There will be no changes to personnel numbers, resourcing, cap badges or locations. [25], When Allied soldiers arrived in a town, its leaders and remaining residents typically used white flags, bedsheets, and tablecloths to signal surrender. 29th Transport & Movement Control Regiment Royal Transport Corps. British Army of the Rhine - BAOR Locations West German military historian Burkhart Mller-Hillebrand estimated 265,000 dead from all causes and 1,012,000 missing and prisoners of war on all German battlefronts from 1 Jan 1945 30 April 1945. Again, these Divisions were not fighting formations, but like the earlier Brigades, provided depots for centralised training of recruits to the units within the Division. VIII Corps crossing sites were located along the Rhine Gorge, where the river had carved a deep chasm between two mountain ranges, creating precipitous canyon walls over 300 feet (91m) high on both sides. Following the reduction of the Ruhr, the 15th Army was to take over occupation duties in the region as the 9th,[39] 1st and 3rd Armies pushed farther into Germany. [6] The Army Department consisted of four components: the General Staff, the Adjutant General's department, which dealt with recruiting, and also had the Provost Marshal (Army), a brigadier, reporting to him, though the RMP headquarters was at Roussillon Barracks, Chichester;[7] the Military Secretary's department, and the Quartermaster General's department. Bradley had three American armies, the U.S. 1st Army (Courtney Hodges) on the left (north), the U.S. 3rd Army (George S. Patton) on the right (south), and the U.S. 15th Army (Leonard T. Gerow). The battle was a victory for the Allies, and resulted in the capture of over 250,000 German soldiers. With the Soviets at the door of Berlin, the western Allies decided any attempt on their behalf to push that far east would be too costly, concentrating instead on mopping up resistance in the west German cities. Second Army (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia Operation Veritable - Order of Battle The Brigade of Guards was reformed on 14 July 1948 as the administrative depot for the regiments of foot guards. By attaching mechanized infantry units to armored divisions, they created a hybrid of strength and mobility that served them well in the pursuit of warfare through Germany. DECODED: The Cold War in Europe 1945-1995 : NATO's Northern Army Group Wartime Order of Battle 1985. His detailed plans, code-named Operation Plunder, were comparable to the Normandy invasion in terms of numbers of men and extent of equipment, supplies, and ammunition to be used. Army. [59], In retrospect, very few questionable decisions were made concerning the execution of the campaign.[who?] 1, which began with "We come as a victorious army, not as oppressors." This change will be integrated within broader Defence, national and alliance efforts and enable the Field Army to operate and fight more effectively above and below the threshold of conflict. British Army of the Rhine (1st British Army) Berlin Field Force Royal Hussars (1 Sqn, the remainder at the Land Warfare Centre) 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards . [36], Simpson began by moving elements of the XIX Corps' 2nd Armored Division into the XVI Corps bridgehead on 28 March with orders to cross the Lippe east of Wesel, thereby avoiding that city's traffic jams. Everyone is asking its whereabouts and what its future role will be, says the British United Press correspondent with the British forces. This secondary drive would also give Eisenhower a degree of flexibility in case the northern attack ran into difficulties. The English Army was founded in 1660, was succeeded in 1707 by the new British Army, incorporating the existing Scottish regiments. The enemy armored unit began making its presence felt almost immediately, and by the end of 26 March, the combination of the panzer division and the rough terrain had conspired to sharply limit the 30th Division's forward progress. is infantry division. 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). [33], In the southernmost sector of the 21st Army Group's attack, the 9th Army's assault divisions were to cross the Rhine along an 11 miles (18km) section of the front, south of Wesel and the Lippe River. [30], Two more 3rd Army crossingsboth by VIII Corpsquickly followed. The idea was that each Division would have 2 Task Forces , which . [43], On 4 April, as it paused to allow the rest of the 12th U.S. Army Group to catch up, the 3rd Army made two notable discoveries. 3rd Base Ammo Depot, Royal Army Ordnance Corps. While this was short notice, it did not catch the XII Corps completely unaware. They include the Adjutant-Generals Corps, the Army Medical Services, the Royal Logistics Corps and the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Trackpad Publishing, 2022. 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. After overcoming stiff initial resistance, XV Corps also advanced beyond the Rhine, opposed primarily by small German strongpoints sited in roadside villages. Isby and Kamp, Armies of NATO's Central Front, 1985, 251-255. On the Western Front, the Allies had been fighting in Germany with campaigns against the Siegfried Line since the Battle of Aachen, the Battle of Metz and the Battle of Hrtgen Forest in late 1944 and by January 1945, had pushed the Germans back to their starting points during the Battle of the Bulge. The crossings would be preceded by several weeks of aerial bombing and final massive artillery preparation. After the assumption of government by civilians, it became the command formation for the troops in Germany only, rather than being responsible for administration as well. 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. Home [baor-locations.org] On the 30th and 31st, the 2nd Armored made an uninterrupted 40mi (64km) drive east to Beckum, cutting two of the Ruhr's three remaining rail lines and severing the autobahn to Berlin. The British Second Army was a field army active during the First and Second World Wars. Since the Allied armies on the Rhine were more than 300 miles (480km) from Berlin, with the Elbe River, 200 miles (320km) ahead, still to be crossed it seemed clear that the Soviets would capture Berlin long before the Western Allies could reach it. [22], For several reasons, Eisenhower began to readjust these plans toward the end of March. wikipedia.en/8th_Army_Group_Royal_Artillery.md at main chinapedia Lt Gen Jones added: "The Field Army must build on the strong foundation of the 3rd Divisions world class warfighting force. Only on 20 April, after breaching the ring of anti-aircraft guns and fighting house-to-house for the city, did its forces take Nuremberg. On 12 April, additional 9th Army elements attained the Elbe and by the next day were on the opposite bank hopefully awaiting permission to drive on to Berlin. . The 12th Army Group commander said that American troops could cross the Rhine anywhere, without aerial bombardment or airborne troops, a direct jab at Montgomery whose troops were at that very moment preparing to launch their own Rhine assault following an intense and elaborate aerial and artillery preparation and with the assistance of two airborne divisions, the American 17th and the British 6th. 1stCorps District8th Corps District30th Corps DistrictBritish Troops Berlin, Click here for information from Mar 49 onwards 1st (BR) Corps6th Armoured Division7th Armoured Division11th Armoured Division2nd Infantry DivisionBritish Troops BerlinRhine Army TroopsHamburg DistrictHannover DistrictRhine District5 Army Group Royal Artillery (Anti-Aircraft). Thus all three armies of the 12th U.S. Army Group were in a fairly even northsouth line, enabling them to advance abreast of each other to the Elbe. [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. Garrisons which closed at this time included Soest (home of the 6th Armoured Brigade),[10] Soltau (home of the 7th Armoured Brigade)[11] and Minden (home of the 11th Armoured Brigade). After taking Coburg, about 50mi (80km) south of Erfurt, on 11 April, XII Corps troops captured Bayreuth, 35mi (56km) farther southeast, on 14 April. The 30th was to cross between Wesel and Rheinberg while the 79th assaulted south of Rheinberg. Simpson planned to commit the XIX Corps as soon as possible after the bridgehead had been secured, using the XIII Corps to hold the Rhine south of the crossing sites. 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). In preparation for the Allied invasion of Germany east of the Rhine, a series of offensive operations were designed to seize and capture its east and west banks: Operation Veritable and Operation Grenade in February 1945, and Operation Lumberjack and Operation Undertone in March 1945; these are considered separate from the main invasion operation. 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. German resistance, initially rather determined, dwindled rapidly. [28], The location of the river-crossing assault was critical. The German forces there were simply in less disarray than those to the north. 4th (NATO) Postal & Courier Regiment, Royal Engineers, Berlin Postal and Courier Troop, Royal Engineers. Outline of the British Army at the end of the Cold War [10] Many of the units stationed in the United Kingdom were to move immediately to Germany to reinforce British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in case of war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. As soon as Patton had received the orders on the 19th to make a crossing, he had begun sending assault boats, bridging equipment and other supplies forward from depots in Lorraine where they had been stockpiled since autumn in the expectation of just such an opportunity. German Orders of battle March 1945 > WW2 Weapons Positioned on the North German Plain, it is the command element of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG). Ziethen's corps arrived late at Waterloo and linked up with Wellington's flank. Buschwhose main unit was the German 1st Parachute Army was to form the right-wing of the German defenses. British Army, Master Order of Battle 1991 Forces within the United Kingdom. British Commandos on the outskirts of Wesel 3-inch mortar of the 8th Royal Scots under enemy fire during the Rhine crossing, 24 March 1945 Aftermath [ edit] Impact on German forces and command [ edit] The Allied operation was opposed by the German 1st Parachute Army, commanded by General Alfred Schlemm, a part of Army Group H. Montgomery's forces were to secure Bradley's northern flank while Devers' 6th U.S. Army Group covered Bradley's southern shoulder. Active Edge: The Army, Germany and the Cold War Finally, the Germans surrendered, and by midnight units moved out laterally to consolidate the crossing sites and to attack the first villages beyond the river. [2] The Cologne Post was a newspaper published for members of the BAOR during this period. [36], Adding to the Germans' woes, the 6th Army Group made an assault across the Rhine on 26 March. Britains Armed Forces Today:3 British Army of The Rhine, T Gander 1984; Britains Modern Army, edition 1 1995, T Gander; Journal of the US Army War College. Later joined the staff of 10th Armoured Division in Western Desert. Involved in battle of El Alamein and the invasion of Sicily. Total given for serviceable Luftwaffe strength by 9 April 1945 is 3,331 aircraft. Near the town of Merkers, elements of the 90th Infantry Division found a sealed salt mine containing a large portion of the German national treasure. The last date on which the Army did not contain either a Guard's Brigade or Division as an operational unit was in 1920. British Army formations & units [1939-1945] - unit histories 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. Thus, as his forces had approached the east bank of the river, Montgomery proceeded with one of the most intensive buildups of material and manpower of the war. The three complementary British Army Divisions harness the wide range of British Army capabilities, providing choice to the Government in defence of the UKs interests. After attempting to strike a deal whereby he would surrender only to the Western Allies, a proposal that was summarily rejected on 7 May, Dnitz granted his representative, Alfred Jodl, permission to effect a complete surrender on all fronts. 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 Site is now approaching three years of age and much has happened in that time. Many of the units stationed in the United Kingdom were to move immediately to Germany to reinforce British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in case of war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The 9th Army's commander, Lieutenant General William Hood Simpson and the Second Army's Lieutenant-General Dempsey took exception to this approach. [8] These districts controlled the regular army brigades in the UK (inc 1st and 5th Brigades) and the predominantly TA regional brigades. The first British Army of the Rhine was set up in March 1919 to implement the occupation of the Rhineland. To the north, the 9th Army's XIX and XIII Corps would also drive for the Elbe, toward Magdeburg, about 65mi (105km) north of Leipzig, although the army commander, General Simpson, hoped he would be allowed to go all the way to Berlin. Crossing Of The Rhine In The Final Months Of WW2 - warhistoryonline British Formations & Units. The Battle of Arnhem through the eyes of German commander Walter Harzer British Army of the Rhine - WikiMili, The Best Wikipedia Reader Rdiger Overmans, Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. 5 (Gibraltar 177983) Field Battery, 94th Locating Regiment Royal Artillery. [44], The Elbe River was the official eastward objective, but many American commanders still eyed Berlin. Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Luftwaffe Data Book. The British Army in Germany - 1st Armoured Division and other units Heeresarzt 10-Day Casualty Reports per Theater of War, 1945 [BA/MA RH 2/1355, 2/2623, RW 6/557, 6/559]. Structure of the British Army in 1989 | Military Wiki | Fandom Botch on the Rhine | Max Hastings | The New York Review of Books Rarely seen photos of Battle of Arnhem reveal terrifying death and On 7 March, the Allies seized the intact bridge across the Rhine at Remagen, and established a large bridgehead on the river's east bank. All units within the service are either Regular (full-time) or Territorial Army (part-time), or a combination with sub-units of each type. 529 Air Support Specialist Team Corps of Royal Engineers. While Montgomery was carefully and cautiously planning for the main thrust in the north, complete with massive artillery preparation and an airborne assault, American forces in the south were displaying the kind of basic aggressiveness that Eisenhower wanted to see. Memorialised in the Hollywood. 1st Training Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers. Last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:39, "Outline of the British Army at the end of the Cold War", Learn how and when to remove this template message, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 2nd Infantry Divisional Transport Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport, The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment), Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire, 71st (Scottish) Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers (V), 73rd Volunteer Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers (V), 39th Airfield Damages Repair Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers, 33rd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers, 7th Parachute Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, 13th/18th (Queen Mary's Own) Royal Hussars, 266 (Gloucestershire Volunteer Artillery) Observation Post Battery, 157th (Wales & Midlands) Transport Regiment, 74th (Antrim Artillery) Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers (V), 75th Volunteer Engineer Regiment Royal Corps of Engineers (V), 33 (Lancashire and Cheshire) Signal Regiment, 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, 103rd (Lancashire Artillery Volunteers) Air Defence Regiment, Royal Artillery, 156th (Merseyside and Greater Manchester) Transport Regiment, 102nd (Ulster) Air Defence Regiment, Royal Artillery, Blowpipe surface-to-air missile launchers, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment), 4th (Volunteer) Battalion (North Irish Militia), Royal Irish Rangers, 5th (Volunteer) Battalion, Royal Irish Rangers, 16th (British Army of the Rhine) Signal Regiment, 21st Air Support Signal Regiment Royal Corps of Signals, 28 Amphibious Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, 1st Field Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, Structure of the British Armed Forces in 1989, United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles, "British Army: NATO Order of Battle 1989", "19911216 MORBAT Redacted PP 01 85 BAOR U", "19911216 MORBAT Redacted PP 86 105 Non UK Units U", "19911216 MORBAT REDACTED PP 106 229 UK Based Units U", "Senior Army Appointments:Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Land Forces", "British Army of the Rhine Order of Battle, July 1989", "British Army of the Rhine & Royal Air Force Germany 1989: Organisation and stationing of the British Armed Forces in Germany in 1989", "British Army units from 1945 on 2 Regiment", "British Army units from 1945 on Regiments 1 to 10", "British Army units from 1945 on 210 Squadron", "British Army units from 1945 on Green Howards", "Military Bands Monday 14 May 1990 Hansard UK Parliament", "British Army units from 1945 on Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire", "British Army units from 1945 on Light Infantry", "British Army units from 1945 on 27th Regiment RA", "British Army units from 1945 on 16th Regiment RA", "British Army units from 1945 on 209 Squadron", "British Army units from 1945 on Royal Hussars", "British Army units from 1945 on 45th Regiment RA", "British Army units from 1945 on Squadrons 1 to 10", "British Army units from 1945 on Ordnance Companies 20 to 70", "British Army units from 1945 on Field, Infantry & Armoured Workshops 6 to 10", "British Army units from 1945 on Field Ambulances 11 to 20", "British Army units from 1945 on Provost Companies 101 to 169", "British Army units from 1945 on 216 Squadron", "British Army units from 1945 on Life Guards", "British Army units from 1945 on 1st Bn Parachute Regiment", "British Army units from 1945 on 2nd Bn Parachute Regiment", "British Army units from 1945 on 7th Regiment RHA", "British Army units from 1945 on District Workshops", "British Army units from 1945 on 203 Squadron", "British Army units from 1945 on Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment", "FOI(A) relating to the Ulster Defence Regiment battalion locations and company locations in 1989", "British Army units from 1945 on 218 Squadron", "British Army units from 1945 on Hampshire Regiment", "British Army units from 1945 on Gloucestershire Regiment", "British Army units from 1945 on Provost Companies 170 to 260", "British Army units from 1945 on 213 Squadron", "British Army units from 1945 on Black Watch", "British Army units from 1945 on 33 Squadron", "The British Military Garrison in Ireland British Army", "British Army of the Rhine Order of Battle July 1989", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Outline_of_the_British_Army_at_the_end_of_the_Cold_War&oldid=1139014224, HQ Scotland District & 242 (Scottish) Signal Squadron, Royal Signals, Edinburgh.