German First Panzer Army
|
Insignia of the German First Panzer Army |
The
First Panzer Army () was a
German tank army that fought during
World War II.
When formed the First Panzer Army was named
Panzer Group Kleist (
Panzergruppe Kleist) and was activated on November 16,
1940 with
Field Marshal Ewald von Kleist in command. It was deployed in occupied
France until
1941. In April 1941, Panzer Group Kleist took part in the invasion of
Yugoslavia as part of Field Marshal
Maximilian von Weichs's
Second Army. Panzer Group Kleist performed brilliantly in Yugoslavia, quickly smashing the
Yugoslavian Fifth and
Sixth Armies before entering
Belgrade.
In May 1941, Panzer Group Kleist became
Panzer Group 1 (
Panzergruppe 1), which was attached to Field Marshal
Gerd von Rundstedt's
Army Group South at the beginning of
Operation Barbarossa. At the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Panzer Group 1 included two
panzer divisions and two
motorized SS divisions, including the
Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. Panzer Group 1 served on the southern sector of the
Eastern Front against the
Red Army. On October 6, 1941, Panzer Group 1 was upgraded to the
First Panzer Army (
1. Panzerarmee) following the fall of
Kiev, with von Kleist still in command. After that the First Panzer Army began its thrust on
Rostov. Together with the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler led by
Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich, von Kleist reluctantly made the attack on Rostov. His First Panzer Army successfully captured the city in November, but the Red Army recaptured it eight days later.
In January
1942,
Army Group von Kleist, which consisted of the First Panzer Army along with the
Seventeenth Army, was formed with its namesake, von Kleist, in command. Army Group von Kleist played a major role in repulsing the
Soviet attack in the
Second Battle of Kharkov in May 1942. Army Group von Kleist was disbanded that month. The First Panzer Army, still under von Kleist, which had been attached to
Army Group South earlier, became part of
Army Group A under Field Marshal
Wilhelm List. Army Group A was to lead the thrust into the
Caucasus during
Operation Blue and capture
Grozny and the
Baku oilfields. The First Panzer Army was to spearhead the attack. An initially successful attack was led, with
Rostov,
Maikop,
Krasnodar, and the entire
Kuban region captured.
However, in September 1942, Army Group A's offensive was stalled in the Caucasus, and List was sacked. After
Adolf Hitler briefly took personal control of Army Group A, he appointed von Kleist to command it on November 21, 1942. As von Kleist took command of Army Group A,
Colonel-General Eberhard von Mackensen took the reins of the First Panzer Army. In December 1942, as the
German Sixth Army was already being crushed in the
Battle of Stalingrad, the
Red Army launched a successful offensive against Army Group A. The First Panzer Army was evacuated through Rostov in January 1943, before the Soviets could cut it off in the
Kuban. By February 1943 it had been withdrawn west of the
Don River, and von Kleist withdrew the rest of his forces from the Caucasus into the
Kuban area, east of the
Strait of Kerch.
In January 1943, von Mackensen's First Panzer Army became attached to
Army Group Don under Field Marshal
Erich von Manstein. The month after that, von Manstein redeployed the First Panzer Army together with the
Fourth Panzer Army to counter-attack Soviet penetrations along his northern flank. The First Panzer Army contributed to the success of the
Third Battle of Kharkov in March
1943. In October 1943
Soviet forces crossed the
Dnieper River between
Dnipropetrovsk and
Kremenchug. The First Panzer Army counter-attacked along with the
Eighth Army, but failed to dislodge the Soviets. At the end of that month, as the
Red Army closed in on
Kiev, von Mackensen was replaced by
Colonel-General Hans-Valentin Hube. In March 1944, two Soviet tank armies broke through in the
Ukraine and threatened to cut off the First Panzer Army and the Eighth Army from the
SS and
Fourth Panzer Armies. That same month, von Manstein was dismissed by Hitler.
The First Panzer Army remained attached to
Army Group South from March 1943 to July 1944. By that time German troops had been pulled out from the
Ukraine, and the Soviets were threatening
Warsaw. In March
1944, crisis hit the First Panzer Army as it was encircled by two
Soviet fronts in the Battle of
Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket. A successful breakthrough was made, saving most of the manpower but losing the heavy equipment. In October 1941, when the First Panzer Army had been formed, it was a large army consisting of four
corps, several
infantry,
panzer,
motorized,
mountain, and
SS divisions, along with a
Romanian army and some
Italian, Romanian, and
Slovak divisions. By the spring of 1944, the First Panzer Army had shrunk considerably, consisting of only three corps, two infantry, four panzer, and one SS division. After July 1944 it withdrew from
Ukraine and
Poland before fighting with Army Group A in
Slovakia. During its existence, from October 1941 to May 1945, the First Panzer Army spent its entire time on the
Eastern Front. The First Panzer Army was disbanded on May 8, 1945. Its last commander was
General Wilhelm Hasse.
* Field Marshal
Ewald von Kleist (
October 5,
1941 -
November 21,
1942)
* Colonel-General
Eberhard von Mackensen (
November 21,
1942 -
October 29,
1943)
* Colonel-General
Hans-Valentin Hube (
October 29,
1943 -
April 21,
1944)
* General of Infantry
Kurt von der Chevallerie (
April 21,
1944 -
May 18,
1944)
* Colonel-General
Erhard Raus (
May 18,
1944 -
August 15,
1944)
* Colonel-General
Gotthard Heinrici (
August 15,
1944 -
March 19,
1945)
* General of Panzer Troops
Walther Nehring (
March 19,
1945 -
April 3,
1945)
* General of Infantry
Wilhelm Hasse (
April 3,
1945 -
May 8,
1945)
*
Battle of Uman*
Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket* Barnett, Correlli. Hitler's Generals. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1989.
* Wendel, Marcus.
.
