7th Army (German Empire) explained

Unit Name:	7. Armee 7th Army
Dates:	2 August 1914 – January 1919
Type:	Army
Battles:	World War I Western Front Battle of the Frontiers Battle of Mulhouse Battle of Lorraine Nivelle Offensive Second Battle of the Aisne Spring Offensive Second Battle of the Marne
Identification Symbol:	A.O.K. 7
Identification Symbol Label:	Abbreviation

The 7th Army (German: '''7. Armee / Armeeoberkommando 7 / A.O.K. 7''') was an army level command of the German Army in World War I. It was formed on mobilization in August 1914 from the II Army Inspection. The army was disbanded in 1919 during demobilization after the war.

History

Formed at the outbreak of World War I, 7th Army formed the extreme left (southern) wing of the German Armies on the Western Front. During the execution of the French Plan XVII, the 7th Army covered Alsace, successfully repulsing the French attack in the Battle of Lorraine. It then took part in the Race to the Sea, an attempt by both German and Anglo-French armies to turn each other's flank.

At the end of the war it was serving as part of Heeresgruppe Deutscher Kronprinz.

Order of Battle, 30 October 1918

By the end of the war, the 7th Army was organised as:

Organization of 7th Army on 30 October 1918
Army	Corps	Division
ROWSPAN=17	7th Army	ROWSPAN=3	XVII Corps	24th Reserve Division
86th Division
one third of 10th Reserve Division
ROWSPAN=4	III Corps	one third of 10th Reserve Division
26th Division
227th Division
3rd Naval Division
ROWSPAN=4	VIII Reserve Corps	84th Division
19th Division
2nd Bavarian Division
one third of 10th Reserve Division
ROWSPAN=4	65th Corps (z.b.V.)	5th Division
4th Guards Division
216th Division
50th Division
ROWSPAN=1	VII Corps	No units assigned
ROWSPAN=1	Moving to Armee-Abteilung A	24th Division

Commanders

The 7th Army had the following commanders during its existence.

7th Army! From !! Commander !! Previously !! Subsequently,

2 August 1914		II Army Inspectorate (II. Armee-Inspektion)	High Command of Coastal Defence
28 August 1916			Placed on inactive reserve status^[1]
27 January 1917	German: [[Generaloberst]] Richard von Schubert
11 March 1917			Heeresgruppe Boehn
22 March 1918	German: [[Generaloberst]] Max von Boehn
6 August 1918			1st Army
15 October 1918	German: [[Generaloberst]] Max von Boehn

Glossary

• Armee-Abteilung or Army Detachment in the sense of "something detached from an Army". It is not under the command of an Army so is in itself a small army.
• Armee-Gruppe or Army Group in the sense of a group within an Army and under its command, generally formed as a temporary measure for a specific task.
• Heeresgruppe or Army Group in the sense of a number of armies under one commander.

See also

• 7th Army (Wehrmacht) for the equivalent formation in World War II
• German Army order of battle (1914)
• German Army order of battle, Western Front (1918)
• Schlieffen Plan

Bibliography

• Book: Cron, Hermann . 2002 . Imperial German Army 1914–18: Organisation, Structure, Orders-of-Battle [first published: 1937] . Helion & Co . 1-874622-70-1.
• Book: Ellis . John . Cox . Michael . 1993 . The World War I Databook . Aurum Press Ltd . 1-85410-766-6.

Notes and References

1. http://prussianmachine.com/aok/schubert.htm The Prussian Machine