Armeegruppe was a historical type of major formation of German military history, in use in the Imperial German Army during World War I and the Wehrmacht during World War II.
While the term literally translates as army group, the German-language equivalent of an English-language army group is Heeresgruppe. Whereas a Heeresgruppe-type army group was designed to be permanent, an Armeegruppe-type army group was usually an ad hoc formation for a specific military task. Typically, Armeegruppe-type formations were short-lived.
Whereas Heeresgruppe-type formations were typically named after a geographic region (such as Heeresgruppe Courland), geographic direction (such as Heeresgruppe North) or even named by simple letters (such as Army Group A), Armeegruppe-type army groups were typically named after their commanding general, e.g. Army Group Steiner was named after Felix Steiner.
The Wehrmacht of World War II was peculiar compared to the German army of World War I due to its much stronger inclusion of allied armed forces (such as the Royal Italian Army or Royal Hungarian Army), and Armeegruppe-type army groups were once again revived to serve as ad hoc combinations of an army-level command, typically German, which would take the lead, and a second army-level command, typically of another Axis country, which would be subordinate. Exceptions from this rule were Army Group Dumitrescu, when a non-German army (in this case 3rd Romanian Army) was superior to a German army (in this case 6th Army) and Army Group Felber, which was only of corps-strength and would typically have been referred to as a 'Gruppe' rather than 'Armeegruppe' if Wehrmacht precedent had been followed more closely. Additionally, Army Group G and Army Group Liguria were not named after commanders but instead after a letter or a region, respectively; Army Group G was later upgraded to Heeresgruppe-level.[1]
| German name | Translated name | Namesake of | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armeegruppe Antonescu | Army Group Antonescu | Ion Antonescu | German 11th Army, Romanian 3rd Army, Romanian 4th Army; invasion force from Romania during the early days of Operation Barbarossa (1941).[2] | |
| Armeegruppe Balck | Army Group Balck | Hermann Balck | Previously "Army Group Fretter-Pico" (see below); designation in early 1945 for German 6th Army and Hungarian 3rd Army.[3] | |
| Armeegruppe Blumentritt | Army Group Blumentritt | Günther Blumentritt | Formed in the final days of the war to oversee the German forces along the North Sea coast. | |
| Armeegruppe Dumitrescu | Army Group Dumitrescu | Petre Dumitrescu | Union of Romanian 3rd Army and German 6th Army in April to July 1944. | |
| Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico | Army Group Fretter-Pico | Maximilian Fretter-Pico | September 1944 designation; union of German 6th Army and Hungarian 2nd Army (November 1944: Hungarian 3rd Army); from January 1945 "Armeegruppe Balck" (see above). | |
| Armeegruppe Felber | Army Group Felber | Hans Felber | Corps-size formation, restructured from LXXXIII Army Corps; 21 May 1942 – 26 August 1943; subsequently became 19th Army.[4] | |
| Armeegruppe Frießner | Army Group Frießner | Johannes Frießner | ||
| Armeegruppe G | Army Group G | N/A | Union of German 1st Army and German 19th Army; became Heeresgruppe-type on 12 September 1944. | |
| Armeegruppe Guderian | Army Group Guderian | Heinz Guderian | Alternative name for Panzer Group Guderian, which in turn was an alternate name for the strengthened 2nd Panzer Group, which in turn became the 2nd Panzer Army. | |
| Armeegruppe Heinrici | Army Group Heinrici | Gotthard Heinrici | Union of German 1st Panzer Army and Hungarian 1st Army in the Carpathians, inserted on right wing of Army Group A (Josef Harpe).[5] August/October 1944 and January 1945.[6] | |
| Armeegruppe Hoth | Army Group Hoth | Hermann Hoth | ||
| Armeegruppe Ligurien | Army Group Liguria | N/A | ||
| Armeegruppe Kleist | Army Group Kleist | Ewald von Kleist | Alternative name for Panzer Group Kleist. | |
| Armeegruppe Raus | Army Group Raus | Erhard Raus | ||
| Armeegruppe Ruoff | Army Group Ruoff | Richard Ruoff | ||
| Armeegruppe Steiner | Army Group Steiner | Felix Steiner | Formed in the final days of the war in the vicinity of Berlin to assist during the Battle of Berlin. | |
| Armeegruppe Student | Army Group Student | Kurt Student | ||
| Armeegruppe Weichs | Army Group Weichs | Maximilian von Weichs | ||
| Armeegruppe Wöhler | Army Group Wöhler | Otto Wöhler |