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. Later D Day and Normandy. An hour later, at 03:00, the 79th Infantry Division began its crossing upriver, achieving much the same results. [51], On the 21st Army Group's left, one corps of the Canadian First Army reached the North Sea near the Dutch-German border on 16 April, while another drove through the central Netherlands, trapping the German forces remaining in that country. [35], To the south, the discovery of a defensive gap in front of the 30th Infantry Division fostered the hope that a full-scale breakout would be possible on 25 March. 88 mm Pak 43 with spread mount covered in a securing position behind the river Rhine, Germany spring 1945. British Air Forces of Occupation, Royal Air Force (c/o British Army On Rhine 1) ***** ***** No. 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. Also looking forward to going home, tens of thousands of freed forced laborers and Allied prisoners of war further strained the American logistical system. General Eisenhower's Armies were facing resistance that varied from almost non-existent to fanatical[54] as they advanced toward Berlin, which was located 200km (120mi) from their positions in early April 1945. The Field Army rebalancing is part of the Armys response to the emerging Defence thinking and will create a Field Army of integrated, interdependent and complementary formations from 1 Aug 2019. [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. 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. The appropriate documents were signed on the same day and became effective on 8 May. 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. 36th District Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, HQ London District & 238 Signal Squadron, Royal Signals, Chelsea. If they held out for a year or more, dissension between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies might give them political leverage for some kind of favorable peace settlement. Page last modified: [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 ceased to by an occupation force and became responsible for the northern front from Hamburg to Kassel in the event of a Soviet invasion. If successful, this pincer movement would envelop the industrial Ruhr area, neutralizing the largest concentration of German industrial capacity left. 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. These rapid advances on the Eastern Front destroyed additional veteran German combat units and severely limited German Fhrer Adolf Hitler's ability to reinforce his Rhine defenses. On roulement deployment from February 1989 to February 1991. 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 the event of war with the Warsaw Pact the Commander-in-Chief of BAOR would have assumed command of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG), which was tasked with defending Northern Germany up to the river Elbe. 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. Army Group B commander Model committed suicide on 21 April. A heavy bombing campaign by USAAF and RAF forces, known as the "Interdiction of Northwest Germany", designed primarily to destroy the lines of communication and supply connecting the Ruhr to the rest of Germany had been underway since February. It included the four military members of the Army Board, including the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir John Chapple in 1989, the Second Permanent Under Secretary, and the Assistant Chief of the General Staff, a major general. Unknown to many, the British Army of the Rhine was first established as an occupational force after the Great War of 1914 - 1918. . 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. 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. 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. In July 1944, soon after the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944), the British 11th Armoured Division broke out of the Normandy beachhead and advanced into France, before turning northward to Belgium. 89) are: Area 1 The Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands; Area 2 Berlin. BAOR had command of four Areas or Districts: I Corps District; [45], Meanwhile, on the 12th U.S. Army Group's southern flank, the 3rd Army had advanced apace, moving 30mi (48km) eastward to take Erfurt and Weimar, and then, by 12 April, another 30mi (48km) through the old 1806 Jena Napoleonic battlefield area. An intense exchange of fire lasted for about thirty minutes as assault boats kept pushing across the river and those men who had already made it across mounted attacks against the scattered defensive strongpoints. On 29 November 1952, the Headquarters of Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) formed. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. This secondary drive would also give Eisenhower a degree of flexibility in case the northern attack ran into difficulties. The 1st Army's area, on the other hand, was composed of rough, heavily forested terrain with a poor road network. 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. For administrative purposes these units were under command of brigade HQ based in the UK during peacetime. Lt Gen Ivan Jones, Commander Field Army (CFA), described plans for rebalancing his command which will see changes to the structure of the Field Armys primary formations. [57], The crossing of the Rhine, the encirclement and reduction of the Ruhr, and the sweep to the ElbeMulde line and the Alps all established the final campaign on the Western Front as a showcase for Western Allied superiority over the Germans in maneuver warfare. 14th Independent Topographic Squadron, Royal Engineers. A German holdout force of 70,000 in the Harz Mountains40mi (64km) north of Erfurtwas neutralized in this way, as were the towns of Erfurt, Jena, and Leipzig. The following is a hierarchical outline for the structure of the British Army in 1989. Contents 1 History 1.1 1919-1929 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. Lord & Watson, pp. Despite a wide armored thrust to envelop the enemy defenses, it took nine days of intense fighting to bring Heilbronn fully under American control. [12], Following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the permanent deployment of British Army units in Germany began to be phased out, with the last military base handed back to the German Bundeswehr in February 2020. As the rest of the XIX Corps flowed into the wake of this spectacular drive, the 1st Army was completing its equally remarkable thrust around the southern and eastern edges of the Ruhr. Eastern District, Colchester, covering the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Rutland, Northamptonshire, and Lincolnshire Back in the 1950s, a posting in Germany was being actively encouraged as a vast British Army presence continued to expand. 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. There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine ( BAOR ). The same day, in response to the 3rd Army's robust showing in the Saar-Palatinate region, and to have another strong force on the Rhine's east bank guarding the 1st Army's flank, Bradley gave Patton the go-ahead for an assault crossing of the Rhine as soon as possible. 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. Also during this year on 1 April, 11th Armoured Division was reorganised into 4th Infantry Division. Also on 28 March, elements of the U.S. 17th Airborne Division operating north of the Lippe River in conjunction with British armored forcesdashed to a point some 30mi (48km) east of Wesel, opening a corridor for the XIX Corps and handily outflanking Dorsten and the enemy to the south. 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. In a few days the war in Europe would be over. The 339th Infantry [85th Division] reached Austrian soil east of Dobbiaco at 0415, 4 May; the Reconnaissance Troop, 349th Infantry. From 1968 through 2010, the Infantry was administered by 'Divisions' of infantry Guards Division, Scottish Division, King's Division, Queen's Division and Prince of Wales' Divisions [four regiments were not under these Divisions]. [26], On 19 March, Eisenhower told Bradley to prepare the 1st Army for a breakout from the Remagen bridgehead any time after 22 March. [62], Media related to Western Allied invasion of Germany at Wikimedia Commons. [3], From 1922 the BAOR was organised into two brigades:[1], The second British Army of the Rhine was formed on 25 August 1945 from the British Liberation Army. 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. 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. [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. 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. 10th Field Squadron (Airfields), 38th Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers. The Defence Operations Executive, led by the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments) and including the Assistant Chiefs of the Naval, General, and Air Staffs, supervised the Joint Operations Centre which in turn passed orders to the forces in Cyprus, Belize, the Falklands, and Hong Kong. [42], Meanwhile, the remaining Allied forces north, south, and east of the Ruhr had been adjusting their lines in preparation for the final advance through Germany. [37], Beginning the next day, 26 March, the armored divisions of all three corps turned these initial gains into a complete breakout, shattering all opposition and roaming at will throughout the enemy's rear areas. [22], Also focusing Eisenhower's attention on the southern drive was concern over the "National redoubt." . 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. 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. To accomplish both objectives, Patch's 7th Army on Devers' left was to make a great arc, first driving northeastward alongside Bradley's flank, then turning south with the 3rd Army to take Nuremberg and Munich, ultimately continuing into Austria. The officer in charge of the unit capturing the area, typically a company or battalion, accepted responsibility over the town. It was renamed the Guards Division on 01 July 1968. 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). Postal and Courier Depot, Royal Engineers, Central Volunteer HQ Royal Engineers (Postal and Courier Services). At Worms, about 25 miles (40km) south of Mainz, the 7th Army's XV Corps established a bridgehead, which it consolidated with the southern shoulder of the 3rd Army's bridgehead early the next day. At the top of the Army organisation is the Army Board of the Defence Council. 8th Signal Regiment Royal Corps of Signals. [7] In 1967, the force was reduced in strength to 53,000 soldiers, compared with 80,000 ten years earlier. But, the site and the Forum are not solely for the ex-services community. The British Rhine occupation force British Second and Fourth Armies were selected to make the advance and to commence on 17 November 1918. [30], Two more 3rd Army crossingsboth by VIII Corpsquickly followed. In five days of battle, from 18 to 22 March, Patton's forces captured over 68,000 Germans. All had been unceremoniously repulsed by the vastly superior Allied forces. 21st Army Group gave their strength on 5 May 1945 excluding US forces as 9248 tanks and 6584 guns. Soldiers requisitioned housing and office space as needed from residents. 1956 Saw more major changes to the BAOR. 23rd Base Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 37th (Rhine) Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Mnchengladbach, 62nd Rear Combat Zone Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Mnchengladbach. By the end of April, the Third Reich was in tatters. Still, by 11 April 7 Army had penetrated the German defenses in-depth, especially in the north, and was ready to begin its wheeling movement southeast and south. . 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. Behind the screening force 1st Armoured and 4th Armoured Division would form up. 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. [28], The location of the river-crossing assault was critical. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) were occupation forces set up in Germany following the two World Wars. The . By then, the paratroopers had taken all their first day's objectives in addition to 3,500 prisoners. A captain of the 506th wrote, "At one point the men were so weary that [on] the order to rest . [27], These were exactly the orders Patton had hoped for; he felt that if a sufficiently strong force could be thrown across the river and significant gains made, then Eisenhower might transfer responsibility for the main drive through Germany from Montgomery's 21st Army Group to Bradley's 12th. Welcome to BAOR Locations. To accomplish this, he had to move quickly. During the Cold War NORTHAG was NATO's forward defence in the Northern half of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). These commands consisted of units of all three services and were commanded by one or 2-star rank flag officers. DECODED: The Cold War in Europe 1945-1995 : NATO's Northern Army Group Wartime Order of Battle 1985. 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. 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. The displaced residents nonetheless had to find housing on their own. 529 Air Support Specialist Team Corps of Royal Engineers. These figures do not include POWs that died or were released during this period. Both formations had areas of responsibility located around the German section of the River Rhine. In the end, the campaign proceeded as Eisenhower had planned it. 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. During the three days leading up to Montgomery's attack, targets in front of the 21st Army Group zone and in the Ruhr area to the southeast were pummeled by about 11,000 sorties, effectively sealing off the Ruhr while easing the burden on Montgomery's assault forces. Mallinson, Allan. Positioned on the North German Plain, it is the command element of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG). 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. 1 CVR(T) representing the HQ or Recce Capability. On mobilisation the regiments would join their divisional artillery. 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. 5 (Gibraltar 177983) Field Battery, 94th Locating Regiment Royal Artillery. When the 4th Armored Division and elements of the 89th Infantry Division captured the small town of Ohrdruf, a few miles south of Gotha, they found the first concentration camp taken by the Western Allies. 6th Division focuses on Cyber, Electronic Warfare, Intelligence, Information Operations and unconventional warfare through niche capabilities such as the Specialised Infantry Battalions.". On 30 April, as the Red Army closed in from the east, Hitler killed himself in his Berlin bunker. On 27 November 1989 Peter Inge became the commander of NATO's Northern Army Group and Commander-in-Chief, British Army of the Rhine in Germany with the local rank of general;[115] he succeeded General Brian Kenny. The speed of change is moving at a remarkable rate and it will only get faster and more complex. 62 Cyprus Support Squadron, Royal Engineers. It became the primary formation controlling the British contribution to NATO after the formation of the alliance in 1949. [36], Adding to the Germans' woes, the 6th Army Group made an assault across the Rhine on 26 March. 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 . 4th Security Company, Intelligence Corps. Ziethen's corps arrived late at Waterloo and linked up with Wellington's flank. 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. Both believed that the plan squandered the great strength in men and equipment that the 9th Army had assembled and ignored the many logistical problems of placing the 9th Army's crossing sites within the Second Army's zone. The German forces there were simply in less disarray than those to the north. In the south, the 1st Army's III Corps launched its strike on the 5th and the XVIII Airborne Corps joined in on the 6th, both pushing generally northward. 1 FV432, towing a bar mine layer and mounting a Ranger Scatterable mine discharger . It was fought in March and April 1945, after the Allied crossing of the Rhine River. The purpose of this site is to give people, still serving or not, the opportunity to look back at the places in Germany where they may have served over the years and also a view of the regiments and units which shaped them. [23][24], After capturing the Ruhr, Eisenhower planned to have the 21st Army Group continue its drive east across the plains of northern Germany to Berlin. British Order of Battle Mid 1980 In 1980 the British Army was still organised in the Task Force system. Greenhill Books. 3rd Training Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers. Despite scattered resistance from a few isolated units, the war in Europe was over. Hong Kong Provost Company & Hong Kong Dog Company, HQ 48th Gurkha Infantry Brigade & 246 Gurkha Signal Squadron, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:39. [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. 4th Guards Infantry Brigade (Iserlohn)6th Infantry Brigade (Mnster)7th Armoured Brigade (Soltau)11th Infantry Brigade (Minden)12th Infantry Brigade (Osnabrck)20th Armoured Brigade (Detmold)Berlin Brigade (Berlin)In 1968 6th Infantry Brigade was relocated back to Great Britain, only to return in the Autumn of 1970.