Army Group South Ukraine

Army Group South Ukraine
German: Heeresgruppe Südukraine Romanian: Grupul de Armate Ucraina de Sud
Active	5 April – 23 September 1944
Country	Nazi Germany  Romania (until 24 August 1944)
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Branch	German Army  Royal Romanian Army
Size	905,000 (500,000 Germans, 405,000 Romanians)[1] 120 tanks + 280 assault guns[2][3] 7,600 artillery pieces[4] 810 aircraft[5]
Engagements	Eastern Front Odessa Offensive First Jassy-Kishinev Offensive Second Jassy-Kishinev Offensive
Commanders
Notable commanders	Ferdinand Schörner Johannes Frießner

Not to be confused with Army Group South.

Army Group South Ukraine (German: Heeresgruppe Südukraine, Romanian: Grupul de Armate Ucraina de Sud) was a joint German-Romanian group on the Eastern Front during World War II.

Army Group South Ukraine was created on 5 April 1944 by renaming Army Group A.^[6] This army group saw action during the Jassy-Kishinev Operation and after taking heavy casualties was redesignated Army Group South (Heeresgruppe Süd) at midnight on 23 September 1944.^[7][a]

Geographically, Army Group South Ukraine – headquartered at Slănic-Moldova – held 392 miles (680 km) of front, of which 160 were held by Romanians.^[8] Its operational area covered all of Eastern Romania, from a line 40 km (25 miles) east of Bucharest.^[9]

Order of Battle, 15 August 1944 (Army HQ)

Sources:^[10][11]

• Armeegruppe Dumitrescu – General Petre Dumitrescu
  • Romanian Third Army – General Petre Dumitrescu (HQ – Bolgrad)
  • Sixth Army – General der Artillerie Maximilian Fretter-Pico (HQ – Tarutino)
• Armeegruppe Wohler – General der Infanterie Otto Wohler
  • Eighth Army – General der Infanterie Otto Wohler (HQ – Roman)
  • Romanian Fourth Army – General Gheorghe Avramescu (HQ – Bacău)

Commanders

No.	Portrait	Commander[b]	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Schörner, FerdinandGeneralfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner (1892–1973)	31 March 1944	25 July 1944	86 days
2		Frießner, JohannesGeneraloberst Johannes Frießner (1892–1971)	25 July 1944	23 September 1944	90 days

Notes

1. Edwald Klapdor. 2011, Viking Panzers: The German 5th SS Tank Regiment in the East in World War II, pg 383 states that it was redesignated Army Group South on 15 September, 1944.
2. Army Group South Ukraine could not take major operational decisions without securing Ion Antonescu's approval.^[12]

Bibliography

Citations

1. David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House, University Press of Kansas, Oct 16, 2015, When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler, Revised and Expanded Edition, p. 281
2. Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Stackpole Books, Jan 23, 2007, The German Defeat in the East: 1944-45, p. 170
3. Command and General Staff School, 1985, Professional Journal of the United States Army, p. 57
4. Command and General Staff School, 1985, Professional Journal of the United States Army, p. 57
5. Command and General Staff School, 1985, Professional Journal of the United States Army, p. 57
6. Ziemke 2002, p. 286.
7. Ziemke 2002, p. 360.
8. Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Stackpole Books, Jan 23, 2007, The German Defeat in the East: 1944-45, pp. 171-172
9. Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, p. 156
10. Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Stackpole Books, Jan 23, 2007, The German Defeat in the East: 1944-45, pp. 164-165
11. Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Stackpole Books, Jan 23, 2007, The German Defeat in the East: 1944-45, p. 172
12. Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, p. 158

References

• Ziemke, Earl F. (2002). Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, US Army. ISBN 9781780392875.
• Klapdor, Ewald (2011). Viking Panzers: The German 5th SS Tank Regiment in the East in World War II. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.