british army of the rhine order of battle british army of the rhine order of battle

The 21st Army Group had 30 full-strength divisions, 11 each in the British Second and U.S. 9th Armies and eight in the Canadian First Army, providing Montgomery with more than 1,250,000 men. With spectacular thrusts being made beyond the Rhine nearly every day and the enemy's capacity to resist fading at an ever-accelerating rate, the campaign to finish Germany was transitioning into a general pursuit. After General Omar Bradley warned, however, that capturing a city located in a region that the Soviets had already received at the Yalta Conference might cost 100,000 casualties,[56] by 15 April Eisenhower ordered all armies to halt when they reached the Elbe and Mulde Rivers, thus immobilizing these spearheads while the war continued for three more weeks. When the task force failed to advance on 31 March, Maj. Gen. J. Lawton Collins, commander of the VII Corps, asked Simpson if his 9th Army, driving eastward north of the Ruhr, could provide assistance. In the British Army division-level formations are administrative or deployable formations. Recce Intelligence Centre (Laarbruch), Intelligence Corps, I (BR) Corps HQ Defence Company, Royal Pioneer Corps, Bielefeld, 6th Air Defence Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery (originally slated to form in 19903 with new HVM system), 43 Plant Squadron, Royal Engineers, Osnabrck, 65 Corps Support Squadron, Royal Engineers, Hameln, (20x M2 Amphibious Rigs). In the end, the campaign proceeded as Eisenhower had planned it. To the south, elements of the VI Corps met unexpectedly fierce resistance at Heilbronn, 40mi (64km) into the German rear. By the end of April, the Third Reich was in tatters. Once the bridgehead was secured the British 6th Airborne Division would be transferred to Second Army control, while the U.S. 17th Airborne Division would revert to 9th Army control. To increase Simpson's ability to bring his army's strength to bear for exploitation, Montgomery also agreed to turn the bridges at Wesel, just north of the inter-army boundary, over to the 9th Army once the bridgehead had been secured. In a few days the war in Europe would be over. British Order of Battle Mid 1980 In 1980 the British Army was still organised in the Task Force system. 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. The only potent unit left for commitment against the Allied Rhine crossings in the north, the 116th began moving south from the Dutch-German border on 25 March against what the Germans considered their most dangerous threat, the U.S. 9th Army. 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. Unknown to many, the British Army of the Rhine was first established as an occupational force after the Great War of 1914 - 1918. . 1997. CONTENTS OF EMAILS MAY BE DISPLAYED ON THIS SITE (BUT IN AN ENCRYPTED FORMAT TO DETER SPAMMERS) TO BENEFIT HISTORY. 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. [6], As the potential threat of Soviet invasion across the North German Plain into West Germany increased, BAOR became more responsible for the defence of West Germany than its occupation. [36], Adding to the Germans' woes, the 6th Army Group made an assault across the Rhine on 26 March. All units within the service are either Regular (full-time) or Territorial Army (part-time), or a combination with sub-units of each type. Five armies took part in the battle: the armies of Prince Rupert of the Rhine and the Marquis of Newcastle for the Royalists, and the Army of the Covenant, the Earl of Manchester's Eastern Association and Lord Fedinando Fairfax's Northern Association for the Allies. Later joined the staff of 10th Armoured Division in Western Desert. On the whole, Western Allied plans were excellent as demonstrated by how rapidly they met their objectives. On 29 April, the British made an assault crossing of the Elbe, supported on the following day by the recently reattached XVIII Airborne Corps. This page is a list of British Armies in WWII. 79th Railway Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport. 1st Division provides specialist soldiers and equipment to develop other nations armies, deal with disaster and humanitarian crises worldwide and enable our warfighting division. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Equipped with about 60 tanks, the students put up a fanatical resistance, stalling the American armor all day. Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was formed at the conclusion of World War II from various units of the British 21st Army Group. 7th Intelligence Company, Intelligence Corps. Both formations had areas of responsibility located around the German section of the River Rhine. In addition, since Berlin and the rest of Germany had already been divided into occupation zones by representatives of the Allied governments at the Yalta Conference, Eisenhower saw no political advantage in a race for Berlin. 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. Once the Ruhr was surrounded, he wanted the 9th Army transferred from the British 21st Army Group to the U.S. 12th Army Group. 158 Provost Company Corps of Royal Military Police. At Clive Barracks in Ternhill under 143rd (West Midlands) Brigade until April 1989 as Northern Ireland reaction battalion. The two 9th Army divisions tasked for the assault concentrated in the Rheinberg area south of Wesel. Combat Support units: These units provide support to the combat units in the combat zone. BAOR was armed with tactical nuclear weapons and supported by Royal Air Force Germany. In reserve were the XVI Corps' 8th Armored Division, and 35th and 75th Infantry Divisions, as well as the 9th Army's XIII and XIX Corps, each with three divisions. Nowhere, it seemed, were the Germans able to resist in strength. 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. 608th Signal Troop (Cipher Equipment), Royal Signals, 68th Transport Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport, JHQ Rheindahlen. The professional head of the British Army is the Chief of the General Staff. 58th Station Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. 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. By 9 April, both the 9th and 1st Armies had seized bridgeheads over the Leine, prompting Bradley to order an unrestricted eastward advance. Soldiers requisitioned housing and office space as needed from residents. - - - - - - - - - II Army Corps - GM Pirch-I: Strength: 33,000-36,000 men and 80-96 guns 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 executive committee of the Army Board was responsible for the 'detailed management of the Army.' Panzer General.Best described as "thorough", these games are strictly off limits to anyone who couldn't tell you . Phantom Force Of Western Front (Rec. 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. IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO STAY ANONYMOUS OR KEEP ALL CONTENTS PRIVATE PLEASE STATE THIS CLEARLY ON SUBMISSION: All rights reserved. [36], The 1st Army's drive from the Remagen bridgehead began with a breakout before dawn on 25 March. Similarly, the term Corps can be applied toa maneuver headquarters that controls multiple divisions (no such entity was active as of 2012) or a administrative headquarters for units in afunctional area, broadly similar to the US Army's Branches. Seeing this equipment moving up, his frontline soldiers did not need any orders from higher headquarters to tell them what it meant. During the fighting west of the Rhine up to March 1945, the German Army on the Western Front had been reduced to a strength of only 26 divisions, organized into three army groups (H, B and G). This was the first major . The British Army of the Rhine was born in 1945 out of the British Liberation Army at the close of the war as the military government of the British zone of occupied Germany. This NATO creation saw the BAOR being placed under its command. 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. The wisdom of putting lightly-armed paratroopers so close to the main battlefield was debated, and the plan for amphibious forces to cross the Rhine prior to the parachute drop raised questions as to the utility of making an airborne assault at all. British Army, Master Order of Battle 1991 Forces within the United Kingdom. Detachments to 1st Armoured, 2nd Infantry, 3rd Armoured, 4th Armoured Divisions, 1st Artillery Brigade, and 1st Infantry Brigade. 20 Postal and Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers. 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. [47], Initially, the opposition in the 6th U.S. Army Group's sector was stiffer than that facing the 12th U.S. Army Group. 221st (BAOR) EOD Company, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Communications Zone Ordnance Depot, Antwerp, Belgium, Forward Stores Depot, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Dulmen. However, Patton also realized that the Germans were aware of this difficulty and would expect his attack north of Mainz. It was fought in March and April 1945, after the Allied crossing of the Rhine River. While certainly incomplete (especially for the period 1120 April 1945), they reflect the ratio between casualties in both theaters in the final months of the war. [42], The final tally of prisoners taken in the Ruhr reached 325,000, far beyond anything the Americans had anticipated. 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]. This consisted of: 10th Infantry Brigade Group11th Infantry Brigade Group12th Infantry Brigade Group. 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. is infantry division. Even when the hopelessness of the German situation became obvious to his most loyal subordinates, Hitler refused to admit defeat. . 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 main targets were rail yards, bridges, and communication centers, with a secondary focus on fuel processing and storage facilities and other important industrial sites. Commander-in-Chief, UK Land Forces, General Sir Charles Huxtable, HQ United Kingdom Land Forces commanded nine military districts until the spring of 1991. Antony Beevor, Inside the British Army, 1991, 429. Thus, he decided to feint at Mainz while making his real effort at Nierstein and Oppenheim, 910mi (1416km) south of the city. [62], Media related to Western Allied invasion of Germany at Wikimedia Commons. 6 (UK) Div will include: 1st Signal Brigade, 11th Signal Brigade, 1st Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade, 77th Brigade and the Specialist Infantry Group, Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. Also looking forward to going home, tens of thousands of freed forced laborers and Allied prisoners of war further strained the American logistical system. 21 Postal and Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers. [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. [44], The Elbe River was the official eastward objective, but many American commanders still eyed Berlin. [49], On 30 April, elements of 7th Army's XV and XXI Corps captured Munich, 30 miles (48km) south of the Danube, while the first elements of its VI Corps had already entered Austria two days earlier. [49], Meanwhile, on the 7th Army's right, the VI Corps had moved southeast alongside the French 1st Army. 52nd Field Squadron (Construction), 22nd Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, 516th Specialist Team (Bulk Petrol), Royal Engineers, RAF Gtersloh, 1st Postal & Courier Regiment, Royal Engineers, Hannover (in support of 1 (BR) Corps), 11th Postal & Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers, Verden (in support of 1st (BR) Armoured Division), 13th Postal & Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers, Soest (in support of 3rd (BR) Armoured Division), 14th Postal & Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers, Herford (in support of 4th (BR) Armoured Division), 3rd Postal & Courier Depot, Royal Engineers, Dsseldorf (in support of Communication Zone [CommZ]). After a day or two, specialized Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) units took over. British Army of the Rhine There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine ( BAOR ). HQ British Forces Brunei & Brunei Signal Troop, Detachment 24 Postal and Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers, 9th Signal Regiment (Radio), Royal Signals, at, 259 (West) Signal Squadron (responsible for communications in the west of the island). 61st Station Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. 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) Mallinson, Allan. 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. 1 CVR(T) representing the HQ or Recce Capability. On 7 March, Hodges's U.S. 1st Army captured the last intact bridge over the Rhine at Remagen and steadily expanded the bridgehead. BAOR had command of four Areas or Districts: I Corps District; 1 FV432, towing a bar mine layer and mounting a Ranger Scatterable mine discharger . Once this was accomplished the remaining German forces could be defeated in detail. [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. Field-Marshal Montgomei*y's British 2nd Army has becorfie the phantom force of the Western Front. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) were occupation forces set up in Germany following the two World Wars. [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. Task organisation was completely dependent on the Brigades mission and at the discretion of the Brigade commander. Combat Service Support units: These units provide essential support services both in combat and in peacetime. 18th Base Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. 89) are: Area 1 The Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands; Area 2 Berlin. An hour later, at 03:00, the 79th Infantry Division began its crossing upriver, achieving much the same results. 211 Mobile Civilian Artisan Group, Royal Engineers. With the surrender of the German Army on 9 May 1945, the 21st Army Group became an army of occupation. Still, despite the terrain and German machine-gun and 20 millimetres (0.79in) anti-aircraft cannon fire, VIII Corps troops managed to gain control of the east bank's heights, and by dark on 26 March, with German resistance crumbling all along the Rhine, they were preparing to continue the drive the next morning. 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 English Army was founded in 1660, was succeeded in 1707 by the new British Army, incorporating the existing Scottish regiments. [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 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. There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). 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. The idea was that each Division would have 2 Task Forces , which . At the same time, General Devers' 6th U.S. Army Group would move south through Bavaria and the Black Forest to Austria and the Alps, ending the threat of any Nazi last-ditch stand there. Denying this opportunity became another argument for rethinking the role of the southern drive through Germany. The displaced residents nonetheless had to find housing on their own. In the British Army, divisions and brigades are referred to as "formations." Despite scattered resistance from a few isolated units, the war in Europe was over. These were based in various former German Army barracks in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westfalia. The French 1st Army, under de Lattre de Tassigny, was to attack to the south and southeast, taking Stuttgart before moving to the Swiss border and into Austria. 27th District Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. By the evening of 11 April, elements of the 9th Army's 2nd Armored Divisionseemingly intent on demonstrating how easily their army could take that coveted prizehad dashed 73mi (117km) to reach the Elbe southeast of Magdeburg, just 50mi (80km) short of the German capital. JanuaryMay 1945:265,000 to 400,000(For all fronts)[i]200,000 captured(JanuaryMarch)4,400,000 surrendered(AprilJune)[j]. The 9th Army's commander, Lieutenant General William Hood Simpson and the Second Army's Lieutenant-General Dempsey took exception to this approach. But, the site and the Forum are not solely for the ex-services community. 101st Provost Company, Royal Military Police, 102nd Provost Company, Royal Military Police, JHQ Rheindahlen, 2nd Intelligence Company, Intelligence Corps, JHQ Rheindahlen. 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]. 12th Royal School of Military Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers. [22], In addition, there was the matter of the Ruhr. In Berlin, the Reichsbanner resistance organization identified possible drop zones for Allied paratroopers and planned to guide them past German defenses into the city.[56]. After the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket, the main thrust east would be made by Bradley's 12th Army Group in the center, rather than by Montgomery's 21st Army Group in the north as originally planned. British Army and Royal Navy birth, marriage and death records (1730-1960) Search for a range of different types of British Army and Royal Navy birth, marriage and death records ( charges. Otherwise, he would pursue those objectives that would end the war soonest. British Formations & Units. british army of the rhine order of battle. [5] Its original function was to control the corps districts which were running the military government of the British zone of Allied-occupied 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. Also during this year on 1 April, 11th Armoured Division was reorganised into 4th Infantry Division. 262 Signal Squadron Royal Corps of Signals. 63rd Station Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Special Investigations Branch (Germany), JHQ Rheindahlen. ), taking the same title as the army of occupation following the Great War in 1919. Does anyone have an order of Battle for RAF in 1949? [57], By the beginning of 1945, Allied victory in Europe was inevitable. There will be no changes to personnel numbers, resourcing, cap badges or locations. 30-06-2021 12:05:06 ZULU, 1st (United Kingdom) Division (1 (UK) Div) with its blend of lighter infantry, logistics, engineers and medics will provide more strategic choice and a range of capabilities, conducting capacity building, stabilisation operations, disaster relief and UK resilience operations. The U.S. VII Corps, on the left, had the hardest going due to the German concentration north of the bridgehead, yet its armored columns managed to advance 12mi (19km) beyond their line of departure. The British army has never excelled at swift advances, and the Guards Armoured Division mandated to dash for the Rhine was better suited to conduct last-ditch, last-man infantry defensive actions than to emulate General Erwin Rommel's panzers.