So this might be a pretty simple question, but what exactly was an “Army Group”?
I’ve found pretty detailed descriptions of divisions on the internet, both infantry and panzer ones, but that’s where it stops.
Take the invasion of Poland for example. There were two army groups: Army Group North under Field Marshal Fedor Von Beck, and Army Group South under Gerd Von Runstedt.
An Army Group sounds rather self explanatory, and should consist of a bunch of armies. How many of these were there? Did these armies consist of both infantry and panzer divisions or were there separate infantry and panzer armies that were made up of just the one type of divisions? And lastly, how many divisions were there in one Army?
These questions might sound all over the place, so I’d really just appreciate if you could explain how the Wehrmacht was organised at levels above divisions.
Thanks a lot.
Okay, so you seem to have a mostly solid understanding of the matter already, but you seem to believe that there must be some sort of catch-all explanation of what makes an Army Group and Army Group.
There wasn't. An Army Group, as you said, consisted of "a bunch" of armies. An army, in turn, consisted of "a bunch" of corps, whereas a corps consisted of "a bunch" of divisions. How much is a bunch? At least two. That was the plan anyway - some army groups,. like Heeresgruppe E (1943-1945) didn't even contain an army, but instead contained two army corps, three independent divisions, one independent brigade. There was no reason why HG E wouldn't be an army instead of an army group, except morale/prestige.
That's really as much as there is to it. The strength of these formations varied widely and they were often created and disbanded at will for purposes of morale. A good example of this was "Army Group Upper Rhine" under Himmler's command in 1944, where a ragtag group of forces along the western front were organized into a new army group although their strength and organizational level really couldn't compare to the mighty formations that brought Poland and France to their knees or those that marched into the Soviet Union at the beginning of Barbarossa.
As to your other questions: Armies generally consisted of mixed infantry and armor formations. Some units that were fully armored had army rank, like Panzer Group Guderian (1940-1941), but they were not the norm. The distinction between infantry and armor was usually made at the divisional and at most at corps level, like XIX Corps during the Invasion of France, which contained 1st, 2nd and 10th Panzer Divisions, not counting an Infantry Regiment ("Großdeutschland").
How many divisions were there in one army? Depends. You cite AG North and AG South during the Invasion of Poland. These are already a good example of the vast disparities that existed between formations of nominally equal rank during World War II (something that holds true for all countries, not just Germany). AG North had a mainly supportive task in the Polish Corridor and in the northeastern passage between East Prussia and the Brest-Litovsk area, whereas AG South was to carry the main load of the invasion.
In the north, 3rd Army consisted of 8 divisions and 4th Army of 9, bringing AG North to 21 divisions including four in the Army Group Reserve Troops, supported by three Infantry Brigades and a Panzer Regiment.
In the south, 8th Army on the left flank had 5 divisions, 14th Army on the right had 11, and 10th Army in the center had 13, in addition to six divisions in the Army Group Reserve Troops. That put Army Group South at 35 divisions compared to the 21 in the north. Yeah, the disparity was intended and by design.