Seventeenth Army (Germany)
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The German Seventeenth Army (German: 17.Armee Oberkommando) was a World War II field army.
The German 17th Army was part of Army Group South when Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.
The 17th Army was engaged in some very heavy fighting with Soviet forces in Southern Russia. It along with 1st Panzer Army encircled Soviet forces near Uman (Battle of Uman). After which it along with other German formations en-circled Soviet Troops in Kiev (Battle of Kiev (1941)). After Kiev, German focus shifted towards Moscow (Battle of Moscow) and most of Army Group South suspended offensive operations for 1941.
In 1942, Army Group South was to spearhead the German offensive in Russia. The 17th Army was suppose to give flank protection to 1st Panzer Army as it struck towards the River Don. But slow progress caused Hitler to re-organize his forces in which he sub-divided Army Group South into two Army Groups, Army Group A which now included the 17th Army, 1st Panzer Army and 4th Panzer Army and Army Group B 2nd Army, 6th Army and two Italian and Hungarian Armies.
While Army Group B struck towards Stalingrad, Army Group A attacked the Caucasus oilfields. However, by December with Soviet forces en-circled the 6th Army at Stalingrad, Army Group B withdrew from Southern Russia but 17th Army was ordered to hold the Kuban Bridgehead. By October 1943, the 17th Army was forced to retreat from the Kuban Bridgehead across the Kerch Strait to Crimea. During the following months, the Red Army pushed back the Wehrmacht in southern Ukraine, eventually cutting off the land-based connection of 17th Army through the Perekop Isthmus in November 1943.
Hitler forbade a sea evacuation of 17th Army because he thought the Soviets could use the Crimea to launch air attacks against Romanian oil refineries. However, the Soviet began landing troops in Kersh Strait and moving troops near the Sivash by the end of 1943 and together with an attack at the Perekop Isthmus forced 17th Army to fall back to Sevastopol by April 10, 1944. The OKW intended to hold Sevastopol as a fortress, as the Red Army had done during the first battle for the Crimea in 1941/42. The rapid movement of the Red Army together with inadequate preparation of the defenses of Sevastopol made this impossible, and on 9 May 1944, not even one month after the start of the battle, Sevastopol fell.
Most of the German 17th Army along with some Romanian divisions were marched into captivity. 17th Army losses were around 65,100.
