The 5th Army () was a
field army of the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
History
The 5th Army was established on 25 August 1939 in ''
Wehrkreis
The military districts, also known in some English-language publications by their German name as Wehrkreise (singular: ''Wehrkreis''), were administrative territorial units in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. The task of military distr ...
'' VI with General
Curt Liebmann
Kurt is a male given name of Germanic or Turkish origin. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor.
In Turkish, Kurt means "Wolf" and i ...
in command. Responsible for the defense of the
Siegfried Line in the vicinity of
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
as part of
Army Group C
Army Group C (in German, ''Heeresgruppe C'' or ''HGr C'') was an army group of the German Wehrmacht, that was formed twice during the Second World War.
History
Army Group C was formed from Army Group 2 in Frankfurt on 26 August 1939. It init ...
from 3 September, the army was assigned the
Eifel Border Troops (
86th,
Trier Border,
26th, and
227th Divisions) and the
VI Army Corps (
16th
16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and .
In English speech, ...
,
69th,
211th, and
216th Infantry Divisions). It also included the
58th,
87th,
78th, and
268th Infantry Divisions in army reserve. During this period, known as the
Phoney War
The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germa ...
, no action took place on its sector of the Siegfried Line. On 13 October it was transferred to the east as Border Section Centre High Command (''Oberkommando Grenzabschnitt Mitte''). The latter served as a security force in occupied Poland. On 4 November 1939 it was renamed the
18th Army.
Commanders
See also
*
5th Army (German Empire)
The 5th Army (german: 5. Armee / Armeeoberkommando 5 / A.O.K. 5) was an army level command of the German Army in World War I. It was formed on mobilization in August 1914 seemingly from the VII Army Inspection. The army was disbanded in 1919 ...
for the equivalent formation in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
05
Military units and formations established in 1939
Military units and formations disestablished in 1939
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