AN OUTLINE OF 21 ARMY GROUP OPERATIONS
June 1944 to May 1945
This website is not primarily concerned with operations but an outline of the campaign will help to put the establishments, units and equipment into context.
Official Reports identify four stages in the Campaign.
6 JUNE 1944 - 25 JULY 1944.
The D Day landing, fighting in the Normandy Bocage, build up of forces and supplies and preparing for the breakout.
26 JULY 1944 - 26 SEPTEMBER 1944
The breakout, crossing the Seine, rapid advance across France and Belgium, capture of Brussels and Antwerp and Operation Market Garden.
27 SEPTEMBER 1944 - 14 JANUARY 1945
Clearing the approaches to Antwerp, establishing a base and the German Offensive in the Ardennes.
15 JANUARY 1945 – 6 MAY 1945
Clearing the approaches to the Rhine, Crossing the Rhine, advancing across Germany and Victory.
6 JUNE - 25 JULY
The Invasion of Europe was launched on the night of 5/6 June 1944. During the night 6 Airborne Division made a successful landing, seized bridges and established a limited bridge-head across the river Orne.
At H-hour the assaulting divisions landed on the beaches with 50 Infantry Division on the right, 3 Canadian Division in the centre and 3 British Division on the left. 50 Division quickly established a bridgehead and by nightfall had made contact with 3 Canadian Division which had advanced inland in the centre. On the left 3 British Division captured Ouistreham and made contact with 6 Airborne Division on its left.
- 7 June Bayeux was captured and 30 Corps attempted to advance south. 7 Armoured Division reached Villers Bocage but were compelled to withdraw again. On the 1 Corps front the enemy delivered several counter attacks both east and west of the Orne without success.
- 16 to 30 June operations were directed to the capture of Caen so that a strong left flank could be provided for the bridgehead.
- 19 June 30 Corps captured Tilly sur Seulles after very fierce fighting. Regrouping now took place and 8 Corps came into the centre between 30 and 1 Corps.
It was planned that from now on Second Army was to continue to contain the main enemy force and even draw further enemy formations towards it, while the US forces made a wide sweep on the right against what was hoped would be weak opposition. Second Army therefore had three main tasks -
(a) to contain the main enemy forces in their present area
(b) to capture Caen as soon as possible
(c) to repulse all counter attacks with its own resources so that the American sweep south and west could continue unhampered.
- 9 July Caen was captured.
- 18 July a powerful thrust was launched east of Caen preceded by a heavy air bombardment. At the start excellent progress was made by the armour, but after three days heavy fighting a strong anti-tank screen brought the advance to a halt. In order to oppose our attack the enemy had concentrated almost all his armour east of the Orne and Second Army had achieved its object of containing the main enemy forces thus smoothing the way for the US advances.
26 JULY-26 SEPTEMBER
The operational picture during this phase can be divided into four stages:-
- the combined British, Canadian and American operations in the area of Falaise leading up to the crossing of the Seine.
- the pursuit of the enemy through France and Belgium by Second Army
- the operations of First Canadian Army up the coast of France and Belgium
- the operations to extend east and north in Belgium and Holland culminating in the combined US and British airborne operation in the neighbourhood of Nijmegan and Arnhem.
- 25 July Second Army began a drive from the Caumont area south and east towards the River Orne with 8 Corps on the right, 30 Corps in the centre, and 12 Corps acting as a pivot on the left. First Canadian Army launched a heavy attack towards Falaise supported by one thousand heavy bombers and was only halted some four miles north of Falaise.
- 12 August a junction was made between the Canadians and 12 Corps who had successfully crossed the River Orne.
- 19 August the American army met the Canadians and the Falaise "pocket" was closed and the German Army retreating from Normandy was destroyed.
- 26 August orders were issued for 21 Army Group to advance North with the intention of eventually capturing Antwerp.
30 Corps crossed the Seine on the right of the British line in the vicinity of Vernon. The bridgeheads over the Seine were quickly established and by 31 August 30 Corps were crossing the Somme at Amiens and had advanced eighty miles. During the next four days the advance continued rapidly and Brussels was captured by Guards Armoured Division on 3 September, while 11 Armoured Division made an advance of sixty miles.
- 4 September 11 Armoured Division captured Antwerp but the northern suburbs close to the docks still remained to be cleared.
2 Canadian Corps crossed the Seine on 26 August near and advanced along the coast. By 1 September Dieppe was liberated and the port rapidly put into limited operation. On 4 September the area of Boulogne was reached and by 10 September Ostend and Nieuport had been occupied. Bruges was cleared by 11 September and the Ghent-Bruges canal was crossed after which an advance was made up to the Leopold canal and the area up to the Scheldt estuary was cleared.
1 Corps crossed the Seine and engaged the enemy outpost positions near Le Havre. After a heavy naval and air bombardment the attack on Le Havre began on the evening of 10 September and was ended by the surrender of the garrison on the morning of 12 September.
- 8 September the Guards Armoured Division secured a bridgehead over the Albert canal and advanced rapidly up to Bourg Leopold.
- 11 September a bridgehead over the Meuse-Escaut canal was established in conjunction with 11 Armoured Division
- 14 September another bridgehead over the canal was secured at Aart by 15 Infantry Division.
A great opportunity now presented itself of out-flanking the German defence line and advancing East provided bridgeheads could be secured over the Maas and the Rhine. It was decided that Second Army assisted by an airborne corps should attempt to advance to the Zuider Zee and thereafter swing east into Germany.
- 17 September the operations entitled Market Garden commenced. 1 British Airborne Division made a generally successful landing and captured the North end of the road bridge across the Neder-Rhine at Arnhem. Meanwhile the attack by Second Army began with 30 Corps advancing to six miles short of Eindhoven, with 8 Corps on the right and 12 Corps on the left exploiting their bridgeheads across the canal with a view to bridging it. 101 US Airborne Division captured Eindhoven and together with Guards Armoured Division pushed on to the southern bank of the Wilhemina canal while 82 US Airborne Division continued to drive for the bridges at Nijmegen. After four days 1 Airborne Division had to relinquish its hold on the road bridge at Arnhem, but although it had not been one hundred per cent successful a deep thrust of some sixty miles had been made.
27 SEPTEMBER 1944 - 14 JANUARY 1945
The most vital of the operations that took place during the period 27 September 44 to early January 45 were those to open the port of Antwerp. The plan to open Antwerp fell into three parts:
- the isthmus leading to South Beveland had to be secured,
- South Beveland itself had to be secured, and
- Walcheren island guarding the outer approaches to the port had to be captured.
While these operations were in progress 1 Corps advanced from the Antwerp-Turnhout Canal to the Maas while 2 Canadian Corps was made responsible for clearing the Scheldt.
1 November saw the assaults on Walcheren Island. The RAF bombed the sea dykes, flooding the island. Three assaults were to be made on the island: by 2 Canadian Infantry Division and 52 Division from South Beveland, by No. 4 Commando on Flushing and by Nos. 41, 47, 48 and 10 Commandos near Westkapelle. The assault from the east was unsuccessful. The attack on Flushing was successful and the build-up proceeded satisfactorily during the day. The force attacking Westkapelle was supported by the fire of HMS Warspite and two monitors and a close support squadron of twenty-five vessels.
During this time 30 Corps was concerned with expanding the Nijmegen bridgehead and keeping open the corridor while 8 Corps and 12 Corps came up on its right and left respectively.
16 December the enemy launched his Ardennes offensive against First US Army and on 20 December, the US Ninth and First Armies came under operational control of the HQ 21 Army Group. 30 Corps operated with First US Army on the northern and western flanks of the Ardennes salient.
15 JANUARY to 5 MAY.
Before the final assault into inner Germany across the Rhine could take place it was necessary to clear the area between the Maas and the Rhine.
Operation Blackcock commenced on 16 January when 12 Corps under conditions of hard frosts, sudden thaws and thick fog. The area south of the Roer was completely cleared in ten days except for a small bridgehead south west of Roermund.
Operation Veritable was carried out by 30 Corps. This latter corps had seven divisions, three independent armoured brigades, eleven regiments of 79 Armoured Division grouped under a brigade headquarters and five AGRA. The attack was to be carried out initially by 30 Corps while1 Corps to the west continued to hold its 125 mile front along the Maas. The attack began on 8 February. The Siegfried defences were pierced on 9 February and the outskirts of Cleve entered. Floods were a serious handicap to the operation but by 13 February the Siegfried line had been completely breached and the Reichwald was cleared.
The assault across the Rhine was to be by means of two operations, Plunder to be carried out by the ground troops, and Varsity which was the airborne drop across the Rhine. The intention was to establish a bridgehead over the Rhine, isolate the Ruhr from the rest of Germany and break into the North German Plain. Ninth US Army was to assault across the Rhine near Rhineberg, Second British Army was to assault in the area of Xanten and Rees while First Canadian Army was to carry out feints along the Rhine on the left flank of Second Army. The role of 18 US Airborne Corps consisting of 17 US Airborne Division and 6 British Airborne Division was to seize the high ground and certain bridges about five miles north of Wesel, to speed the capture of Wesel, and assist the Rhine crossings.
The break-out started when 18 US Airborne Corps, 8 Corps and 12 Corps advanced rapidly meeting the first organised resistance on the line of the Dortmund-Ems canal where fighting went on from 31 March to 6 April.
At 1820 hours on 4 May representatives of the German High Command surrendered to the
Commander-in-Chief 21 Army Group at Luneburg Heath and the order to cease fire became effective at 0800 hours on 5 May 1945.
MAINTENANCE.
Large armies need a large and sophisticated system to maintain them. For mobile warfare a new system was developed. Previously supplies were sent daily by pack train to railhead, with only a small balancing reserve held in the forward area. This was possible because the demand for supplies was fairly constant and the delivery point fixed. In mobile warfare there was a considerable variation in demand for ammunition, petrol, engineer stores etc. It was also more common to rapidly move divisions from one Corp or Army to another. Rapid advances meant that there was a variation in the time taken to transport supplies and in the delivery points. Two major changes were that stocks were held well forward and that the Staff, rather than services, had to control and co ordinate maintenance services.
Field Maintenance Centres were introduced to hold reserves under Corps control to compensate for interruptions and fluctuations in supply. Army Roadhead was introduced as an advanced depot area to supply the Field Maintenance Centre. Both of these made depots and reserves vulnerable to enemy action.
Road transport was regarded as a pool to be used flexibly. Transport was allocated by a higher formation but controlled by lower formations. Unit’s first line transport was used to collect supplies rather than have divisional second line transport deliver them.
Rear Maintenance Area.
The Rear Maintenance Area was formed from Nos. 1 and 2 Army Roadheads. The armies would later establish new roadheads. By September the military population in the Rear Maintenance Area was approximately 100,000 and the tonnage of stocks there amounted to between 300,000 and 400,000 tons.
Advance Base.
The decision was made early in September that the new advance base for the British forces would be established in the area of Antwerp and Brussels. The selection of this area for the advance base was made because it was suitably located both for stocking from the ports and for delivery to the fighting troops. In addition it was well served by road, rail and canal communications, contained much suitable accommodation and had readily available a good supply of labour.
It had been considered certain that the enemy would impose a delay on the advance and would eventually turn and fight. It had been planned that the area in a rough triangle Dieppe-Rouen-Le Havre should be laid out as an advance base. The rapid advance made this unnecessary but by the time Brussels was reached the Lines of Communication stretched four hundred miles back to the Rear Maintenance Area.
In addition to a constant intake of all commodities to meet daily maintenance requirements it was estimated that prior to launching any major advance 20,000 tons of supplies, 40,000 tons of POL and a similar tonnage of ammunition in addition to large quantities of ordnance, RE and medical stores would be required in the advance base.
Stocking of the advance base presented a difficult movement problem with the import of stores from UK having to be co-ordinated with the moving of the stocks from the Rear Maintenance A. In particular the available transporter and rail lift for heavy "A" vehicles was severely limited.
Roadheads.
Roadheads were dumps serving an army. They were stocked by Line of Communication units and army transport units collected from them.
1 Canadian Army. Odd numbers.
No1 Roadhead - Caen
No 3 Roadhead - Seine
No3A Roadhead - Elbeuf
No 5 Roadhead - Dieppe
No 7 Roadhead - Lens
No 9 Roadhead - Termonde
No 11 Roadhead - Turnhout.
No13 Roadhead - Nijmegen
No15 Roadhead - Hengelo-Almelo
2 Army. Even numbers.
No 2 Roadhead - Bayeaux
No 4 Roadhead - Seine
No 6 Roadhead - Diest
No 8 Roadhead - Bourg Leopold
No 10 Roadhead - Goch – Venlo
No 12 Roadhead - Wesel
No 14 Roadhead - Sulingen
On the rapid advance across France and into Belgium the distance between Roadheads and the armies they served was too great and Cushions had to be formed. These cushions are normally the dumped requirements of corps brought forward on third line transport to a position in front of the main roadhead.
No 1 Cushion - Falaise
No 2 Cushion - Beauvais
No 3 Cushion - Doullens
