Army Group A

On 1 August, Army Group A was equipped with the 1st German Panzer Army (von Kleist), the 17th German Army (Ruoff) and the 3rd Romanian Army (Dumitrescu) and received air support from elements of Luftflotte 4 (von Richthofen). 1st Panzer Army was equipped with four corps (including three panzer corps), 17th Army fielded three corps and the Romanian 3rd Army had two corps, leaving Army Group A at a total strength of nine army corps of German or Romanian nationality.^[10]: 20f.

On 26 August, Army Group A's commander Wilhelm List caused Hitler significant anger by dispatching an urgent warning to either choose between immediate reinforcement for his army group or his army group's preparations of winter positions.^[11]: 782 Hitler then dispatched Alfred Jodl to List's HQ on 7 September, hoping that Jodl would find List to have to some degree failed his duties. When Jodl instead returned to Hitler with a report of List as a faithful and conscientious commander, Hitler subsequently flew into rages against Jodl and then against List, ending in the latter's dismissal on 9 September.^[12]: 261 Instead of naming another officer to succeed him, Hitler then proceeded to assume direct command of Army Group A himself. He would hold this command until 22 November.^[13]: 255

Withdrawal from the Caucasus, 1942/43

As the Soviet Operation Uranus encircled parts of Army Group B in the cauldron of Stalingrad, Army Group A (along with Army Group Don) became the target of intensive Soviet offensive preparations.^[14]: 451 On this background, Hitler gave up direct command of the army group and instead named Ewald von Kleist, until then in command of 1st Panzer Army (where he was succeeded by Eberhard von Mackensen), to lead Army Group A as commander.^[13]: 255 By December 1942, there was a desperate desire among higher-ranking German officers to withdraw the forces of Army Group A, still partially south of the Terek river, to the Don river and thus to more defensible ground. Hitler initially resisted the idea of withdrawal, but the partial collapse of the central sectors of Army Group B in December 1942 made the withdrawal critically urgent and Kurt Zeitzler was at last allowed to order the retreat. However, Hitler continued to intervene in the withdrawal operations, and forbade the full retreat behind the Don. Instead, 1st Panzer Army was ordered to split its forces, leading a northern segment across the Don at Rostov and placing a southern segment in the Taman Peninsula, thus creating the Kuban bridgehead.^[14]: 451

Kuban, 1943

Kuban bridgehead, February – April 1943

Kuban bridgehead, September/October 1943

As a result of this split, a broad reorganization of army groups was implemented on 27 January 1943. Army Group A had to transfer the northern group of 1st Panzer Army (including the army's command) as well as four additional divisions to Army Group Don, whereas the southern group of 1st Panzer Army in the Kuban Bridgehead was detached and added to 17th Army. Army Group A was assigned the task to hold the Kuban bridgehead and to defend the Crimean peninsula from Soviet threat. The strategic idea cherished by Hitler was to hold the Kuban bridgehead long enough to commence a major offensive in summer of 1943 in order to recapture the Maykop oil fields. Additionally, Hitler feared that a loss of the Kuban bridgehead and a subsequent loss of the Black Sea coast might lead neutral Turkey as well as two of Germany's allies, Bulgaria and Romania, to reconsider their respective diplomatic alignments to the disadvantage of Germany.^{[14]: 451f.} The Luftwaffe additionally feared the loss of well-developed air strips.^{[15]: 272f.}

Between the detachment of 1st Panzer Army in January and the addition of 6th Army in October, Army Group A consisted only of the 17th Army as well as several German command posts concerned with the defense of the Black Sea region, such as "Commander Crimea" and "Commander Kerch Strait".^[1]: 7–9

The Soviets applied additional pressure through the execution of amphibious landings at

In early February 1943, Army Group A completed the withdrawal into the defenses in the Kuban bridgehead, dubbed "Goth's head position" (Gotenkopf-Stellung), assembling 20 divisions with around 400,000 troops in the Kuban and in Crimea.[14]^: 452f. In coordination with Kriegsmarine landing craft and army engineer boats, Army Group A began the evacuation of superfluous troops not urgently needed in the Kuban itself towards the Crimean peninsula (in part also to reduce supply consumption in the bridgehead). 105,000 persons, 45,000 horses, 7,000 motor vehicles and 12,000 horsedrawn vehicles were thus brought to safety without major casualties. The naval craft were subsequently used to supply Army Group A across the Kerch Strait, where the initial requirement of 1,500 tons of supplies per day was soon upgraded to 4,000 tons per day. Between March and August 1943, the Germans shipped 337,353 tons of supply goods, 6,365 soldiers, 2,566 horses, 1,099 motor vehicles, 534 horsedrawn vehicles and 197 heavy guns from Crimea to the Kuban as reinforcements. These shipments were constantly under bombardment by the Soviet Air Forces.^[17]: 238

The leaders of both Army Group A and Army Group Don would indeed have favored to concede control of the entire Kuban outright and to instead use all available forces to strengthen the line of Army Group Don further north, in order to protect the Donbas region. Opposed by the Red Army's North Caucasus Front (headquartered at Krasnodar) with five Soviet field armies, the German defenders of the Kuban bridgehead were obliged to gradually give ground. Along the line, Army Group A deployed four corps in the Kuban bridgehead itself: V Army Corps (organized as "Group Wetzel", Wilhelm Wetzel), XXXXIV Army Corps, XXXXIX Mountain Corps and Romanian Cavalry Corps, for a total of six German and two Romanian divisions in the Kuban bridgehead. Axis strength in the bridgehead numbered roughly 200,000 soldiers, and they were opposed by roughly 350,000 Soviet troops of the North Caucasus Front. Beginning in late March, air support was provided to the Germans and Romanians by the 1st German Air Corps, which helped roughly equalize the aerial balance of powers.^{[14]: 452f.}

Whereas the frontline had run east of Kurchanskaya, Kiyevskoye, Krymskaya and Novorossiysk on 4 April 1943, all of these towns had been abandoned by 19 September. After a directive by Stavka had reached the North Caucasus Front on 16 March, the Soviet forces initially were placed on defense to prepare offensive operations, to begin in April. The first such attack was launched on 4 April, but the thrust by the 56th Soviet Army against the German XXXXIV Corps in the central southern sector did not achieve any major success and was hindered by bad weather and a lack of Soviet air support. After Georgy Zhukov had personally inspected the Soviet lines along the North Caucasus Front's field armies, he issued orders on 17 April to temporarily cease offensive operations.^{[14]: 452–454}

Soviet attacks were resumed on 27 April, but again failed to attain any noteworthy success and had to be aborted. In the meantime, Army Group A's 17th Army had attempted its own offensive operations against the Soviet landing at Novorossiysk.^[14]: 454

Starting in mid-September, Army Group A was assigned the task to supervise 6th Army, which was to secure the lower Dnieper river line and to thwart advances by Southern Front forces. On 4 October 1943, the entirety of Army Group A was thus organized into two field armies (6th and 17th) with a total of five corps. The ground forces assigned to this defensive task were entirely insufficient, and were further hindered in their preparations by a general Soviet aerial supremacy over the southern sectors of the frontline. The tardiness with which German planners evacuated the Kuban bridgehead and later the Crimean peninsula critically weakened the defensive capabilities of Army Group A further; the unwillingness to withdraw troops from the Black Sea bridgeheads placed the defenses on the mainland in significant peril. The weak Wotan-Stellung defensive position was soon dislodged, thus leaving Soviet encirclement of the Crimean peninsula imminent.^{[14]: 460–466}

On 9 October at 02:00 in the morning, the German evacuation of 17th Army's forces from the Kuban peninsula was completed.^[14]: 453

17th Army's preparations in Crimea, 1943

After the evacuation of the Kuban bridgehead had been completed, 17th Army was tasked with the defense of the Crimean peninsula, dubbed in Nazi parlance as "Fortress Crimea". While the commitment of 17th Army left it in danger of being cut off by a Soviet advance through Ukraine, the Crimean peninsula was deemed as an important base to project air power and to control the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Additionally, Crimea provided a role to play for the weakened Romanian army; 17th Army was equipped in late 1943 with only one and a half German divisions but with seven Romanian divisions. The other forces that had been freed up by the evacuation of the Kuban bridgehead had been immediately passed along to the Ukrainian mainland, where they were needed against the pressure of the Red Army.^[14]: 465

In the second half of October, 6th Army was pushed out of the Wotan-Stellung defensive position, which made the threat of 17th Army's encirclement imminent. In this situation, the commander of 17th Army, Erwin Jaenecke, decided autonomously to initiate preparations for the evacuation of the peninsula. Both Army Group A and OKH favored Jaenecke's withdrawal plan, Operation Michael, but the evacuation was vetoed by Hitler's personal intervention, which was intensified by Hitler's order that Crimea be held on 25 October. OKH accordingly instructed 17th Army to defend Crimea even if the land connection to Axis forces were to be cut. On 28 October, Soviet armored spearheads reached the Isthmus of Perekop, where they were briefly halted. By 1 November, the connection between 6th Army and 17th Army was lost, leaving the 17th Army trapped on the Crimean peninsula. Hitler's view clashed with those of Ion Antonescu, the autocrat of Romania, whose troops made up the majority of 17th Army and who doubted the prospects of defending the isolated peninsula against strong Soviet formations and who feared similar Romanian casualties in Crimea as had been suffered at Stalingrad, which he believed to be politically unsustainable for his government. Hitler on 29 October made promises to Antonescu that the peninsula could and would be held and promised the insertion of additional German battalions by land, sea and air for the peninsula's defense. These promises were in reality completely unrealistic, but Hitler had received the support of Karl Dönitz of the Kriegsmarine on the 27th. Dönitz estimated the resupply of the 17th Army by sea to be possible, much to the annoyance of his army colleague Kurt Zeitzler, who viewed the German-Romanian position on the peninsula to be untenable.^{[14]: 465f.} On 2 February 1944, the 17th Army trapped on Crimea consisted of the V Army Corps with the 73rd and 98th Infantry Divisions, 3rd Mountain Division and 6th Cavalry Division, the "Group Conrad" constructed around the XXXXIX Mountain Corps and the Cavalry Corps with the 10th and 19th Infantry Divisions under the Cavalry Corps and the 50th and 336th Infantry Divisions and 9th Cavalry Division under the XXXXIX Corps, and finally the 1st Mountain Corps with Fortress Commander Sevastopol and the 1st Mountain and 2nd Mountain Divisions. Additionally, the 17th Army had the 111th Infantry Division in reserve.^[14]: 467

On 21 November, the 17th Army was informed by Army Group A command that Hitler still intended to restore the connection with Crimea, though with the caveat that neither OKH nor Army Group A could predict when such an operation would be possible, with Hans Röttiger adding his personal prediction to the dispatch that the relief of Crimea would not be possible in the near future. This uncertainty turned into impossibility when Erich von Manstein of Army Group South demanded the evacuation of the Nikopol bridgehead in January 1944, thus removing the jumping-off point from which the relief of Crimea would have had to be launched. Manstein's demands to evacuate the 17th Army to re-insert it into the line on the mainland were rejected by Hitler, who insisted on the continued defense of the Crimean peninsula.^[14]: 468

In late October 1943, the Soviet 51st Army launched probing attacks against the Perekop isthmus, defended by XXXXIX Mountain Corps. Attack across the Syvash bay by forces of the 4th Ukrainian Front in early November could still be mostly deflected by the German defenders, though minor territorial losses had to be accepted. In early November, the Soviets also crossed the Strait of Kerch and established bridgeheads north and south of Eltigen in the Kerch–Eltigen operation. As the Soviet offensive thrust decelerated in December 1943, 17th Army command endeavored to crush the Soviet landing site. After a weeks-long blockade against the Soviet landing forces by Kriegsmarine craft, a German-Romanian counter-thrust defeated the Soviet landing forces and recaptured the bridgeheads within three days of fighting.^{[14]: 468f.}

17th Army spent the winter of 1943/44 by establishing defenses all around the Crimean coastline using forces of XXXXIX Mountain Corps, V Corps and Romanian 1st Mountain Corps. XXXXIX Corps was charged with the defense of the Perekop isthmus and the western shore, the Romanian Mountain Corps was deployed against Soviet partisans in the mountains in the south of the peninsula, and V Corps was stationed at the Kerch peninsula to provide cover against any Soviet amphibious landing from the east. The sole reserve of the 17th Army was the Mountain Regiment Crimea (Gebirgsjägerregiment Krim), and its armored forces were limited to 45 assault guns that were to be supported in anti-tank operations by elements of the 9th Flak Division.^[14]: 468

3rd and 6th Armies' loss of Nikopol, January 1944

In the meantime, Army Group A had been nominally strengthened on the mainland in December and January 1943/44 through the addition of the 3rd Romanian Army. The 3rd Army was to cooperate with the 6th Army to defend the Nikopol ore area, which took central stage in Hitler's strategic considerations due to its manganese production (although this production had been idle for weeks due to the proximity to the warzone). On 30 January 1944, the 3rd Ukrainian Front launched a heavy assault, the Nikopol–Krivoi Rog offensive. The initial thrust east of Krivoi Rog was a diversion from the main attack, which struck two days later against Apostolove. It was in this situation that 6th Army was formally re-attached to Army Group A, which now pushed for an urgent withdrawal of all 6th Army forces to the Kamenka river line.^{[14]: 471f.}

On 5 February, Apestolovo was captured by the Soviet 46th Army. Kleist ordered a counterattack to be launched by IV Corps on 8 February, but this counter-thrust proved entirely ineffective due to Soviet ground and air superiority and adverse weather conditions. On 10 February, Army Group A inquired to OKH about an urgent large-scale retreat to the Bug—Inhul position, which would shortened its frontline from 320 to 200 km and allowed to place three to four divisions in reserve for additional operations. But as the HQ of Army Group A at Mykolaiv waited for OKH's response, the Soviets launched another two-pronged attack against Krivoi Rog to trap LVII Panzer Corps. Army Group A issued orders to 6th Army to initiate a counterattack, and on 19 February XXIX Corps managed to restore the short-term operational integrity of the German forces in the area. The German ad-hoc formation "Group Schörner" (a combination of XXXX Corps, XXIX Corps, IV Corps, XVII Corps under command of XXXX Corps leader Ferdinand Schörner; for a total strength of 10 infantry divisions, a Jäger division and a mountain division) managed to resist annihilation, but had lost most of its heavy equipment in the process, rendering 6th Army even less capable of offensive operations than it had previously been. On 21 February, Kleist allowed 6th Army command to abandon Krivoi Rog, which was under heavy pressure by the Soviet 46th Army.^{[14]: 472–477}

On 22 February, Hitler at last formally allowed 6th Army to withdraw (to the line Dudchina—Arkhangelskoye—Ternovatka). Until late February, 6th Army managed under significant Soviet pressure to reshape a somewhat ordered defensive line. On 26 February, 6th Army (and thus Army Group A) was expanded to include LII Army Corps, which had formerly been its left neighbor, to better coordinate the cover of the Ukrainian salient's northern flank against the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts (who with the 7th Guards Army had advanced as far as Kirovograd). While this measure expanded the frontline of Army Group A by another 110 kilometers, it offered the chance to coordinate the defensive strategy along the entire southern sector of the Eastern Front. However, Hitler's repeated interventions in military decisionmaking again prevented a necessary withdrawal, as the LII Corps was ordered to stand its ground southeast of Kirovograd while Stavka was already preparing the next offensive step against the beleaguered Germans.^{[14]: 474–477}

6th Army's withdrawal to the Bug river

Army Group A inflicted significant setbacks to the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, causing disappointment in the ranks of Stavka about the results of the Soviet winter operations of 1943/44. The Soviets had managed to push the Germans away from the Dniepr line and to recapture the Krivoi Rog—Nikopol sector with its manganese production sites, but the goal of destruction of Army Groups South and A as well as the reconquest of the entirety of Soviet Ukraine had not been attained. Whereas the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts had made significant territorial gains in northern Ukraine, the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts remained comparatively far behind. In mid-February, Stavka had been forced to reduce the operational goals issued to the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts. The 3rd Ukrainian Front under Rodion Malinovsky was repurposed to break for the significantly reduced ambition to breach the German defenses on the lower Inhulets river line and to capture the major town of Mykolaiv (where Army Group A had established its HQ). The 4th Ukrainian Front was pulled out of the mainland frontline entirely and instead tasked with the recapture of Crimea, still held by Army Group A's 17th Army.^[14]: 478

After northern elements of 6th Army had settled into their defensive lines on the Inhulets, the Eastern Front saw a short lull in combat activity due to the