Army Group South
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Army Group South (Heeresgruppe Süd in German) was a German Army Group during World War II.
Germany used two army groups to invade Poland in 1939: Army Group North and Army Group South. In this campaign Army Group South was led by Gerd von Rundstedt and his chief of staff von Manstein.
At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa Army Group South was one of three German Army groups which invaded the USSR at the start of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Its principal objective was to capture Ukraine and its capital Kiev. The Ukraine was a major center of Soviet industry and mining and had the good farmland required for Hitler's plans for Lebensraum ('living space').
Army Group South was then to advance up to the Volga River, subsequently draining a portion of the Red Army and thus clearing the way for the Army Group North and the Army Group Center on their approach to Leningrad and Moscow respectively.
To carry out these initial tasks its battle order included Panzergruppe I and the German Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Armies and the Third and Fourth Romanian Armies.
The German Sixth Army, which fought in the destructive Battle of Stalingrad, was later made part of Army Group South.
In 1942 Army Group South was split into Army Group A and B.
Some time after that the name Army Group was used again and Army Group B became a major formation on the Western Front (World War II).
At the end of World War II in Europe Army Group South was fighting in and around Austria and was one of the last major German military formations to surrender to the Allies.
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