Dortmund)11th Engineer Brigade (Hameln)With September in 1976 came the creation of the Artillery Division. British Army of the Rhine (Hansard, 19 July 1982) Ullstein Taschenbuchvlg., 2002. p.273 During the period January to March 1945 the POW's held Western Allies increased by 200,000; During the period April to June 1945 the number increased to 5,440,000. 41st District Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Forward Divisional Headquarters, at Tunis Barracks, Lippstadt, 656 Signal Troop, at Tunis Barracks, Lippstadt, 85 Intelligence Section, Intelligence Corps, at Imphal Barracks, York (detached from 8 Intelligence & Sec Coy), 60 Transport Squadron [to 157 Regiment RCT (V)], 210 Signal Squadron, Royal Corps of Signals, at Catterick Garrison, 586 Signal Troop (Airmobile), Royal Corps of Signals, Band of the Green Howards (Small Infantry Band), Band of the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire (Small Infantry Band), 16th Air Defence Regiment, Royal Artillery, at, 19th Cash Office (United Kingdom), Royal Army Pay Corps, Band of the Royal Hussars (Small Royal Armoured Corps Band), Regimental Band of the King's Own Royal Border Regiment (Small Regimental Band), Band of the 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment (Small Regimental Band), 3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment, at Roman Barracks, Colchester Garrison (Mechanised Infantry (Wheeled), with 8 x Fox armoured cars, and 43 x Saxon armoured personnel carriers), Band of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment (Small Regimental Band), Airfield Works Group (Group wasn't deployable). Headed from Bielefeld it comprised of; 5th Heavy Regiment RA (Hildesheim)50th Missile Regiment, RA (Menden)12 Air Defence Regiment, RA (Dortmund)22nd Air Defence Regiment, RA (Soest)94th Locating Regiment, RA (Celle)1st Battalion, The Royal Scots, Infantry (Mnster)8th Transport Regiment, RCT (Mnster). [27], On 21 March, Patton ordered his XII Corps to prepare for an assault over the Rhine on the following night, one day before Montgomery's scheduled crossing. The British Second Army was a field army active during the First and Second World Wars. While retaining its operational focus, the intention is to rebalance the Armys formations in order to meet the challenges of constant competition and maintain its high-end warfighting capability. An intense exchange of fire lasted for about thirty minutes as assault boats kept pushing across the river and those men who had already made it across mounted attacks against the scattered defensive strongpoints. In a double envelopment, the French captured Stuttgart on 21 April, and by the next day, both the French and the VI Corps had elements on the Danube. Some areas were stoutly defended while in others the enemy surrendered after little more than token resistance. All units within the service are either Regular (full-time) or Territorial Army (part-time), or a combination with sub-units of each type. [12], Following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the permanent deployment of British Army units in Germany began to be phased out, with the last military base handed back to the German Bundeswehr in February 2020. From 1952 the commander-in-chief of the BAOR was also the commander of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) in the event of a general war with the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. Army Groups, Armies, Corps and Divisions. British Army of the Rhine - YouTube 3rd Armoured Division Transport Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport, 3rd Ordnance Battalion, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Soest, 5th Armoured Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Soest, 6th Armoured Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Mnster, 11th Armoured Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Soest, 3rd Armoured Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, Sennelager, 5th Armoured Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, Mnster, 113th Provost Company, Royal Military Police, Werl, HQ 4th Armoured Brigade & 204 Signal Squadron, Royal Signals, Mnster, HQ 6th Armoured Brigade & 206th Signal Squadron, Royal Signals, Soest, HQ 33rd Armoured Brigade & 202nd Signal Squadron, Royal Signals, Paderborn, 46th (Talavera) Air Defence Battery, (36x, HQ 4th Armoured Division & Signal Regiment, Royal Signals, Herford, 14th Postal & Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers, Herford. [33], Montgomery had originally planned to attach one corps of the U.S. 9th Army to the British Second Army, which would use only two of the corps' divisions for the initial assault. British 2nd. Up until now, if you have played a war game on the pc it's probably been a top-down hex game that's turn based, makes absolutely no use whatsoever of your machine's graphics and sound capabilities. Order 1977, SI 1977 No. These were based in various former German Army barracks in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westfalia. These rapid advances on the Eastern Front destroyed additional veteran German combat units and severely limited German Fhrer Adolf Hitler's ability to reinforce his Rhine defenses. A heavy bombing campaign by USAAF and RAF forces, known as the "Interdiction of Northwest Germany", designed primarily to destroy the lines of communication and supply connecting the Ruhr to the rest of Germany had been underway since February. HQ Eastern District & 239 Signal Squadron, Royal Signals, Colchester, London District, Horse Guards, covering Greater London. The importance of quickly obtaining a deep bridgehead was increased by the fact that the first access to a decent road network was over 6 miles (9.7km) inland at the town of Gro-Gerau. Faced with trying to make rapid advances through dense forest on rutted dirt roads and muddy trails, which could be strongly defended by a few determined soldiers and well-placed roadblocks, the task forces advanced only about 2 miles (3.2km) on the 25th. Denying this opportunity became another argument for rethinking the role of the southern drive through Germany. [21], As these three army groups cleared out the Wehrmacht west of the Rhine, Eisenhower began to rethink his plans for the final drive across the Rhine and into the heart of Germany. CBF Cyprus was a rotational post between the Army and RAF, at two-star level; CBF Belize was an Army brigadier; CBF Falklands was a rotational post between all three services at two-star level; and CBF Hong Kong was an Army major general. Later D Day and Normandy. Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally on 8 May, leaving the western Allies in control of most of Germany. With Montgomery allowing use of the Wesel bridges to the 9th Army for only five out of every 24 hours, and with the road network north of the Lippe under 2nd Army control, General Simpson was unable to commit or maneuver sufficient forces to make a rapid flanking drive. [38], On 28 March, as these developments unfolded, Eisenhower announced his decision to adjust his plans governing the future course of the offensive. Nicholas Goodison interviewed by Cathy Courtney (section 1) Autore dell'articolo: Articolo pubblicato: 16/06/2022 Categoria dell'articolo: rockin' the west coast prayer group Commenti dell'articolo: working at charles schwab reddit working at charles schwab reddit The BAOR was no exception. Eisenhower thus turned his attention to other objectives, most notably a rapid meet-up with the Soviets to cut the German Army in two and prevent any possibility of a unified defense.
british army of the rhine order of battle