Army Group E (Heeresgruppe E)

Army Group E

Heeresgruppe E

History

Formed from 12th Army it was in charge of German occupation units in Yugoslavia and Greece. On 28 August 1943, Army Group F took over Yugoslavia leaving Heeresgruppe E covering entire Greece after Italian capitulation.

With Soviet invasion of Romania, both Romania and Bulgaria switched sides forcing Hitler to finally agree for withdrawal of Army Group E from Greece before it is cut off. First proposal for its withdrawal when communications were still safely in German control in order to create large reserve before Soviet army arrived was rejected month earlier.

Late withdrawal also meant that some 26000 soldiers had to be left behind on Greek islands. Sabotages by Greek resistance, SOE, Greek American Operational Group OSS followed by massive operation RATWEEK brought German movement to a crawl.

With Yugoslav Partisans and Soviet army taking Belgrade shortest withdrawal route and only one with good roads was cut and Army Group E had to go through mountains of Albania, Montenegro, SandÅ¾ak and Herzegovina until it finally arrived at Rogatica but was further harassed until it reached Sarajevo region.

During withdrawal Army Group E lost 30% of its combat strength, out of 500 howitzers only three 180mm arrived at Drava river and lost almost all of its motorization.

Battles & Campaigns

Operation RATWEEK

Belgrade operation

Kosovo operation