[34], After an hour of extremely intense artillery preparation, which Eisenhower himself viewed from the front, the 30th Infantry Division began its assault. 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. By attaching an infantry regiment of the 104th Infantry Division to the armored division and following the drive closely with the rest of the 104th Division, the VII Corps was well prepared to hold any territory gained. [36], Adding to the Germans' woes, the 6th Army Group made an assault across the Rhine on 26 March. The two 9th Army divisions tasked for the assault concentrated in the Rheinberg area south of Wesel. Jonathan Biney - Logistics Supply Specialist (LSS) & Health - LinkedIn . Otherwise, he would pursue those objectives that would end the war soonest. An hour later, at 03:00, the 79th Infantry Division began its crossing upriver, achieving much the same results. The XV Corps also captured Berchtesgaden, the town that would have been Hitler's command post in the National Redoubt. This increased the importance of the southern offensives across the Rhine. [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. Ultimately under the command of Field Marshal, On 3 May the 85th and 88th [Infantry] Divisions sent task forces north over ice and snow 3 feet deep to seal the Austrian frontier and to gain contact with the American Seventh Army, driving southward from Germany. [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. Then, on the move to West Germany would join the 1st Artillery Brigade. 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. Outline of the British Army at the end of the Cold War 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. Was Colonel in Quartermaster branch and talks of the logistic problems - stockpiling ammunition for the crossing of the Rhine, supplies stuck in sand before Alamein. In a departure from standard airborne doctrine, which called for a jump deep behind enemy lines several hours prior to an amphibious assault, Varsity's drop zones were close behind the German front, within Allied artillery range. 3rd Field Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 10th Airborne Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Borden, (supported 5th Airborne Brigade), 16th Armoured Field Ambulance, Aldershot (to. [25], When Allied soldiers arrived in a town, its leaders and remaining residents typically used white flags, bedsheets, and tablecloths to signal surrender. 44th District Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, HQ South-West District & 243 (Southern) Signal Squadron, Royal Signals, Bulford, Permanent Planning Group Joint Force Headquarters, Bulford. To the south, elements of the VI Corps met unexpectedly fierce resistance at Heilbronn, 40mi (64km) into the German rear. Captain Murray S. Pulver, commander of Company B, 120th Infantry Regiment, was in his usual placethe thick of the fighting. 79107 (Regular Signal Squadrons, 200299). It was renamed the Guards Division on 01 July 1968. New book, 264 pages. British Army of the Rhine (Hansard, 19 July 1982) On the Eastern Front, the Soviet Red Army (including the Polish Armed Forces in the East under Soviet command), had taken most of Poland, launched an offensive into East Prussia and began their invasion into Eastern Germany in February 1945, and by March were within striking distance of Berlin. In the. It will include: 4th (Infantry) Brigade, 7th (Infantry) Brigade, 11th (Infantry) Brigade, 51st (Infantry) Brigade, 8th Engineer Brigade, 102nd Logistic Brigade, 104th Logistic Brigade, 2nd Medical Brigade, 3rd (United Kingdom) Division (3 (UK) Div) will remain as the Armys primary armoured warfighting force comprising: 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade, 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade, 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade, 1st Artillery Brigade, 101st Logistic Brigade, 25th Engineer Group, 7th Air Defence Group, 6th (United Kingdom) Division. 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. US General George Marshall estimated about 263,000 German battle deaths on the Western Front for the period from 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945, or a longer period. [28], On 22 March, with a bright moon lighting the late-night sky, elements of U.S. XII Corps' 5th Infantry Division began the 3rd Army's Rhine crossing. 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. It became the primary formation controlling the British contribution to NATO after the formation of the alliance in 1949. [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. 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). [8], With the end of the Cold War, the 1993 Options for Change defence cuts resulted in BAOR being reduced in size, and in 1994 it became British Forces Germany (BFG). PDF 21 Army Group History & Personnel - British Military History 2 Postal and Courier Regiment, Royal Engineers. Ziethen's corps arrived late at Waterloo and linked up with Wellington's flank. 10th Field Squadron (Airfields), 38th Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers. The British Army of the Rhine - Military History - Oxford - obo By sending armored spearheads around hotly contested areas, isolating them for reduction by subsequent waves of infantry, Eisenhower's forces maintained their eastward momentum. The British Army's Tank Regiments Might Last Just A Few Days - Forbes 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). Headquartered at JHQ Rheindahlen in West Germany and commanded by a General it consisted in peacetime of British I Corps and support troops. 529 Air Support Specialist Team Corps of Royal Engineers. Simpson now had both the opportunity and the means to unleash the power of the 9th Army and begin in earnest the northern drive to surrounding the Ruhr. By midnight, infantry units had pushed the boundary of the bridgehead more than 5 miles (8.0km) inland, ensuring the unqualified success of the first modern assault crossing of the Rhine. There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). 1956 Saw more major changes to the BAOR. On the night of March 23, 1945, the Allied forces that had gathered along the Rhine launched their invasion. [46], As was the case throughout the campaign, the German ability to fight was sporadic and unpredictable during the drive to the ElbeMulde line. GMT Games - BAOR: MBT Expansion 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]. Total given for serviceable Luftwaffe strength by 9 April 1945 is 3,331 aircraft. In the British Army division-level formations are administrative or deployable formations. 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). Headed from Bielefeld it comprised of; 5th Heavy Regiment RA (Hildesheim)50th Missile Regiment, RA (Menden)12 Air Defence Regiment, RA (Dortmund)22nd Air Defence Regiment, RA (Soest)94th Locating Regiment, RA (Celle)1st Battalion, The Royal Scots, Infantry (Mnster)8th Transport Regiment, RCT (Mnster). Botch on the Rhine | Max Hastings | The New York Review of Books Because of the poor road network on the east bank of this part of the Rhine, a second 9th Army corps was to cross over the promised Wesel bridges through the British zone north of the Lippe River, which had an abundance of good roads. 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. 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. Brigades consist of several "units," which are regiment- or battalion-sized, and which consist of a number of sub-units. More reorganisation was implemented in January 1978 with the creation of 3rd and th Armoured Brigades. 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. 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. Marston Moor order of battle - BCW Project british army of the rhine order of battle No breakdown of these figures between the various battlefronts was provided. [58], For their part, captured German soldiers often claimed to be most impressed not by American armor or infantry but by the artillery. Little or no reinforcement was forthcoming as the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) continued to concentrate most forces against the Soviets; it was estimated that the Germans had 214 divisions on the Eastern Front in April. Combat Support units: These units provide support to the combat units in the combat zone. In case of a war the Corps first line of defense would have been a screening force of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, 16th/5th Queen's Royal Lancers and 664 Squadron AAC, which would have become an ad-hoc brigade formation under command of BAOR's Brigadier Royal Armoured Corps. 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. During 1988 the disposition of brigades in Northern Ireland changed: On 1 July 1988 3rd Infantry Brigade reformed at Armagh and became responsible for the UK-Ireland border zone from Armagh to South Londonderry. 89) are: Area 1 The Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands; Area 2 Berlin. In a matter of days, they would all be killed or captured. Forty-nine of these divisions were American, 12 British, eight French, three Canadian and one Polish. The failure of this offensive exhausted Germany's strategic reserve, leaving it ill-prepared to resist the final Allied campaigns in Europe. [59], In retrospect, very few questionable decisions were made concerning the execution of the campaign.[who?] This guide will help you find records at The National Archives relating to military operations planned and carried out by the British Army since the end of the Second World War up until. Heeresarzt 10-Day Casualty Reports per Theater of War, 1945 [BA/MA RH 2/1355, 2/2623, RW 6/557, 6/559]. 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. Panzer General.Best described as "thorough", these games are strictly off limits to anyone who couldn't tell you . Western Allied invasion of Germany - Wikipedia Mallinson, Allan. The BAOR at this point still consisted of 80,000 troops.1956 Saw more major changes to the BAOR. [26], On 19 March, Eisenhower told Bradley to prepare the 1st Army for a breakout from the Remagen bridgehead any time after 22 March. [49], Meanwhile, on the 7th Army's right, the VI Corps had moved southeast alongside the French 1st 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. Key to the effort was the logistical support that kept these forces fueled, and the determination to maintain the forward momentum at all costs. 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. British Army - Order of Battle Lt Gen Ivan Jones, Commander Field Army (CFA), described plans for rebalancing his command which will see changes to the structure of the Field Army's primary. 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. As heavier equipment was ferried across the Rhine, both divisions began pushing east, penetrating 36 miles (4.89.7km) into the German defensive line that day. Back in the 1950s, a posting in Germany was being actively encouraged as a vast British Army presence continued to expand. British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) - GlobalSecurity.org These figures do not include POWs that died or were released during this period. This force would block any German counterattack from the Ruhr. 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. 3rd Training Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers. The U.S. V Corps on the right advanced 58mi (8.012.9km), incurring minimal casualties. The 339th Infantry [85th Division] reached Austrian soil east of Dobbiaco at 0415, 4 May; the Reconnaissance Troop, 349th Infantry. The Battle of the Rhine was the last major battle of the United States Army in World War II. Additional losses in the Rhineland further weakened the German Army, leaving shattered remnants of units to defend the east bank of the Rhine. In total they were to consist of 16 Divisions in four Corps (out of the current British total in Europe of 61 and 16), together with appropriate cavalry, air resources and extended lines of communication. First, his headquarters received reports that Soviet forces held a bridgehead over the Oder River, 30 miles (48km) from Berlin. On 6 May, the Polish 1st Armoured Division seized the Kriegsmarine naval base in Wilhelmshaven, where General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the fortress, naval base, East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions.