5th Panzer Army

5th Panzer Army
5. Panzerarmee
Active
  • 8 December 1942 – 30 June 1943
  • 24 January 1944 – 17 April 1945
Country  Nazi Germany
Branch Army (Wehrmacht )
Type Panzer
Role Armoured warfare
Size Army
Engagements
Commanders
Notable
commanders

The 5th Panzer Army (German: 5. Panzerarmee) was a German armoured formation that operated on the Western Front and North Africa. The remnants of the army surrendered in the Ruhr pocket in 1945.

History

North Africa

The 5th Panzer Army was created on 8 December 1942 as a command formation for armoured units forming to defend Tunisia against Allied attacks which threatened, after the success of the Allied Operation Torch landings in Algeria and Morocco. The army fought alongside the Italian First Army as a part of Army Group Afrika.[1] The army capitulated on 13 May 1943, along with its commander Gustav von Vaerst. The army was disbanded on 30 June 1943.[2]

Normandy

The army was reformed on 24 January 1944 as Panzer Group West, the armoured reserve for OB West. The new army was placed under the command of Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg.[3] The method of employment of Panzer Group West in the event of an allied invasion was the subject of much controversy, with OB West commander Gerd von Rundstedt and Army Group B commander Erwin Rommel favouring different methods.[4] Rundstedt and Geyr von Schweppenburg believed that the panzer group should be held in reserve some distance from the front, to counter-attack Allied penetrations. Rommel was convinced that Allied air power and naval artillery would not allow the Germans the freedom to move large formations and so insisted that the panzers should be deployed much closer to the front line.[5] Adolf Hitler forced an unhappy compromise on the western commanders and refused to allow them to commit the panzer group without his authority. When the Allied Invasion began on 6 June 1944, Panzer Group West remained immobile; by 8 June, Geyr had been able to rush three panzer divisions northward to defend Caen against British and Canadian forces.[6] Geyr planned to launch the divisions in a counter-attack that would drive the British and Canadians back into the sea. On 10 June, Schweppenburg was wounded in an attack on the Panzer Group West headquarters at La Caine. Geyr’s tank units managed to limit the British advance for another month but he was relieved of his command on 2 July, after seconding Rundstedt’s request that Hitler authorize a strategic withdrawal from Caen. On 2 July he was replaced by Heinrich Eberbach. The panzer group fought against the Allied forces in Normandy, suffering heavy losses and eventually finding many of its divisions trapped in the Falaise Pocket. After the shattered remnants of the panzer group escaped from Falaise, it began a retreat towards the German border.

Retreat, Ardennes

In August, the remaining elements of Panzer Group West were reorganized as 5th Panzer Army, with a combat formation remaining in action under the title Panzer Group Eberbach. After a brief period under Sepp Dietrich, command of the army passed to Hasso von Manteuffel. The army saw heavy combat on the German border against Allied forces, the panzer divisions suffering heavily from Allied ground attack aircraft. In November the 5th Panzer Army began forming up in the Ardennes, alongside the newly formed 6th SS Panzer Army under Dietrich. Both formations took part in the Battle of the Bulge, the Fifth Panzer Army was set to be the main central force advancing westwards from the pre-existing front lines, suffering heavy losses in battles around Bastogne and in the armour battles around Celles and Dinant, the westernmost points of advance. After the offensive was cancelled, it continued its fighting withdrawal to the German border. In March, it was involved in efforts to eliminate the American bridgehead over the Rhine at the Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen. The 5th Panzer Army was encircled and trapped in the Ruhr Pocket, and surrendered on 17 April 1945.[7]

Commanders

Fifth Panzer Army (North Africa)

Panzer Group West

Panzer Group Eberbach

  • Heinrich Eberbach (10–21 Aug 1944)

Fifth Panzer Army (France)

Footnotes

Bibliography

  • Harrison, Gordon A. (1951) [1950]. The Cross Channel Attack. United States Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations (online ed.). Washington, DC: Off. of the Chief of Military History, Dep. of the Army. OCLC 835823314. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  • MacDonald, Charles B. (1973). The Last Offensive. United States Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations (online ed.). OCLC 569757222. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
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