bigpigeon.us webpage WWII > WWII Ground Forces > Ground Forces - The ETO, updated by RAC 16 Jul 2022.
A summary of ETO ground force organization in February 1945, including army groups, armies and corps.
This webpage supports the WWII-Germany > The ETO section of Big Pigeon and is not yet complete.
Background:
  • By November 1944, seven Allied armies faced the German Wehrmacht along the battle line that ran from the North Sea south to the Swiss border in the order shown on the accompanying map.
  • The next months witnesses the German counteroffensives in early winter followed by the allied advance to the Rhine, and then the crossing of the Rhine in March 1945.
  • During this period, and until the War with Germany ended, the relative positions of the seven Allied armies, from left to right, remained unchanged. However, the US Ninth and First Armies were under Montgomery's command at different times.
  • The following order of battle chart shows the composition, in Corps, of each of the four US armies from early February to early April 1945.
ETO Armies at the End of the Rhineland Campaign
ETO Armies at the End of the Rhineland Campaign March 1945


21st Army Group – (Montgomery)
Canadian 1st Army (Crerar)
  • (corps to be added)
British 2nd Army (Dempsey)
  • (corps to be added)
US Ninth Army – (Simpson) in 12th Army Group except for 20 Dec ’44 - 4 Apr ‘45).
  • XVI Corps (Anderson)
  • XIII Corps Gillem)
  • XIX Corps (Corlett/McLain)

12th Army Group – (Bradley)
US First Army – (Hodges) (in 21st Army Group 20 Dec ’44 - )
  • VII Corps (Collins)
  • III Corps (Millikin/Van Fleet) (from Third Army early Feb '45)
  • V Corps (Gerow/Huebner)
US Third Army – (Patton)
  • VIII Corps – (Middleton)
  • XII Corps – (Cook/Eddy/Irwin)
  • XX Corps – (Walker)

6th Army Group – (Devers)
US Seventh Army – (Patch)
  •  XXI Corps - Jan 1945 (Milburn)
  •  XV Corps – from Third Army 29 Sep ‘44 (Haislip)
  •  VI Corps (Brooks)
French First Army (de Lattre)
  • French First Corps
  • French Second Corps

US Fifteenth Army - rear area duties (Gerow)
XVIII Airborne Corps - theater reserve (Ridgway)
XXII Corps (Harmon)
XXIII Corps (Van Fleet)
 
Sources: (additional sources are needed)