Army Group Ostmark | |
---|---|
German: Heeresgruppe Ostmark | |
Active | April 1945 – 8 May 1945 |
Country | Nazi Germany |
Branch | Heer ( Wehrmacht) |
Type | Army group |
Size | ~450,000 (1 May 1945) [1] : 368 |
Commanders | |
Only commander | Lothar Rendulic |
Army Group Ostmark (German : Heeresgruppe Ostmark) was an army group of Nazi Germany. It was formed near the end of World War II and active for just over a month, between 2 April and 8 May 1945. Its sole commander was Lothar Rendulic and its main area of operations was German-controlled Austria.
The word Ostmark ("Eastern March"/"Eastern Marches") indicates an eastern frontier region. The term was introduced soon after the Anschluss (the 1938 annexation of Austria by Germany), and designated the former territories of Austria within the new greater German structure. [2] : 108f.
Army Group Ostmark was formed from the remnants of Army Group South, which had been driven back from the Hungarian plain into Austria. By 7 April 1945, Lothar Rendulic had assumed command of the formation. Its subordinate field armies were the 8th Army, 6th Panzer Army and 6th Army. It was additionally provided with the services of Army Group Signals Regiment 530. [3] : 187
The exact creation/redesignation date of the army group is inconsistent. While Kesselring at the latest redesignated the army group on 24 April, [4] : 954 it was still referred to as Army Group South in the final Wehrmacht order of battle on 30 April 1945. [3] : 187
The withdrawing German forces were under continuous pressure by Red Army forces; on 3 April 1945, 4th Ukrainian Front's offensive tasks were expanded to prevent the disentanglement of German forces from advancing Soviet formations, and particularly to deny the German troops the opportunity to escape westwards and surrender to the Western Allies rather than to Soviet troops. [5] : 674 On 20 April, the Allied advances into central Germany necessitated the permanent split of German overall army command into a northern sector (led by Dönitz) and a southern sector (led by Kesselring). [4] : 954
By late April, 8th Army (Kreysing), with headquarters in Gaubitsch, was in combat north of Vienna and assigned to hold the sector between the Ernstbrunn Forest (in the Waldviertel) and the Trebitsch-Tabor sector in southern Bohemia. To its south, remnant elements of 6th Panzer Army were distributed along the Danube. On the southern flank, 6th Army was driven out of Graz. [6] : 208 Thought experiments on the German side about an Alpine Fortress would have been carried to significant parts by Ostmark forces, but Hitler's refusal to leave Berlin made these ideas superfluous. Western Allied forces were on the advance into southern Austria; 7th US Army captured Innsbruck on 3 May and linked up with elements advancing from the Italian theater at the Brenner Pass on 5 May. [7] : 80 Around the turn of April and May 1945, Army Group Ostmark comprised roughly 450,000 military personnel. [1] : 368
On 5 May 1945, Kesselring, already in complicated surrender negotiations with Dwight D. Eisenhower, offered the surrender of army groups Ostmark, E, and Center to the Americans. This was rejected by the American side; the Americans instead inssisted that all these forces should simultaneously surrender to opposing Red Army troops as well, which Kesselring at this point was not yet willing to concede. [1] : 369
On 6 May, in the course of the Dönitz government's (Adolf Hitler had committed suicide on 30 April) desperate scramble to secure a regional armistices with the Western Allies, Albert Kesselring received instructions to oversee the regulated surrenders of the Ostmark, South East and Center army group commands to the Western Allies by disentangling them from Soviet forces. This command proved unfulfillable due to the rapid advances of the Red Army. The chaotic circumstances of surrender had cut off various German formations from their lines of communication; OKW was unable to precisely locate Army Group Ostmark and the forces of Oberbefehlshaber Südost . [8] : 475f. This chaos was furthered by the complicated interactions between Allied interests and the nascent Austrian resistance, as well as the role of Austrian-born Wehrmacht commanders. Southeastern supreme commander Alexander Löhr attempted to win favor (and the support of his troops) for a defensive holding action by his remnant troops against Soviet and Yugoslav forces on the Austrian frontier, to secure postwar Austria's government as non-communist. [8] : 482
After the Dönitz government agreed at Reims to an overall German surrender on 7 May 1945 (to be effective midnight 8/9 May), the army groups still engaged with Soviet forces were instructed to fight their way westwards as far as possible to reach American lines in order to avoid Soviet captivity. Leaderless forces from Army Group Ostmark fled westwards in small groups, attempting to cover the remaining distance to Western Allied lines, which was in all cases more than 100 kilometers. Unfounded rumors that the Western Allies were preparing an immediate rearmament and reorganization of the Wehrmacht for a Western Allied attack against Soviet forces spurred on refugees and raised morale. [1] : 372f.
Army Group South was the name of one of three German Army Groups during World War II.
The German 73rd Infantry Division or in German 73. Infanterie-Division was a German military unit which served during World War II. The division consisted of more than 10,000 soldiers, primarily of the infantry branch, with supporting artillery. The division was only semi-motorized and relied on marching for the infantry units and horse-drawn transport for most of the support equipment, especially the artillery.
The 208th Infantry Division, or 208.Infanterie-Division in German, was a large military unit that served during World War II. Like most German infantry divisions, the bulk of its troops were foot-mobile infantry supported by horse-drawn artillery.
The 78th Infantry Division, later known as the 78th Assault Division, was a German infantry formation which fought during World War II. After the 78th Assault Division was destroyed near Minsk in July 1944, the 78th Volksgrenadier Division was created.
The 3rd Mountain Division was a formation of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. It was created from the Austrian Army's 5th and 7th Divisions following the Anschluss in 1938.
The 1st Ski Division was a mountain infantry unit of the German Waffen-SS/Army trained to use skis for movement during winter. It was created on the Eastern Front in the autumn of 1943 in preparation for upcoming winter operations. It was enlarged into a full division in the summer of 1944. The division fought exclusively on the Eastern Front as part of Army Group Centre, including an approach to the Vistula river and during the retreat into Slovakia, southern Poland and the Czech lands, where it surrendered to the Red Army in May 1945.
The German 20th Infantry Division was an infantry division of Nazi Germany.
The 4th Mountain Division was a mountain infantry division of the Heer, the army of the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. The division was active between October 1940 and May 1940 and participated in the Balkans campaign as well as on the Eastern Front.
The German Seventeenth Army was a field army of Nazi Germany during World War II.
The 19th Panzer Division was an armoured division in the German Army, the Wehrmacht, during World War II. It was created from the 19th Infantry Division.
The 72nd Infantry Division was formed on 19 September 1939 in Trier from Grenz-Division Trier, a border security unit.
Army Group C was an army group of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. In its first deployment between 1939 and 1941, its main assignment was the defense of the Franco-German border during the Phony War and the Western Campaign, after which it was moved to East Prussia to become Army Group North. When Army Group C was deployed a second time from 1943 to 1945, it was used to coordinate German forces on the Italian front.
The 68th Infantry Division was a formation of the German army during World War II. It was formed in 1939 and was initially committed to the German invasion of Poland. It took part in the Battle of France in 1940, and then Operation Barbarossa in 1941 as part of Army Group South. The 68th remained in southern Russia until refitted in Poland in early 1944. Returned to action the 68th fought for rest of the war in the East, in Russia, Slovakia, in the defence of Germany until finally surrendering to the Soviets in Czechoslovakia.
Army Group H was a German army group during World War II, active between November 1944 and May 1945. It was deployed mainly in the German-occupied Netherlands. The staff was known as Supreme Commander North West from 7 April. The army group surrendered at Lüneburg Heath on 4 May 1945.
The 214th Infantry Division was a German division in World War II. It was formed on 26 August 1939.
The 75th Infantry Division was a German infantry division in World War II. It was formed on 26 August 1939.
The 337th Volksgrenadier Division was a German military unit formed during World War II.
The 544th Volksgrenadier Division was a Volksgrenadier-type infantry division of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. It was active from July 1944 to May 1945. In the first two months of service, the division was designated 544th Grenadier Division.
Operation Lehrgang was the evacuation of German and Italian forces from Sicily during World War II. Undertaken in mid-August 1943, Lehrgang evacuated just over 100,000 soldiers from Sicily, which had been the target of an Allied amphibious invasion since July.
The Infantry Division Courland was an infantry division of the German army during World War II.