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27-541: When originally formed on 1 March 1940, the predecessor of the 1st Panzer Army was named Panzer Group Kleist ( Panzergruppe Kleist ) with Colonel General Ewald von Kleist in command. Panzer Group Kleist was the first operational formation of several Panzer corps in the Wehrmacht. Created for the Battle of France on 1 March 1940; it was named after its commander Ewald von Kleist . Panzer Group Kleist played an important role in

54-582: A Romanian army and some Italian, Romanian, Hungarian , and Slovak divisions. By the spring of 1944, the First Panzer Army had shrunk considerably, consisting of only three corps, two infantry, four panzer, and one SS division. After July 1944 it retreated from Ukraine and Poland before fighting with Army Group A in Slovakia ( Battle of the Dukla Pass ). During its existence, from October 1941 to May 1945,

81-611: A newly-formed "Army Group Don," named for the Don River , on 20 November 1942. The new formation was to consist of 6th Army, 4th Panzer Army and the remnants of the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies. Army Group Don was created from the headquarters of the Eleventh Army in the southern sector of the Eastern Front on 22 November 1942. Army Group Don only lasted until February 1943 when it

108-549: The 8th Army , but failed to dislodge the Soviet forces. At the end of that month, as the Red Army closed in on Kiev , von Mackensen was replaced by Colonel-General Hans-Valentin Hube . The First Panzer Army remained attached to Army Group South from March 1943 to July 1944. By that time German troops had been pulled out from Ukraine . In March 1944, crisis hit the First Panzer Army as it

135-643: The Austro-Hungarian Common Army , the East German National People's Army and in their respective police services. The rank was equal to a four-star full general but below a general field marshal . The rank was equivalent to a Generaladmiral in the Kriegsmarine until 1945 or to a Flottenadmiral in the Volksmarine until 1990. It was the highest ordinary military rank and

162-637: The Battle of Belgium . Panzer corps of the Group broke through the Ardennes and reached the sea, forming a huge pocket, containing several Belgian, British, and French armies. When the armistice was signed, the Group was deployed in occupied France , being renamed to Panzer Group 1 ( Panzergruppe 1 ) in November. In April 1941, Panzer Group 1 took part in the invasion of Yugoslavia as part of Field Marshal Maximilian von Weichs 's Second Army . In May 1941 Panzer Group 1

189-728: The Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic Generaloberst was in line to Soviet military doctrine third general officer rank in that particular general's rank group. Pertaining to the NATO-Rangcode it might have been comparable to the three-star rank (OF-8). The equivalent to the Generaloberst was Admiral of the Volksmarine . Army Group Don Army Group Don ( German : Heeresgruppe Don )

216-863: The Fourth Panzer Army to counter-attack the Soviet breakthrough from the Battle of Stalingrad . The First Panzer Army contributed to the success of the Third Battle of Kharkov in March 1943. In July 1943, the Army, with the help of the XXIV Panzer Corps , repelled the Soviet Izyum-Barvenkovo Offensive . In October 1943 Soviet forces crossed the Dnieper River between Dnipropetrovsk and Kremenchug . The First Panzer Army counter-attacked along with

243-896: The German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1921–1933), the Wehrmacht (which included the Luftwaffe , established in 1935) of Nazi Germany (1933–45) and the East German Nationale Volksarmee (1949–1991). As military ranks were often used for other uniformed services, the rank was also used by the Waffen-SS and the Ordnungspolizei of Nazi Germany and the Volkspolizei and Stasi of East Germany. In East Germany,

270-708: The German Imperial Army : twisted of silver- and golden-braids with three stars to "Colonel general" (equivalent to four-star rank , today: OF-9 ) . The equivalent ranks of a colonel general were in the: SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Generaloberst of the Waffen-SS : SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Generaloberst of the Police: In the Land Forces and Air Forces of the National People's Army , as well as

297-499: The Kuban . By February 1943, the army had been withdrawn west of the Don River and Kleist withdrew the remains of his forces from Caucasus into the Kuban , east of the Strait of Kerch . In January 1943, von Mackensen's First Panzer Army became attached to Army Group Don under Field Marshal Erich von Manstein . The month after that, von Manstein redeployed the First Panzer Army together with

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324-467: The Red Army and was involved the Battle of Brody which involved as many as 3,000 Red Army tanks. The units of the Group closed the encirclement around the Soviet armies near Uman and near Kiev . After the fall of Kiev Panzer Group 1 was enlarged to become the 1st Panzer Army (on October 6, 1941) with Kleist still in command. The army captured Rostov , but was forced to retreat eight days later. In January 1942, Army Group Kleist, which consisted of

351-606: The First Panzer Army along with the Seventeenth Army , was formed with its namesake, Kleist, in command. Army Group Kleist played a major role in repulsing the Red Army attack in the Second Battle of Kharkov in May 1942. Army Group Kleist was disbanded that month. The First Panzer Army, still under Kleist, which had been attached to Army Group South earlier, became part of Army Group A under Field Marshal Wilhelm List . Army Group A

378-518: The First Panzer Army spent its entire time on the Eastern Front . In the spring of 1945, the First Panzer Army's main task was to defend the Ostrava region in the north of Moravia , which was at the time the last large industrial area in the hands of Third Reich . There the First Panzer Army was facing the advance of 4th Ukrainian Front from the north-east ( Ostrava-Opava Operation , 10 March – 5 May 1945) and had lost most of its heavy and medium tanks. At

405-509: The command on 22 November 1942. As Kleist took over, Colonel-General Eberhard von Mackensen took the reins of the First Panzer Army. In December 1942, as the German 6th Army was being crushed in the Battle of Stalingrad , the Red Army launched an offensive against Army Group A. The First Panzer Army was ordered to retreat through Rostov in January 1943, before the Soviet forces could cut it off in

432-408: The highest military rank awarded in peacetime ; the higher rank of general field marshal was awarded only in wartime by the head of state. In general, a Generaloberst had the same privileges as a general field marshal. A literal translation of Generaloberst would be "uppermost general", but it is often translated as "colonel-general" by analogy to Oberst , "colonel", such as in countries in which

459-466: The rank of field marshal and it was limited to wartime. In the 19th century, the rank was largely honorary and usually held only by members of the princely families or the Governor of Berlin . The regular promotion of professional officers to the grade did not begin until 1911. Since the rank of Generalfeldmarschall was reserved for wartime promotions, the additional distinction of a "Colonel general with

486-478: The rank of field marshal" ( Generaloberst im Range eines Generalfeldmarschalls ) was created. Such generals were entitled to wear three pips and a marshal's crossed batons on their shoulder boards, compared to the three pips of a Colonel General; however, this was changed to four pips in 1911. Generaloberst was the second-highest general officer rank, below field marshal , in the Prussian Army as well as in

513-467: The rank was adopted like Russia ( Russian : генерал-полковник , general-polkovnik ). "Oberst" derives from the superlative form of Germanic ober ( upper ), cognate to English over and so "superior general" might be a more idiomatic rendering. The rank was created in 1854, originally for Emperor William I , the Prince of Prussia , because members of the royal family were traditionally not promoted to

540-532: The rank was junior to the general of the army ( Armeegeneral ), as well as to the briefly-extant and never-awarded rank of Marschall der DDR . In 1915 the Generaloberst – Vezérezredes rank was introduced to the Austro-Hungarian Common Army . It was the second highest behind the Feldmarschall – Tábornagy rank. Rank insignia of the German Empire 1871 until 1918, here shoulder strap of

567-513: The remnants of its Panzer-units were scattered and captured all the way from Olomouc to Vysočina Region . Its last commander was general Walter Nehring , who abandoned his staff and fled south to surrender to the American forces. Generaloberst A Generaloberst (" colonel general ") was the second-highest general officer rank in the German Reichswehr and Wehrmacht ,

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594-463: The same time however the Panzer Army was flanked by the 2nd Ukrainian Front from the south ( Bratislava-Brno Operation , 25 March – 5 May 1945). German defensive lines finally collapsed in the early hours of Prague Offensive . The staff of First Panzer Army, along with other commands subordinated to Army Group Center, surrendered to the Soviet forces on 9 May 1945 in the area of Deutsch-Brod , while

621-503: Was a short-lived army group of the German Army during World War II . It existed between November 1942 and February 1943 and was primarily concerned with the Battle of Stalingrad , which was concurrently fought. After a large-scale Soviet counterattack, " Operation Uranus ", had resulted in the encirclement of the German 6th Army , Adolf Hitler named Erich von Manstein as commander of

648-506: Was attached to Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt 's Army Group South at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa . At the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Panzer Group 1 included the III, XIV and XLVIII Army Corps (motorized) with five panzer divisions and four motorized divisions (two of them SS) equipped with 799 tanks. Panzer Group 1 served on the southern sector of the Eastern Front against

675-606: Was combined with Army Group B and was made into the new Army Group South . The only commander of Army Group Don during its short history was Field Marshal ( Generalfeldmarschall ) Erich von Manstein . It consisted of the Sixth Army in the Stalingrad pocket, which included the encircled elements of the 4th Panzer Army , together with the Romanian Third Army . Zhukov stated, "We now know that Manstein's plan to rescue

702-538: Was encircled by two Soviet fronts in the Battle of Kamenets-Podolsky pocket . A successful breakthrough was made, saving most of the manpower but losing the heavy equipment. That same month Hitler, who insisted his armies fight an inflexible defense to the last man, dismissed von Manstein. In October 1941, when the First Panzer Army had been formed, it was a large army consisting of four corps , several infantry , panzer , motorized , mountain , and SS divisions , along with

729-602: Was to lead the thrust into the Caucasus during Operation Blue and capture Grozny and the Baku (current capital of Azerbaijan ) oilfields. The First Panzer Army was to spearhead the attack. Rostov , Maykop , Krasnodar and the Kuban region were captured. In September 1942, the offensive by Army Group A stalled in the Caucasus and List was sacked. After Adolf Hitler briefly took personal control of Army Group A, he appointed Kleist to

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