Army Group North (german: Heeresgruppe Nord) was a German strategic formation, commanding a grouping of field armies 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 ...

. The German Army Group was subordinated to the ''

Oberkommando des Heeres The (; abbreviated OKH) was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's rearmament of Germany. OKH was ''de facto'' the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat a ...

'' (OKH), the German army high command, and coordinated the operations of attached separate

army corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies grea ...

, reserve formations, rear services and logistics, including the

Army Group North Rear Area Army Group North Rear Area (''Rückwärtiges Heeresgebiet Nord'') was one of the three Army Group Rear Area Commands, established during the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union. Initially commanded by General Franz von Roques, it was an area ...

Operational history

The Army Group North was created on the 2 September 1939 by reorganization of the 2nd Army Headquarters. Commander in Chief as of 27 August 1939 was Field Marshal

Fedor von Bock Moritz Albrecht Franz Friedrich Fedor von Bock (3 December 1880 – 4 May 1945) was a German who served in the German Army during the Second World War. Bock served as the commander of Army Group North during the Invasion of Poland in ...

Invasion of Poland

The first employment of Army Group North was in the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

of 1939, where in September it controlled: * 3rd Army * 4th Army * a reserve of four divisions ** 10th Panzer Division ** 73rd Infantry Division ** 206th Infantry Division ** 208th Infantry Division. The Army Group was commanded by

for the operation. After the end of the campaign, it was transferred to the Western Theatre and on the 10 October 1939 was renamed as the Army Group B, and consisted of: * 6th Army * 4th Army

Invasion of the Soviet Union

In preparation for

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

, Army Group North was reformed from Army Group C on 22 June 1941. Army Group North was commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb and staged in

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1 ...

. Its strategic goal was

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, with operational objectives being the territories of the Baltic republics and securing the northern flank of

Army Group Centre Army Group Centre (german: Heeresgruppe Mitte) was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army fo ...

in Northern Russia between Western Dvina River and

Daugavpils Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the ...

- Kholm Army Group boundary. On commencement of the Wehrmacht's Baltic offensive operation the army group deployed into Lithuania and northern Belorussia. It served mainly in Baltic territories and north Russia until 1944. Commander in Chief 22 June 1941: Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb. Its subordinate armies were deployed with the following immediate objectives: * 18th Army - from Koenigsberg to Ventspils - Jelgava * 4th Panzer Group - Pskov * 16th Army - Kaunas, Daugavpils *Army Group troops ** Army-Group signals regiment 537 ** Army-Group signals regiment 639 (2nd echelon)

The Baltic offensive operation

All operational objectives such as

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

were achieved despite stubborn Red Army resistance and several unsuccessful

counter-offensive In the study of military tactics, a counter-offensive is a large-scale strategic offensive military operation, usually by forces that had successfully halted the enemy's offensive, while occupying defensive positions. The counter-offensive is ...

s such as the Battle of Raseiniai, and the army group approached Leningrad, commencing the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...

. However, while the Baltic states were overrun, the

continued until 1944, when it was lifted as a result of the Red Army Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation. In September 1941, the Spanish Blue Division was assigned to Army Group North.

Northern Russia offensive operation

Composition:
October 1941 * 16th Army * 18th Army Nevsky Pyatachok
Operation Nordlicht

Northern Russia defensive campaign

Commander in Chief 17 January 1942: GFM Georg von Küchler Composition:
September 1942 * 11th Army * 16th Army * 18th Army December 1942 * 16th Army * 18th Army Demyansk Pocket
Kholm Pocket
Soviet Toropets-Kholm Operation

Battle of Velikiye Luki The Battle of Velikiye Luki, also named Velikiye Luki offensive operation (russian: Великолукская наступательная операция), started with the attack by the forces of the Red Army's Kalinin Front against the We ...

Battle of Krasny Bor

Baltic defensive campaign

Commander in Chief 9 January 1944: Field marshal Walter Model
Commander in Chief 31 March 1944: Generaloberst Georg Lindemann
Commander in Chief 4 July 1944: Generaloberst Johannes Frießner
Commander in Chief 23 July 1944: GFM Ferdinand Schörner March 1944 * Army detachment "Narwa" * 16th Army * 18th Army Battle of Narva, consisting of: # Battle for Narva Bridgehead and # Battle of Tannenberg Line Combat in South Estonia, 1944
Soviet Baltic Offensive
Battle of Porkuni
Battle of Vilnius (1944)
Battle of Memel After becoming trapped in the Courland Cauldron after 25 January 1945, the Army Group was renamed Army Group Courland. On the same day, in East Prussia, a new Army Group North was created by renaming Army Group Center. On the 2 April 1945, the army group was dissolved, and the staff formed the 12th Army headquarters.

Campaign in East Prussia

Army Group North (old Army Group Centre), was driven into an ever smaller pocket around Königsberg in

. On April 9, 1945 Königsberg finally fell to the Red Army, although remnants of Army Group units continued to resist on the Heiligenbeil & Danzig beachheads until the end of the war in Europe. October 1944 * 16th Army * Armee-Abteilung Grasser * 18th Army November 1944 * 16th Army * Armee-Abteilung Kleffel * 18 Armee December 1944 * 16th Army * 18th Army Soviet East Prussian Offensive

Battle of Königsberg The Battle of Königsberg, also known as the Königsberg offensive, was one of the last operations of the East Prussian offensive during World War II. In four days of urban warfare, Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front and the 3rd Belorussia ...

Heiligenbeil pocket The Heiligenbeil Pocket or Heiligenbeil Cauldron (german: Kessel von Heiligenbeil) was the site of a major encirclement battle on the Eastern Front during the closing weeks of World War II, in which the Wehrmacht's 4th Army was almost entirely ...

Campaign in West Prussia

Commander in Chief 27 January 1945: Generaloberst Dr. Lothar Rendulic
Commander in Chief 12 March 1945: Walter Weiß
Composition:
February 1945 * Armee-Abteilung Samland * 4th Army Soviet East Pomeranian Offensive
Battle of Kolberg

Courland Pocket The Courland Pocket (Blockade of the Courland army group), (german: Kurland-Kessel)/german: Kurland-Brückenkopf (Courland Bridgehead), lv, Kurzemes katls (Courland Cauldron) or ''Kurzemes cietoksnis'' (Courland Fortress)., group=lower-alpha ...

On the 25 January 1945 Hitler renamed three army groups. Army Group North became Army Group Courland, more appropriate as it had been isolated from Army Group Centre and was trapped in Courland, Latvia;

became Army Group North and

Army Group A Army Group A (Heeresgruppe A) was the name of several German Army Groups during World War II. During the Battle of France, the army group named Army Group A was composed of 45½ divisions, including 7 armored panzer divisions. It was responsible ...

became Army Group Centre.

Commanders

Notes and references

Bibliography

* {{Subject bar , portal1=Military of Germany , portal2=World War II

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

Military units and formations established in 1939 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945