The 7th Army (german: 7. Armee / Armeeoberkommando 7 / A.O.K. 7) was an

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

level command of the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

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 ...

. It was formed on mobilization in August 1914 from the II Army Inspection. The army was disbanded in 1919 during demobilization after the war.

History

Formed at the outbreak of

, 7th Army formed the extreme left (southern) wing of the German Armies on the Western Front. During the execution of the French

Plan XVII Plan XVII () was the name of a "scheme of mobilization and concentration" that was adopted by the French (the peacetime title of the French ) from 1912 to 1914, to be put into effect by the French Army in the event of war between France and Ger ...

, the 7th Army covered

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, successfully repulsing the French attack in the

Battle of Lorraine The Battle of Lorraine (14 August – 7 September 1914) was a battle on the Western Front during the First World War. The armies of France and Germany had completed their mobilisation, the French with Plan XVII, to conduct an offensive through ...

. It then took part in the

Race to the Sea The Race to the Sea (; , ) took place from about 1914 during the First World War, after the Battle of the Frontiers () and the German advance into France. The invasion had been stopped at the First Battle of the Marne and was followed by the ...

, an attempt by both German and Anglo-French armies to turn each other's flank. At the end of the war it was serving as part of ''

Heeresgruppe Deutscher Kronprinz The Army Group German Crown Prince or Army Group B (german: Heeresgruppe Deutscher Kronprinz) was an Army Group of the German Army, which operated on the Western Front under command of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, between 1 August 1915 and 11 ...

''.

Order of Battle, 30 October 1918

By the end of the war, the 7th Army was organised as:

Commanders

The 7th Army had the following commanders during its existence.

Glossary

*''Armee-Abteilung'' or Army Detachment in the sense of "something detached from an Army". It is not under the command of an Army so is in itself a small army. *''Armee-Gruppe'' or Army Group in the sense of a group within an Army and under its command, generally formed as a temporary measure for a specific task. *''Heeresgruppe'' or

Army Group An army group is a military organization consisting of several field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods. It is usually responsible for a particular geographic area. An army group is the largest field organization handled by ...

in the sense of a number of armies under one commander.

References

Bibliography