british army of the rhine order of battle

[34], After an hour of extremely intense artillery preparation, which Eisenhower himself viewed from the front, the 30th Infantry Division began its assault. [44], In the center of the 12th U.S. Army Group, Hodges' 1st Army faced somewhat stiffer opposition, though it hardly slowed the pace. 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. [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. This site is maintained by a Cold War history enthusiast, for other Cold War . [22], For several reasons, Eisenhower began to readjust these plans toward the end of March. Instead, the 1st Army struck eastward, heading for Giessen and the Lahn River, 65mi (105km) beyond Remagen, before turning north toward Paderborn and a linkup with the 9th Army. A British infantryman removes a Nazi flag from a building after crossing into Germany following the river crossing on March 23, 1945 Operation Plunder followed the Allies' victory in the Battle. [35], To the south, the discovery of a defensive gap in front of the 30th Infantry Division fostered the hope that a full-scale breakout would be possible on 25 March. General Eisenhower's Armies were facing resistance that varied from almost non-existent to fanatical[54] as they advanced toward Berlin, which was located 200km (120mi) from their positions in early April 1945. [16][notes 1][17] Combined with the capture of Berchtesgaden, any hope of Nazi leadership continuing to wage war from a so-called "national redoubt" or escape through the Alps was crushed, shortly followed by unconditional German surrender on 8 May 1945. A captain of the 506th wrote, "At one point the men were so weary that [on] the order to rest . [35], Although the armored division bolstered his offensive capacity within the bridgehead, Simpson was more interested in sending the XIX Corps across the Wesel bridges, as Montgomery had agreed, and using the better roads north of the Lippe to outflank the enemy in front of the 30th Division. The first wave of boats was halfway across when the Germans began pouring machine-gun fire into their midst. 13. Meanwhile, Operation Widgeon began 2 miles (3.2km) north of Wesel as the 2nd Army's 1st Commando Brigade slipped across the river and waited within 1 mile (1.6km) of the city while it was demolished by one thousand tons of bombs delivered by RAF Bomber Command. [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. [30], Two more 3rd Army crossingsboth by VIII Corpsquickly followed. During the Second World War the army was the main British contribution to the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 and advance across Europe . Under the new concept, Bradley's 12th U.S. Army Group would make the main effort, with Hodges' 1st Army in the center heading east for about 130mi (210km) toward the city of Leipzig and the Elbe River. [51], On the 21st Army Group's left, one corps of the Canadian First Army reached the North Sea near the Dutch-German border on 16 April, while another drove through the central Netherlands, trapping the German forces remaining in that country. Postal and Courier Depot, Royal Engineers, Central Volunteer HQ Royal Engineers (Postal and Courier Services). Thus, he decided to feint at Mainz while making his real effort at Nierstein and Oppenheim, 910mi (1416km) south of the city. Simpson, in turn, ordered a combat command of the 2nd Armored Division, which had just reached Beckum, to make a 15mi (24km) advance southeast to Lippstadt, midway between Beckum and the stalled 3rd Armored Division spearhead. Several other patrols from the 69th had similar encounters later that day, and on 26 April the division commander, Maj. Gen. Emil F. Reinhardt, met Maj. Gen. Vladimir Rusakov of the Soviet 58th Guards Rifle Division at Torgau in the first official link-up ceremony. The Armistice that went into effect on 11 November . Soldiers posted copies of General Eisenhower's Proclamation No. 79th Railway Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport. The ceased to by an occupation force and became responsible for the northern front from Hamburg to Kassel in the event of a Soviet invasion. 1945 offensive in the European theatre of World War II, U.S. 12th Army Group crosses the Rhine (22 March), U.S. 6th Army Group crosses the Rhine (26 March), German Army Group B surrounded in the Ruhr pocket (1 April), Eisenhower switches his main thrust to U.S. 12th Army Group front (28 March), U.S. 12th Army Group prepares its final thrust, U.S. 12th Army Group advances to the Elbe (9 April), U.S. First Army makes first contact with the advancing Soviets (25 April), Link-up of U.S. forces in Germany and Italy (4 May), British 21st Army Group crosses the Elbe (29 April). Otherwise, he would pursue those objectives that would end the war soonest. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. However, as the 3rd Army began pulling up to the Mulde on 13 April, the XII CorpsPatton's southernmost forcecontinued moving southeast alongside the 6th U.S. Army Group to clear southern Germany and move into Austria. All units within the service are either Regular (full-time) or Territorial Army (part-time), or a combination with sub-units of each type. To accomplish both objectives, Patch's 7th Army on Devers' left was to make a great arc, first driving northeastward alongside Bradley's flank, then turning south with the 3rd Army to take Nuremberg and Munich, ultimately continuing into Austria. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), which was responsible for the northern portions of the central front in West Germany, had been judged to be capable of holding out for as little as two days. British Army, Master Order of Battle 1991 Forces within the United Kingdom. On the same day, however, Montgomery announced that the eastbound roads out of Wesel would be turned over to the 9th Army on 30 March with the Rhine bridges leading into that city changing hands a day later. Many towns flew white flags of surrender to spare themselves the otherwise inevitable destruction suffered by those that resisted, while German troops surrendered by the tens of thousands, sometimes as entire units. The Allied invasion of Germany east of the Rhine started with the Western Allies crossing the river on 22 March 1945 before fanning out and overrunning all of western Germany from the Baltic in the north to the Alpine passes in the south, where they linked up with troops of the U.S. Fifth Army in Italy. The BAOR at this point still consisted of 80,000 troops. The Allied front along the Rhine stretched 450 miles (720km) from the river's mouth at the North Sea in the Netherlands to the Swiss border in the south. 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. Despite scattered resistance from a few isolated units, the war in Europe was over. HQ Allied Mobile Force & 249 Signal Squadron (AMF(L)). 60th Communications Zone Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. 61st Station Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Isby and Kamp, Armies of NATO's Central Front, 1985, 251-255. In addition, the river flowed quickly and with unpredictable currents along this part of its course. The initial assault waves crossed the river quickly, meeting only light opposition. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) were occupation forces set up in Germany following the two World Wars. . During the three days leading up to Montgomery's attack, targets in front of the 21st Army Group zone and in the Ruhr area to the southeast were pummeled by about 11,000 sorties, effectively sealing off the Ruhr while easing the burden on Montgomery's assault forces. Another seven American divisions arrived during February,[19] along with the British 5th Infantry Division and I Canadian Corps, both of which had arrived from the fighting on the Italian front. By the end of April, the Third Reich was in tatters. The Western Allies rapidly eroded any remaining ability to resist. [36], Adding to the Germans' woes, the 6th Army Group made an assault across the Rhine on 26 March. At Worms, about 25 miles (40km) south of Mainz, the 7th Army's XV Corps established a bridgehead, which it consolidated with the southern shoulder of the 3rd Army's bridgehead early the next day. The main thrust beyond the river was to be made in the north by Montgomery's 21st Army Group, elements of which were to proceed east to a juncture with the U.S. 1st Army as it made a secondary advance northeast from below the Ruhr River. 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. The British Rhine occupation force British Second and Fourth Armies were selected to make the advance and to commence on 17 November 1918. It included the four military members of the Army Board, including the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir John Chapple in 1989, the Second Permanent Under Secretary, and the Assistant Chief of the General Staff, a major general. 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. The 9th Army's sector of the Ruhr Pocket, although only about 1/3 the size of the 1st Army's sector south of the river, contained the majority of the densely urbanized industrial area within the encirclement. 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) Behind the screening force 1st Armoured and 4th Armoured Division would form up. Tanks and tank destroyers had been ferried across all morning, and by evening a Treadway bridge was open to traffic. Includes 55 American divisions, 18 British divisions, 11 French divisions, 5 Canadian divisions, and 1 Polish division, as well as several independent brigades. The Battle of the Rhine was the last major battle of the United States Army in World War II. 10th Field Squadron (Airfields), 38th Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers. [7] In 1967, the force was reduced in strength to 53,000 soldiers, compared with 80,000 ten years earlier. BAOR was armed with tactical nuclear weapons and supported by Royal Air Force Germany. Furthermore, the main objective was no longer Berlin, but Leipzig where a juncture with the Soviet Army would split the remaining German forces in two. On 29 April, the British made an assault crossing of the Elbe, supported on the following day by the recently reattached XVIII Airborne Corps. 1st Training Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers. The Order of Battle (OrBat) shows the formation of the forces that were in Operation Veritable in the beginning of February 1945. . 43rd District Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. With a strong line of defense on the west side of Arnhem, Harzer orders his troops to clear Arnhem itself first. [22], In addition, there was the matter of the Ruhr. Regimental headquarters are administrative and ceremonial in nature. On 29 March, the 1st Army turned toward Paderborn, about 80mi (130km) north of Giessen, its right flank covered by the 3rd Army, which had broken out of its own bridgeheads and was headed northeast toward Kassel. 5th Security Company, Intelligence Corps, 6th Intelligence Company (Photo Intell), Intelligence Corps, JHQ Rheindahlen. [37], A task force of the VII Corps' 3rd Armored Division, which included some of the new M26 Pershing heavy tanks, spearheaded the drive for Paderborn on 29 March. 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. [37], As March turned to April the offensive east of the Rhine was progressing in close accordance with Allied plans. Although the Ruhr area still contained a significant number of Axis troops and enough industry to retain its importance as a major objective, Allied intelligence reported that much of the region's armament industry was moving southeast, deeper into Germany. Rolling northward 45mi (72km) without casualties, the mobile force stopped for the night 15mi (24km) from its objective. [22], Facing the Allies was Oberbefehlshaber West ("Army Command West") commanded by Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, who had taken over from Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt on 10 March. The idea was that each Division would have 2 Task Forces , which . At first, this was done informally with occupants evicted immediately and taking with them few personal possessions, but the process became standardized, with three hours' notice and OMGUS personnel providing receipts for buildings' contents. For example, Patton potentially could have made his initial Rhine crossing north of Mainz and avoided the losses incurred crossing the Main.[who?] It was fought in March and April 1945, after the Allied crossing of the Rhine River. Thus, on 15 April when Eisenhower ordered Patton's entire 3rd Army to drive southeast down the Danube River valley to Linz, and south to Salzburg and central Austria, he also instructed the 6th U.S. Army Group to make a similar turn into southern Germany and western Austria. 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. [38], The British Prime Minister and Chiefs of Staff strongly opposed the new plan. During the First World War the army was active on the Western Front throughout most of the war and later active in Italy. This NATO creation saw the BAOR being placed under its command. Originally, Eisenhower had planned to draw all his forces up to the west bank of the Rhine, using the river as a natural barrier to help cover the inactive sections of his line. The ensuing airdrops, which began on 29 April,[52] marked the beginning of what was to become a colossal effort to put war-torn Europe back together again.[53]. Forward Vehicle Depot, Royal Army Ordnance Corps. [49], As the 6th U.S. Army Group and the 3rd Army finished clearing southern Germany and approached Austria, it was clear to most observers, Allied and German alike, that the war was nearly over. [25], To the south in the Saar-Palatinate region, Patton's U.S. 3rd Army had dealt a devastating blow to the German 7th Army and, in conjunction with the U.S. 7th Army, had nearly destroyed the German 1st Army. Hong Kong Provost Company & Hong Kong Dog Company, HQ 48th Gurkha Infantry Brigade & 246 Gurkha Signal Squadron, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:39. After a day or two, specialized Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) units took over. Page last modified: 11th Ordnance (EOD) Battalion, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 160th Provost Company, Royal Military Police, Aldershot, 240th Provost (Training) Company, Royal Military Police, Aldershot. Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War, and the other after the Second World War. The German forces there were simply in less disarray than those to the north. and comes complete with a manual big enough to be deemed as an offensive weapon i.e. IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO STAY ANONYMOUS OR KEEP ALL CONTENTS PRIVATE PLEASE STATE THIS CLEARLY ON SUBMISSION: All rights reserved. With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, all Western forces were drastically reduced. 1997. However, Montgomery believed that the paratroopers would quickly link up with the advancing river assault forces, placing the strongest force within the bridgehead as rapidly as possible. Both formations had areas of responsibility located around the German section of the River Rhine. HQ Western District & 241 (West) Signal Squadron, Royal Signals. 21st Army Group was then instead ordered to move northeast toward Bremen and Hamburg. British Army of the Rhine There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine ( BAOR ). As the first boats reached the east bank, seven startled Germans surrendered and then paddled themselves unescorted to the west bank to be placed in custody. Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. As subsequent waves of troops crossed, units fanned out to take the first villages beyond the river to only the weakest of opposition. The U.S. III Corps, in the center, did not commit its armor on the first day of the breakout, but still made a gain of 4mi (6.4km). 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. Retrieved 9 October 2021. [25], Perhaps the most compelling reason for increasing the emphasis on this southern drive had more to do with the actions of Americans than those of Germans. [46], Every unit along the ElbeMulde line was anxious to be the first to meet the Red Army. To view a summary of the British Army in 1952 please click here.During October 1954 HQ BAOR reallocated fromBad Oeynhausento Rheindalen. In the early morning hours of 25 March, elements of the 87th Infantry Division crossed the Rhine to the north at Boppard, and then some 24 hours later elements of the 89th Infantry Division crossed 8 miles (13km) south of Boppard at St. Goar. The change resulted from an agreement between the American and Soviet military leadership based on the need to establish a readily identifiable geographical line to avoid accidental clashes between the converging Allied forces. The troops were located principally in the vicinity of Cologne at an approximate cost per month of 300,000. 4th Petrol Depot, Royal Army Ordnance Corps. The crossings would be preceded by several weeks of aerial bombing and final massive artillery preparation. Both believed that the plan squandered the great strength in men and equipment that the 9th Army had assembled and ignored the many logistical problems of placing the 9th Army's crossing sites within the Second Army's zone. Elements of the 1st Army's V Corps made first contact. [57], By the beginning of 1945, Allied victory in Europe was inevitable. 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 . Antony Beevor, Inside the British Army, 1991, 429. Contents 1 History 1.1 1919-1929 In that time, the Company has released a number of well-received projects that cut across the diecast spectrum, from big and beefy 1:32 scale tanks to pose-able 1:72 scale WWII-era fighters.