Army Group E

Army Group E (Heeresgruppe E) was a German Army Group active during World War II.

Army Group E was created on 1 January 1943 from the 12th Army. Units from this Army Group were distributed throughout the Eastern Mediterranean area, including Albania, Greece, the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia, and the Independent State of Croatia.

Composition

Its principal units were:

• 11th Luftwaffe Field Division (Attica garrison) - Generalleutnant Wilhelm Kohler
• Rhodes Assault Division (amalgamated with the Brandenburg Panzergrenadier Division in 1944)
• LXVIII Army Corps (eastern Greece and Peloponnese)
  • 117th Jäger Division - General der Gebirgstruppe Karl von Le Suire
  • 1st Panzer Division (June–October 1943) - Generalmajor Walter Krüger
• XXII Mountain Army Corps (western Greece) - General der Gebirgstruppe Hubert Lanz
  • 104th Jäger Division - General der Infanterie Hartwig von Ludwiger
  • 1st Mountain Division - Generalleutnant Walter Stettner
• 41st Fortress Division
• Fortress Crete
  • 22nd Division - General der Infanterie Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
• Also within the Army Group command were 22 penal "fortress battalions" of the "999" series.

Service history

The Army Group participated in anti-partisan operations in Greece and Yugoslavia. During the course of these operations, several atrocities were committed, including the massacres of Kalavryta and Distomo in Greece. Furthermore, during the disarmament of the Italian army in September 1943, German troops executed over 5,000 Italian prisoners of war in the Cephallonia Massacre. At the same time, the Army Group successfully repelled the British attempt to seize the Italian-occupied Dodecanese Islands.

In the spring of 1945, during the retreat of the Wehrmacht forces from the Balkans, this Army Group withdrew to Hungary, with some units moving to Austria and southern Germany. During the 1945 retreat the fortress units were amalgamated into the LXXXXI Army Corps.

Army Group E was joined with what was left of Maximilian von Weichs' Army Group F. That army group had been dissolved on 25 March 1945.

A member of Army Group E who later rose to prominence was Austrian president and United Nations General Secretary Kurt Waldheim, who served in the military administration of Thessaloniki.

Commanders

• 31 December 1942 to 8 May 1945 - Luftwaffe Generaloberst Alexander Löhr

Sources

• Hogg, Ian V., German Order of Battle 1944: The regiments, formations and units of the German ground forces, Arms and Armour Press, London, 1975
• Thomas, Nigel, (Author), Andrew, Stephen, (Illustrator), The German Army 1939-45 (2) : North Africa & Balkans (Men-At-Arms Series, 316), Osprey Publishing, 1998 ISBN 978-1-85532-640-8

See also

• Wehrmacht