1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Belgium 1944
On this day, 1st Armoured Regiment bypassed Ypres, thus cutting off the retreat of the Germans, who were still occupying the town. Attacking with the entire brigade, Ypres was captured. The following 2 days were spent fighting for Roullers (now Roeselare). After bypassing Thielt (the town Tielt), the Regiment engaged the enemy in the Ruysselede (Ruiselede) area on September 8, 1944.


1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Belgium 1944
It had advanced 524 km in 12 days. In the process, it had destroyed many German columns and captured large numbers of prisoners. The following week, it fought in the area of St Nicolas. It entered the town on 12 September 1944. It captured Stekene. On 19 September 1944, patrols of the 1st Armoured Regiment detached in the direction of Axelsche – Sabuek encountered enemy forces along the Spun – Kreek Canal.


1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Holland 1944
It entered Holland to assist in capturing Axel and reached the mouth of the Scalde River. At this point, the Regiment was ordered to St Gilles, Belgium to recover. They were welcomed by the local population. After a few days rest in nearby St Nicolas, Belgium, they were ready to resume their duties. On 28 September 1944, east of Antwerp, the Regiment engaged the enemy along with units of the 3rd Infantry Brigade. The country-side was heavily wooded and mined. The Germans defense consisted of many anti-tank guns and artillery. The odds were in the enemy's favor. They captured Baarle-Nassau and Alphen after a battle that lasted for 5 days.


1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Holland 1944
On 4 October 1944 at 1415hrs, 9th Rifle Brigade plus one Anti-Tank Battery and one squadron from the 1st Armoured Regiment captured the western outskirts of the forest near Baarle-Nassau.


1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Holland 1944
With the capture of Alphen, a temporary stalemate followed. For the next 3, weeks the Regiment consolidated its position. On 27 October 1944, the Regiment executed its orders for the capture of Breda. After 8 days of battle, Breda was taken. The Regiment was able to recover there for a few days afterwards. It was then ordered to capture Made, which it did. The final stage of the offensive was reaching the Maas River.


1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Holland 1944
At this point, from 9 November 1944 to 7 April 1945, the Regiment maintained a defensive position along the river. During this time, the Regiment stayed in Wagenberg, Oosterhout, and Udenhout respectively. In January–February 1945, the Regiment took up positions on the peninsula of St Philipsland and the island of Tholen, where there was heavy enemy activity. In late February 1945, the Regiment returned to the district of Dongen-Oosterhout, where the tanks were the advance guard. During this time, the Regiment was frequently on the move and engaged in minor skirmishes, but not without losses. A constant threat 24 hours a day, throughout this time, were the thousands of V-1, buzz bombs. They constantly flew by overhead and sometimes exploded nearby.


1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Germany 1945
The Regiment, on 7 April 1945, realized one of its goals. It left Dongen and after covering 240 km in 34 hours, crossed the Rhine River at Rees. On 14 April 1945, the Regiment relieved the Canadians at the heavily defended Küsten Canal. After the canal was bridged by other units of the division, the Regiment launched an attack on Aschendorf. It was captured on 20 April 1945, after overcoming the many obstacles imposed by the terrain (the tanks had to keep to the roads along the dikes as the surrounding terrain was unsuitable for armor) and the enemy's anti-tank guns.


1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Germany 1945
For the following 2 days, the Regiment battled the enemy north of Papenburg and seized the communication center of Ihrhove-Ihren. A week later, it crossed the Leda River to open the road for the 3rd Infantry Brigade. It passed Leer, Loga, Filsum, Hesel, and Moorburg. After overcoming numerous obstacles and demolished roads and bridges, it captured the village of Halsbek. Here at 0800 hours on 5 May 1945, a cease fire was ordered. Germany had surrendered. The next morning, the Regiment was ordered north to Clevern. It passed by many German columns, which were proceeding to assembly areas as ordered by the Allies.


1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Occupation 1945
On 8 May 1945, the Regiment was ordered to Wittmund, 25 km from Wilhelmshaven. Here the Regiment began its occupation duties. The Regiment had covered 1811 km from the time it had landed on the continent. It celebrated its first Regimental Day on 19 August 1945.


1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Occupation 1945
On 3 March 1946, St Nicolas presented the regiment with its colors. With the adoption of the Regiment by the town of St Nicolas, the soldiers of the Regiment were given the right to wear the town's coat of arms on their uniforms.


1st Armoured Regiment (Poland), Occupation 1945
The victory was bittersweet for the Polish soldiers. They had defeated the Germans, who had started the war by invading Poland, but they had failed to liberate Poland. This was especially true for those who had been interned by the Russians, at the start of the war. They already realized that they had traded the German occupation for a Russian occupation. They had experienced the Russian occupation of eastern Poland, when Russia was allied with Germany at the start of the war. This occupation would not end till 1990 and the end of the Cold War with the first free elections where Lech Wałęsa was elected president.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary)
The 1st Army (German: k.u.k. 1. Armee) was a field army-level command in the ground forces of Austria-Hungary during World War I. The army fought in Galicia and Russian Poland in 1914–15 before being briefly dissolved in the summer of 1916. Shortly afterwards, it was reformed and sent to fight in the Romanian Campaign for the next two years. The 1st Army was demobilized in April 1918 due to its heavy losses, following Romania's surrender.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), History
The 1st Army was formed in 1914 as part of Austria-Hungary's mobilization following its declaration of war on Serbia and Russia, carrying out the prewar plans for the formation of six field armies. Just as all Austro-Hungarian field armies, it consisted of a headquarters and several corps, along with some unattached units. The 1st Army was put under the command of General of the Cavalry Viktor Dankl von Krasnik and was composed of the I, V, and X Corps, originating from Kraków, Presburg and Przemyśl, respectively.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), History
Under his command, the units of the 1st Army scored the first Austro-Hungarian victory of World War I during the defense of Galicia by defeating the Russian 4th Army at the Battle of Krasnik in 23–25 August 1914. However, due to the critical situation on other parts of the front, Krasnik was forced to withdraw south along the Dunajec river to the area north of Kraków. During the winter of 1914 the 1st Army took part in the Battle of the Vistula River in Russian Poland, reaching Ivangorod. In May 1915, General Krasnik was transferred to the Italian Front.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), History
He was replaced by General of the Cavalry Karl Kirchbach von Lauterbach for a couple of months before command of the 1st Army was given to General of the Artillery Paul Puhallo von Brlog. The 1st Army did not take part in the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive, remaining in Volodymyr-Volynskyi during that time.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), History
In the aftermath of that operation the 1st Army under Puhallo seized the bridgeheads at Sandomierz and Tarlo-Jozefow, assigned to be part of Army Group Böhm-Ermolli for the first half of 1916. It was the transferred to the Bug river region and was part of Army Group Linsingen, under the overall command of August von Mackensen, but saw little action until the end of the Russian Great Retreat, at which point the front lines became static.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), History
In the summer of 1916, Puhallo and the 1st Army were forced to withdraw during the Brusilov Offensive, and according to the general staff, "the former 1st army was in the course of events dissolved on grounds of expediency and by and by divided amongst neighboring armies, the headquarters thereby becoming superfluous and was disbanded." In August, however, the 1st Army was formed once again, this time under General of the Infantry Arthur Arz von Straussenburg.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), History
Romania also entered the war on that month, and the reformed 1st Army under Straussenburg managed to hold off a Romanian assault in Transylvania on 28 August, despite its numerical inferiority. It continued to fight alongside the German 9th Army, as well as Bulgarian and Ottoman troops, over the next several months as the Central Powers entered Romania proper and occupied a large portion of it. During that time it was subordinated to Army Group Archduke Karl. When the archduke became Emperor Karl I of Austria-Hungary in November, he assigned Straussenburg to replace Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf as chief of the general staff.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), History
As a result, Colonel General Franz Rohr von Denta became the new 1st Army commander in February 1917. The army stayed in Romania for much of the year and took part in the continued fight against the Romanian forces, subordinated to Army Front Archduke Joseph, including the Third Battle of Oituz. The actions during the summer of 1917 near Oituz, spearheaded by the VIII Corps, resulted in the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army taking significant casualties and only advancing 2-6 kilometers. In February 1918 it was subordinated to Army Front Kövess. Austro-Hungarian casualties were extremely high on the Eastern Front, and the casualty-struck 1st Army had to be disbanded on 15 April 1918, as conclusion of the peace treaty with Romania was imminent.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), Order of battle on formation
Upon mobilization in August 1914, the 1st Army consisted of three corps, along with three divisions and some smaller units under the direct command of the army headquarters.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), Order of battle in October 1916
The 1st Army consisted of the following formations while in Romania, by late October 1916.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), Order of battle at the Third Battle of Oituz
By July 1917, the 1st Army in Romania was composed of the following:


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), Commanders
The 1st Army had the following commanders until it was demobilized in 1918.


1st Army (Austria-Hungary), Chiefs of staff
The 1st Army had the following chiefs of staff until it was demobilized in 1918.


1st Army (Czechoslovakia)
The 1st Army was a field army of the Czechoslovak People's Army, active from 1958-65 and 1969–1991. In its second formation its headquarters was in Pribram.


1st Army (Czechoslovakia)
In the 1980s the force included the 1st Tank Division (cs:1. tanková divize (Československo)), 2nd Motor Rifle Division, 19th Motor Rifle Division, and 20th Motor Rifle Division, as well as many smaller units, including the 321st Army Missile Brigade.


1st Army (Czechoslovakia), Role of the Prague Spring
By the early 1960s, Czechoslovak president and Communist Party head, Antonin Novotny, grew concerned that the military opposed increasing involvement in the Warsaw Pact. Accordingly, he moved to reorganize the CPA and reassign several generals. In 1965, Novotny reorganized the 1st Army into the Western Military District, and the commander of the 1st Army, Lt. Gen Stanislav Prochazka, saw his power significantly reduced. Nonetheless, he initially earned the favor of the new president, Ludvík Svoboda, in 1968. When the Prague Spring uprising occurred under Alexander Dubcek, Svoboda initially sympathized with the protests.


1st Army (Czechoslovakia), Role of the Prague Spring
Prochazka then publicly expressed sympathy for the uprising as well. Additionally, Prochazka publicly expressed his opposition to Warsaw Pact intervention in Czechoslovakia's internal affairs. When Svoboda decided to support Warsaw Pact intervention and Soviet suzerainty over Czechoslovakia, General Prochazka was forced into early retirement and the 1st Army reformed again under General Karel Rusov.


1st Army (Czechoslovakia), Units of the Army 1989
This listing is based on the Czech  website, which lists all units of the Czechoslovak People's Army in existence between 1950 and 1990, with their location, subordination, equipment and changes over time.


1st Army (France)
The First Army (French: 1re Armée) was a field army of France that fought during World War I and World War II. It was also active during the Cold War.


1st Army (France), First World War
On mobilization in August 1914, General Auguste Dubail was put in the charge of the First Army, which comprised the 7th, 8th, 13th, 14th, and 21st Army Corps, two divisions of cavalry and one reserve infantry division. It was massed between Belfort and the general line Mirecourt-Lunéville with headquarters at Epinal. First Army then took part, along with the French Second Army, in the Invasion of Lorraine. The First Army intended to take the strongly defended town of Sarrebourg. Bavarian Crown Prince Rupprecht, commander of the German Sixth Army, was tasked with stopping the French invasion.


1st Army (France), First World War
The French attack was repulsed by Rupprecht and his stratagem of pretending to retreat and then strongly attacking back. On 20 August Rupprecht launched a major counter-offensive, driving the French armies out. Dubail was replaced in 1915. A frantic 1916 saw four different commanders command the First Army; an even more frantic 1917 saw five different commanders at the helm (including François Anthoine during the Battle of Passchendaele). By the time of Passchendaele, the French First Army was composed of two corps - the 1st Army Corps (composed of 4 divisions) and the 36th Army Corps (composed of 2 divisions).


1st Army (France), Second World War, 1940
During the Second World War the French First Army, under the command of General Georges Blanchard, formed part of the forces ranged against the German Army during the Battle of France. On 10 May 1940, it included the Cavalry Corps, and the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Army Corps, as well as the 1re Division Cuirassée de Réserve (1st DCR, effectively an armoured division with four battalions of tanks and one of infantry, plus supporting units) and 32nd Infantry Division. When the Wehrmacht invaded France and the Low Countries in 1940, the First Army was one of the many armies including the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that advanced north to stop the German armies.


1st Army (France), Second World War, 1940
On 21 May 1940 the First Army was one of the armies trapped in a vast pocket with their backs to the sea that would eventually result in the Dunkirk evacuations. As the Germans moved in, what remained of the once-formidable First Army was hopelessly surrounded at Lille but counterattacked and resisted fiercely in a delaying action aiming to buy time for the beleaguered Anglo-French defenders of Dunkirk.


1st Army (France), Second World War, 1940
General Jean-Baptiste Molinié's 40,000 remaining men engaged seven German divisions (including the 4th, 5th, and 7th Panzer Divisions, roughly 110,000 men and 800 tanks), capturing General Fritz Kuhne of the 253rd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) in the fighting and halting the German capture of Dunkirk for three days. It is estimated that the First Army's last battle allowed the evacuation of an additional 100,000 men from Dunkirk.


1st Army (France), Second World War, 1940
The First Army formally ceased to exist on 29 May, though a portion escaped with the British soldiers.


1st Army (France), Second World War, 1944–45
The First Army was reconstituted as French Army B under the command of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny in the summer of 1944. It landed in southern France after Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of the area. On 25 September 1944, French Army B was redesignated French First Army. Liberating Marseilles, Toulon, and Lyon, it later formed the right flank of the Allied Southern Group of Armies (also known as the U.S. Sixth Army Group) at the southern end of the Allied front line, adjacent to Switzerland. It commanded two corps, the French I and II Corps.


1st Army (France), Second World War, 1944–45
The French First Army liberated the southern area of the Vosges Mountains, including Belfort. Its operations in the area of Burnhaupt destroyed the German IV Luftwaffe Korps in November 1944. In January 1945 it defended against operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive on the western front. In February 1945, with the assistance of the U.S. XXI Corps, the First Army collapsed the Colmar Pocket and cleared the west bank of the Rhine River of Germans in the area south of Strasbourg. In March 1945, the First Army fought through the Siegfried Line fortifications in the Bienwald Forest near Lauterbourg.


1st Army (France), Second World War, 1944–45
Subsequently, the First Army crossed the Rhine near Speyer and captured Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. Operations by the First Army in April 1945 encircled and captured the German XVIII S.S. Armee Korps in the Black Forest and cleared southwestern Germany. At the end of the war, the motto of the French First Army was Rhin et Danube, referring to the two great German rivers that it had reached and crossed during its combat operations.


1st Army (France), Second World War, 1944–45, Composition
The First Army was mainly composed of North African troops (Maghrebis and French Pied-Noirs) drawn from the Army of Africa. These troops had played a major role in the liberation of Corsica (September–October 1943) and the Italian Campaign (1943–44), with about 130,000 men engaged. During the French and German campaigns of 1944-45, these troops formed the core of the First Army. In Autumn 1944, First Army comprised about 250,000 men, half of them Indigenes (Mahgrebian and Black African) and half Europeans from North Africa. From September 1944 onward, 114,000 men of the French Forces of the Interior were added to the First Army, replacing many African troops. Eventually, more than 320,000 men would form the First Army during its final advances in Germany and Austria.


1st Army (France), Second World War, 1944–45, Composition
From 26 September 1944, André Malraux's Alsace-Lorraine Independent Brigade, formed from the FFI, formed part of the army's reserves. Like other units formed from FFI personnel, Malraux's brigade was subsequently incorporated into the French Army as a regular unit (and was retitled the 3rd Demi-Brigade of Chasseurs).


1st Army (France), Cold War
During the Cold War the First Army was again active. Army headquarters was at Strasbourg, and may have also been at Metz for a period. For a time the army commander was also the Military Governor of Strasbourg (see Hôtel des Deux-Ponts).


1st Army (France), Cold War
Among army commanders were Generals Emmanuel Hublot (1969–72), André Biard (1977–79) and Claude Vanbremeersch (1979–80).


1st Army (France), Cold War
In 1970 the Army appears to have controlled I Corps (HQ Nancy, France) with the 4th Armoured Division with its headquarters at Verdun, the 7th Infantry Division with headquarters at Mulhouse, and the 8th Armoured Division with headquarters at Compiègne (2nd, 4th, and 14th Brigades). II Corps was at Koblenz with the 1st Armoured Division at Treves (1st, 3rd, and 11th Brigades), and the 3rd Division at Freiburg (5th, 12th, and 13th Brigades).


1st Army (France), Cold War
The Army controlled the I Corps, the II Corps, and the III Corps as well as Army troops, including Pluton artillery, during the 1980s. After deactivation as the war headquarters for the NATO Central Army Group, Ouvrage Rochonvillers was designated as the First Army's war headquarters in the 1980s.


1st Army (German Empire)
The 1st Army (German: 1. Armee / Armeeoberkommando 1 / A.O.K. 1) was an army level command of the German Army in World War I. It was formed on mobilization in August 1914 from the VIII Army Inspection. The army was dissolved on 17 September 1915, but reformed on 19 July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. It was finally disbanded in 1919 during demobilization after the war.


1st Army (German Empire), History, First formation
The 1st Army during World War I, fought on the Western Front and took part in the Schlieffen Plan offensive against France and Belgium in August 1914. Commanded by General Alexander von Kluck, the 1st Army's job was to command the extreme right of the German forces in attacking the left flank of the French Army and encircling Paris, bringing a rapid conclusion to the war. His army had the greatest striking power of the offensive, a density of about 18,000 men per mile of front (about 10 per metre).


1st Army (German Empire), History, First formation
The First Army captured Brussels on 20 August and was almost successful in defeating France but was halted just 13 miles outside the French capital in the First Battle of the Marne that took place in early September. Von Kluck was replaced in 1915 after being seriously wounded in the leg.


1st Army (German Empire), History, First formation
With 10 army level commands (1st to 7th Armies plus three Armee-Abteilungen), the German Supreme Command felt able to dispense with 1st Army. Its units were distributed amongst neighbouring armies and the army was dissolved on 17 September 1915.


1st Army (German Empire), History, Second formation
2nd Army bore the brunt of the Allied attack in the Battle of the Somme. It had grown to such an extent that a decision was made to divide it. The 1st Army was reformed on 19 July 1916 from the right (northern) wing of the 2nd Army. The former commander of 2nd Army, General der Infanterie Fritz von Below, took command of 1st Army and 2nd Army got a new commander General der Artillerie Max von Gallwitz. Von Gallwitz was also installed as commander of Heeresgruppe Gallwitz – Somme to co-ordinate the actions of both armies on the Somme.


1st Army (German Empire), History, Second formation
At the end of the war it was serving as part of Heeresgruppe Deutscher Kronprinz.


1st Army (German Empire), History, Order of Battle, 30 October 1918
By the end of the war, the 1st Army was organised as:


1st Army (German Empire), Commanders
The original 1st Army had the following commanders until it was dissolved 17 September 1915:


1st Army (German Empire), Commanders
A "new" 1st Army was formed from the right (northern) wing of the 2nd Army during the Battle of the Somme.


1st Army (Italy)
The 1st Army (Italian: 1ª Armata) was an Royal Italian Army field army, in World War I, facing Austro-Hungarian and German forces, and in World War II, fighting on the North African front.


1st Army (Italy), World War I
During World War I, the 1st Army bore the responsibility of a long front from Stelvio Pass on the Swiss-Austrian Italian tri-border to the Asiago plateau. It successfully resisted the Austro-Hungarian Strafexpedition. Its sector was later reduced, limiting its role to the defense of the Trentino borders and the Verona area.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Formation & Operations in 1915
The 1st Army originated with the Army of Milan which became, in October 1914, the 1st Army. In addition to various army corps (up to five), it had available to it large units not included in the army corps: infantry and cavalry divisions and groups of Alpine troops. Even the truppe altipiani command was subsequently placed within this Army. The 1st Army during the conflict participated in conquests, various setbacks and reconquests (primarily the so-called White War) until the final battle of Vittorio Veneto.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Formation & Operations in 1915
As the 1st World War extended to Italy, this Army was placed under the command of Lieutenant General Roberto Brusati and consisted of the III Army Corps (Corpo d'Armata) of Milan under the command of Lieutenant General Vittorio Camerana and the V Army Corps of Verona under the command of Lieutenant General Florenzo Aliprandi.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Formation & Operations in 1915
Each Army Corps consisted of three infantry divisions, including field artillery and sapper units. In addition, there was a corps troop consisting of bersaglieri, alpini, cavalry, artillery and other specialists and an army troop consisting of infantry, cavalry, artillery and specialists.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Formation & Operations in 1915
The 1st Army, which now had its headquarters in Verona, was deployed from the Stelvio Pass to the Rolle Pass/Cismon or about 200 kilometers along the war front, with the III Army Corps responsible from the Swiss border to the Lake Garda area and the V Army Corps from Garda to Rolle/Cismon, where the 4th Army began its sector. This was designated the Trentino Front.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Formation & Operations in 1915
According to the plans of the supreme commander of the army, the 1st Army was to maintain a strategically defensive posture, not only during the period of the war build-up, but also through the time in which the (adjacent) 4th Army under General Luigi Nava would operate from Cadore to attempt to open a route towards the Tyrol.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Formation & Operations in 1915
The 1st Army, however, was to carry out limited offensives to ensure the security of the Italian border, and occupy any enemy territory, wherever this was possible and convenient. In Cadorna's plan, the 1st Army would defend against any Austrian offensive from Trentino thus protecting (along with the 4th Army) the rear of the bulk of the Italian army which was engaged on the Isonzo Front.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Formation & Operations in 1915
With the task of having to stay on the defensive, Brusati was frustrated by (in his opinion) Cadorna's inability to understand that the Austro-Hungarians had retreated on a defensive line well beyond the official border. Thus, Brusati’s 1st Army carried out offensive operations enthusiastically. Already on 25 May 1915, the day after Italy entered the war, these Italian troops, taking advantage of the fact that the Austro-Hungarian troops were deployed far from the border, conquered terrain of considerable strategic value, such as Monte Altissimo, Coni Zunga and parts of the Val d’Adige and Vallarsa, near Lake Garda.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Formation & Operations in 1915
However, starting from August, after the failure of new attacks against the Austro-Hungarian permanent fortifications (on the Vézzena Plateau) that guarded the head of the Val d'Astico (east of the previous successes), General Cadorna directed the 1st Army Command back to the defensive mode. Nevertheless, Brusati did not give up on further operations aimed at consolidating the front, sometimes deploying his troops in an offensive stance. This alignment led to neglecting the defensive preparations with the bulk of the forces available remaining concentrated on the advanced positions, rather than on the rear positions, more suitable for defensive operations.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1916
In March 1916, the information services of the Army had the 1st news of a concentration of Austrian forces in the Trentino sector. These were to be the preparations for the so-called Strafexpedition, planned by the Chief of Staff of the Imperial Royal Austro-Hungarian Army, Field Marshal Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf. This offensive had the intent to defeat the Italian army, unleashing an offensive through the lines of the 1st Army to take the entire Italian Isonzo deployment from the rear. In view of a probable enemy offensive, at his request, Cadorna granted Brusati five further divisions. However, Cadorna remained persuaded that nothing would happen in that sector.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1916
Still Brusati’s troops were strung-out after their offensive advances and the state of the defenses was ill-prepared. In disagreement with Cadorna, Brusati deployed the defense at the end of the advanced positions counting on the solidity of the strengthening work carried out until then. In addition, on 1 April, the Army again went on the offensive, launching assaults which achieved some partial successes, but at the cost of the defense.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1916
In the second half of April General Cadorna visited the lines of the 1st Army and on that occasion he even refused to meet Brusati because, according to some, he already had plans to dismiss him. On 8 May Brusati was relieved from command by Cadorna and replaced by General Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi, eight days before the Austro-Hungarian counter-offensive began.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1916
Ultimately the 1st Army along with elements of the newly created Fifth Army prevailed in this major Austro-Hungarian action, helped by the Russian Brusilov Offensive in Galacia which required von Hötzendorf to move troops away from the Italian offensive and to the Eastern Front.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1916
In August 1916, the 1st Army was reorganized and growing, along with the Regio Esercito overall as more draftees reached the war zone. The 1st Army now had six Corps, covering the same frontlines in the Trentino. The III Corps (5th, 6th and 37th Divisions) remained under Gen. Camerana.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1916
The V Corps (44th, 47th and 32 Divisions) was added under Lt. General Bertotti; along with the X Corps (9th and 20th Divisions) under Lt. Gen. Grandi; a new Truppe Altipiani commanded by Lt. General Mambretti and consisting of the XII Corps (30th, 29th and 25th Divisions) under Lt. Gen. Zoppi and the XX Corps (13th, 28th and an Alpini Unit) under Lt. General Montuori; and the XVIII Corps (15th Division and 2nd Cavalry) under Lt. Gen. Etna. There was a Corps Troop at Verona consisting of infantry battalions, artillery, bomb units, cavalry and engineer units.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1916
For the balance of 1916, this Army engaged in fights and other actions in what became known as the White War. There were attacks on Monte Pasubio (in September and October), Monte Cimone (in September), in Val Sugana (in August and September) and numerous small actions in Val Sugana, Val Posina and Altipiano d’Asiago. Many soldiers also lost their lives in avalanches.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1916
In November 1916 the 1st Army with Cardorna’s consent, had planned "Action K" (Code Name) a small counteroffensive targeting Monte Ortigara using General Mambretti’s Truppe Altipiani as well as the XVIII Corps. This action had tp be cancelled due to heavy snows. The Italian Command would later reprise and augment the plan for June 1917. On 1 December 1916 Mambretti was now placed in charge of a new Sixth Army (Italy) taking his XX Corps as well as the XVIII Corps. Added to these troops were two newly constituted Corps, the XXII and XXVI.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1917
As part of a re-organization (after Caporetto) several new Corps were created and assigned (1916-1917) to the 1st Army including the XXIX, V, XXVI, and XXII Corps. At this time the Trentino Front was defended by the III Corps (5th and 6th Divisions and the Brigata Valtellina) from Stevio to Garda; the XXIX Corps (37th and 27th Divisions), V Corps (55th and 69 Divisions), X Corps (32nd and 9th Divisions), three Corps of Truppe Altipiani (XXVI – 12th and 11th Divisions, XXII – 57th and 2nd Divisions and XX – 29th and 52 Divisions) from Garda to Sugana.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1917
The 1st Army did not take part in any major defensive or counteroffensive battles in 1917. The 1st Army did, however, defend the Asiago Plateau during the Battle of Caporetto which helped the retreating Italian troops to set up a strong defensive line at the Piave River in November.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1917
However, the White War continued in 1917 for the 1st Army through a series of small actions (between June and October) in the high isolated valleys of the Trentino mountains. The following minor actions were reported):


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1918
Although the 1st Army was part of the re-organization of the Italian Army after Caporetto, the modifications were originally quite minor. In January 1918, the Order of Battle was essentially the same as the October changes except for the addition of the XXV Corps to the Truppe Altipiani under Gen. Zoppi. However, in March, the III Corps and a new Corps, the XIV were transferred to the newly created 7th Army which became responsible for the Stelvio-Garda Sector.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1918
Furthermore the Truppe Altipiani were dispersed to other Italian Armies, including the newly re-constituted 6th Army (which also included the British and French Expeditionary Forces which came to Italy after Caporetto) which took over responsibility for the defenses at Asiago and the re-organized 4th Army which also took over responsibility for the mountain defenses at Mt. Grappa in their western zone.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1918
The 1st Army saw limited action in the mountains between January and May. There were continuous patrols which occasionally led to small firefights and artillery shelling (including aerial bombardments). This Army saw minor action in Mt. Cornone (Altopiano di Asiago), Tre Monti and the Val Lagarina subsector (Conca dei Laghi and Castello Mori), and the Vallarsa (Mt. Corno).


1st Army (Italy), World War I, Operations in 1918
During the Austrian Offensive in June 1918 (Second Battle of the Piave), the 1st Army (and the 7th Army) was responsible for the defense at the Trentino Front. There were no major offensives or Italian counteroffensives launched in this zone, although the Austro-Hungarians applied some offensive pressure in support of its Operation Radetzky. On 15 June, the Italian Division 6 consisting of the Czechoslovakian Legion in Italy was assigned to the 1st Army. However, after this battle, operations began to pick up beginning in August with the following small battles:


1st Army (Italy), World War I, The Final Battle
As the final battle (Vittorio Veneto) began at the end of October, the 1st Army (along with the 7th) was to maintain a strictly defensive position. However, as the battle progressed and the Austro-Hungarian Army at 1st retreated, then collapsed into a disorganized retreat, the 1st Army began an offensive thrust towards Rovereto and the city of Trento.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, The Final Battle
On 2 November, while the situation of the Austro-Hungarian army became increasingly pessimistic, the Italian Supreme Command also set in motion the troops of the 1st Army of Giraldi. Since the previous night the Xth Army Corps had attacked in Val d'Astico encountering little resistance; consequently Giraldi decided to speed up the operations and his troops immediately advanced in the Tonezza plateau and in the Luserna plateau. The march of the 32nd Division in Vallagarina began in the early afternoon; a unit of Arditi, under the command of Major Gastone Gambara, and three Alpine battalions advanced into the valley and occupied Rovereto.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, The Final Battle
The advance of the Italian army now became general. On the left bank of the Adige, the Piceno and Liguria brigades marched in Vallarsa and on the Pasubio, in Val Posina. In the Adige valley the disintegration and collapse of the Austro-Hungarians became catastrophic; materials and vehicles were abandoned, the trains heading north were stormed by the soldiers, as panic and lack of discipline spread.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, The Final Battle
On the afternoon of 3 November, the troops of the 1st Army reached Trento: the 1st units to enter the city were the cavalry regiment "Alessandria", the XXIVth Arditi, the Alpini of the IVth group; the infantry of the Pistoia brigade arrived later. The final advance had not met with any real opposition: the Italian soldiers received an enthusiastic welcome from the population. That evening a unit of the "Padua" cavalry regiment of the 4th Army of General Giardino also arrived in Trento; and on the following afternoon Giraldi himself, commander of the 1st Army, entered Trento, when the Armistice took effect.


1st Army (Italy), World War I, The Final Battle
After the Armistice, the 1st Army became responsible for the occupation to all of Trentino, South Tyrol (both of which became part of Italy) and Austrian Tyrol. On 20 September 1919 the 1st Army Command became the Trento area Command, one of the new designated army commands of the Royal Army.


1st Army (Italy), World War II
At the beginning of World War II, the Italian 1st Army was one of three armies that made up Army Group West commanded by Prince General Umberto di Savoia. Together with the Italian Fourth Army and the Italian Seventh Army (kept in reserve), the 1st Army attacked French forces during the Italian invasion of France. At this time, the 1st Army was commanded by General Pietro Pintor and included three army corps:  the 2nd Corps commanded by General Francesco Bettini, the 3rd Corps - General Mario Arisio, and the 15th Corps commanded by General Gastone Gambara. (See order of battle, below.)


1st Army (Italy), World War II
By 1942, after the defeat of Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika) at the Second Battle of El Alamein and after the Operation Torch landings, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was forced to make one of the longest retreats in history. He withdrew from the "Western Desert" of Egypt and Libya and established a defence on the French-built Mareth Line in southern Tunisia. After occupying the Mareth Line, Rommel took command of the newly created Army Group Africa and turned over the "German-Italian Panzer Army" (formerly "Panzer Army Africa") to Italian General Giovanni Messe. The army was once again renamed and on 23 February 1943, Messe took command of the "Italian 1st Army."


1st Army (Italy), World War II
As part of Army Group Africa commanded by General Rommel, the 1st Army attacked Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery's Eighth Army at Operation Capri (the Battle of Medenine, just east of the Mareth Line. The 1st Army suffered a crushing defeat and the attempt by Rommel and Arnim to break through in Tunisia failed. By the end of May, Allied troops had captured all of North Africa, and the 1st Army was the last of the 270,000 Axis troops taken prisoner.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)
The 1st Army was a Royal Yugoslav Army formation commanded by Armijski đeneral Milan Rađenković during the German-led Axis invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941 during World War II. It consisted of one infantry division, one horsed cavalry division, and two brigade-strength infantry detachments. It formed part of the 2nd Army Group, and was responsible for the defence of the section of the Yugoslav-Hungarian border between the Danube and the Tisza rivers.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)
The 1st Army was not directly attacked during the first few days after the invasion commenced, but attacks on its flanks resulted in successive orders to withdraw to the lines of the Danube and then the Sava. The Hungarians then crossed the border in the sector for which the 1st Army had been responsible, but the Yugoslavs were already withdrawing and the Hungarians faced almost no resistance. This was followed by the German capture of Belgrade and the rear area units of 1st Army.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)
Remnants of the 1st Army continued to resist along the line of the Sava, within days, tens of thousands of Yugoslav soldiers had been captured. The Germans closed on Sarajevo, and accepted the unconditional surrender of the Royal Yugoslav Army on 17 April, which came into effect at the following day.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Background
The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was created with the merger of Serbia, Montenegro and the South Slav-inhabited areas of Austria-Hungary on 1 December 1918, in the immediate aftermath of World War I. The Army of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was established to defend the new state. It was formed around the nucleus of the victorious Royal Serbian Army, as well as armed formations raised in regions formerly controlled by Austria-Hungary. Many former Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers became members of the new army. From the beginning, much like other aspects of public life in the new kingdom, the army was dominated by ethnic Serbs, who saw it as a means by which to secure Serb political hegemony.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Background
The army's development was hampered by the kingdom's poor economy, and this continued during the 1920s. In 1929, King Alexander changed the name of the country to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, at which time the army was renamed the Royal Yugoslav Army (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Vojska Kraljevine Jugoslavije, VKJ). The army budget remained tight, and as tensions rose across Europe during the 1930s, it became difficult to secure weapons and munitions from other countries.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Background
Consequently, at the time World War II broke out in September 1939, the VKJ had several serious weaknesses, which included reliance on draught animals for transport, and the large size of its formations. Infantry divisions had a wartime strength of 26,000–27,000 men, as compared to contemporary British infantry divisions of half that strength. These characteristics resulted in slow, unwieldy formations, and the inadequate supply of arms and munitions meant that even the very large Yugoslav formations had low firepower. Generals better suited to the trench warfare of World War I were combined with an army that was neither equipped nor trained to resist the fast-moving combined arms approach used by the Germans in their invasions of Poland and France.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Background
The weaknesses of the VKJ in strategy, structure, equipment, mobility and supply were exacerbated by serious ethnic disunity within Yugoslavia, resulting from two decades of Serb hegemony and the attendant lack of political legitimacy achieved by the central government. Attempts to address the disunity came too late to ensure that the VKJ was a cohesive force. Fifth column activity was also a serious concern, not only from the Croatian nationalist Ustaše but also from the country's Slovene and ethnic German minorities.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Composition
The 1st Army was commanded by Armijski đeneral Milan Rađenković, and his chief of staff was Brigadni đeneral Todor Milićević. It was organised and mobilised on a geographic basis from the 1st Army District, which was divided into divisional districts, each of which was subdivided into regimental regions. The 1st Army consisted of:


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Composition
Its support units included the 56th Army Artillery Regiment, the 1st Anti - Aircraft Battalion, and the 1st Army Anti- Aircraft Company. The 1st Air Reconnaissance Group comprising fifteen Breguet 19s was attached from the Royal Yugoslav Air Force and was based at Ruma just south of Novi Sad.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Deployment
The 1st Army was part of the 2nd Army Group, which was responsible for the eastern section of the Yugoslav-Hungarian border, with the 1st Army deployed in the Bačka region between the Danube and the Tisza, and the 2nd Army in the Baranya and Slavonia regions between Slatina and the Danube. On the right flank of the 1st Army was the 6th Army, an independent formation that was responsible for the defence of the Yugoslav Banat region east of the Tisza. The boundary with the 2nd Army ran just east of the Danube to Vukovar, then south towards Bijeljina.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Deployment
The boundary with the 6th Army ran just to the east of the Tisza to the confluence with the Danube, then south across the Sava through Obrenovac. The Yugoslav defence plan saw the 1st Army deployed with one division forward with an infantry detachment on each flank, and a cavalry division held in depth. The deployment of the 1st Army from west to east was:


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Deployment
The 44th Infantry Division Unska, which was under the direct command of the General Headquarters of the VKJ, was deployed in the 1st Army area to the east of the 3rd Cavalry Division, centred on Stara Pazova on the road between Novi Sad and Belgrade.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 6–10 April
The 1st Army faced the Hungarian 3rd Army, and during the first few days after the commencement of the invasion, there were exchanges of fire with Hungarian border guards, but the 1st Army faced no direct attacks. Neither the 1st Army or the Hungarians were ready for full-scale fighting, as they were still mobilising and deploying their forces.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 6–10 April
On 9 April, due to events in other parts of Yugoslavia, the 6th Army on the right flank of the 1st Army was ordered to withdraw south of the Danube and deploy on a line facing east to defend against an attack from the direction of Sofia, Bulgaria. 2nd Army Group also received orders to withdraw south of the line of the Drava and Danube. 1st Army began to withdraw, and on the same day elements were approaching the Danube crossing.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 6–10 April
The following day, the situation deteriorated significantly when the German XLI Motorised Corps crossed the Yugoslav-Romanian border into the Yugoslav Banat and struck the 6th Army, halting its withdrawal and disrupting its ability to organise a coherent defence behind the Danube. Also on 10 April, the main thrust of the XLVI Motorised Corps of the 2nd Army, consisting of the 8th Panzer Division leading the 16th Motorised Infantry Division crossed the Drava at Barcs in the 4th Army sector. The 8th Panzer Division turned southeast between the Drava and Sava rivers, and meeting almost no resistance and with strong air support, had reached Slatina by evening, despite poor roads and bad weather.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 6–10 April
Later that day, as the situation was becoming increasingly desperate throughout the country, Dušan Simović, who was both the Prime Minister and Yugoslav Chief of the General Staff, broadcast the following message:


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 6–10 April
All troops must engage the enemy wherever encountered and with every means at their disposal. Don't wait for direct orders from above, but act on your own  and be guided by your judgement, initiative, and conscience.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 6–10 April
The bulk of the 1st Army were able to cross the Danube and began to prepare defences. By the evening of 10 April, the 1st Army was ordered to withdraw from this line and form a defensive line behind the Sava from Debrc to the confluence with the Vrbas river, for which one or two days would be needed. On the night of 10/11 April, the whole 2nd Army Group continued its withdrawal, but units of the 2nd Army on the left flank of the 1st Army that included significant numbers of Croats began to dissolve due to the fifth column activities of the fascist Ustaše and their sympathisers.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 11–12 April
At dawn on 11 April, Hungarian forces, consisting with the Mobile, IV and V Corps of Vezérezredes (Lieutenant General) Elemér Gorondy-Novák's 3rd Army, crossed the Yugoslav border north of Osijek and near Subotica, overcame Yugoslav border guards and advanced on Subotica and Palić. The XLVI Motorised Corps continued to push east south of the Drava, with the 8th Panzer Division capturing Našice, Osijek on the Drava, and Vukovar on the Danube, followed by the 16th Motorised Infantry Division which advanced east of Našice, despite bridge demolitions and poor roads.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 11–12 April
The 8th Panzer Division had effectively routed the 2nd Army Group by 11 April. On the same day, Messerschmitt Bf 110's of I Group of the 26th Heavy Fighter Wing (German: Zerstörergeschwader 26, ZG 26) destroyed several 1st Air Reconnaissance Group Breguet 19s at Ruma. The rest were flown to Bijeljina, but were destroyed the following day when I/ZG 26 swept over the airfield in one of the most effective attacks of the campaign.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 11–12 April
On the night of 11/12 April, the 8th Panzer Division captured Sremska Mitrovica on the Sava at 02:30, destroyed a bridge over the Danube at Bogojevo, and advanced on Lazarevac about 32 kilometres (20 mi) south of Belgrade. These advances delayed the withdrawal of the 2nd Army Group south of the Sava.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 11–12 April
By 12 April, the withdrawal of the 2nd Army Group was being threatened from the left flank, with 2nd Army having "no combat importance at all". On the right flank, 6th Army attempted to regroup while being pressed by the 11th Panzer Division as it drove towards Belgrade. West of Belgrade, remnants of the 2nd Army Group tried to establish a line along the Sava, but XLVI Motorised Corps had already captured the bridges. When elements of the 8th Panzer Division captured Zemun without a fight, they captured 1st Army's rear area units.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 11–12 April
On 12 April, the 1st Army's 3rd Cavalry Division counter-attacked at Šabac and pushed the Germans back across the Sava. The Hungarians pursued the 1st Army south, and occupied the area between the Danube and the Tisza meeting virtually no resistance. Serb Chetnik irregulars fought isolated engagements, and the Hungarian General Staff considered irregular resistance forces to be their only significant opposition. The Hungarian 1st Parachute Battalion captured canal bridges at Vrbas and Srbobran. This, the first airborne operation in Hungarian history, was not without incident.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 11–12 April
The battalion's aircraft consisted of five Italian-made Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 transport aircraft formerly with the civilian airline MALERT, but pressed into service with the Royal Hungarian Air Force (Hungarian: Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő, MKHL) at the start of the European war. Shortly after takeoff from the airport at Veszprém-Jutas on the afternoon of 12 April, the command plane, code E-101, crashed with the loss of 20 or 23 lives, including 19 paratroopers. This was the heaviest single loss suffered by the Hungarians during the Yugoslav campaign. Meanwhile, Sombor was captured against determined Chetnik resistance, and Subotica was also captured.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Operations, 11–12 April
On the evening of 12 April, elements of the SS Motorised Infantry Division Reich, under command of XLI Motorised Corps crossed the Danube in pneumatic boats and captured Belgrade without resistance. About the same time, most of the elements of XLVI Motorised Corps that were approaching Belgrade from the west were redirected away from the capital. Elements of the 8th Panzer Division did continue their thrust to capture the Sava bridges to the west of Belgrade, and entered the city during the night. The rest of the 8th Panzer Division turned southeast and drove towards Valjevo to link up with the left flank of the First Panzer Group southwest of Belgrade. The 16th Motorised Infantry Division was redirected south across the Sava, and advanced toward Zvornik.


1st Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Fate
On 13 April, the Hungarians occupied Baranja without resistance, and pushed south through Bačka to reach the line of Novi Sad and the Great Bačka Canal. Early on 14 April, the remnants of 2nd Army Group, including the 1st Army, continued to fight against the 8th Panzer Division and 16th Motorised Infantry Division along the Sava. On 14 and 15 April, tens of thousands of Yugoslav soldiers were taken prisoner by the Germans during their drive on Sarajevo in the centre of the country, including 30,000 around Zvornik and 6,000 around Doboj. On 15 April, the 8th and 14th Panzer Divisions entered Sarajevo. After a delay in locating appropriate signatories for the surrender document, the Yugoslav High Command unconditionally surrendered in Belgrade effective at 12:00 on 18 April.


1st Army (RSFSR)
The 1st Army was a field army of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. The 1st Army was formed twice. The first formation was between the beginning of March 1918 and May as a reaction to the Austro-German occupation of Ukraine. The second formation was created on June 19, 1918, as a part of the Eastern Front and from August 15, 1919 as a part of the Turkestan Front. The Army was disbanded in January 1921.


1st Army (RSFSR), History
On March 17, 1918, the Second All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets decided to create armed forces to counter foreign and contra-revolutionary forces. Five armies of some 3.000 -3.500 men were created. In fact, these armies were only brigades with limited combat capabilities. Asiyev became the commander of the 1st Army, which was stationed near Podilsk and counted some 30.000 men shortly before it was disbanded. In March 1918, there were some skirmishes with German troops near Odessa, but the army was forced to retreat to Taganrog and Rostov-on-Don.


1st Army (RSFSR), History
On June 19, 1918 the 1st Army was created a second time from the detachments and units acting in the Syzran - Simbirsk area against Czechoslovak and White Guards troops. During the Civil War, Saransk was one of the centers of formation of military units of the Red Army and the mobilization Department of the 1st Army operated in that city.


1st Army (RSFSR), History
In 1918, the 1st Army waged hostilities in the Volga region against the White Guards and the Czechoslovak Corps. It participated in the offensive of the Eastern Front 1918-1919, and led the attack in the Simbirsk and Syzran-Samara combat operations. The 1st Army took Samara (September-October 1918), Sterlitamak (December 1918) and Orenburg (January 1919). In the spring of 1919 during the Spring Offensive of the White Russian Army it held defensive positions in the  Sterlitamak and Orenburg area. In April-June 1919, the Army participated in the Counteroffensive of the Eastern front and waged fights against the forces of Alexander Kolchak's Southern Army, conducting an offensive in the Buguruslan and Belebey operations.


1st Army (RSFSR), History
In August-September 1919, she operated as a part of the Turkestan Front, participating in the defeat of Alexander Kolchak's Southern Army and the Ural Army. During the Aktyubinsk operation, the 1st Army connected on September 13  with the troops of the Turkestan Soviet Republic in the Mugodzhar Hills. Part of the troops of the 1st Army continued to fight against the Ural Army in the Ural region until April 1920, while another part of the troops participated in the Khiva and Bukhara operations in November 1919-March 1920, establishing Soviet power there by occupying the whole region. The army was later also involved in the suppression of the Basmachi movement.


1st Army (Russian Empire)
The 1st Army (Russian: 1-я армия, romanized: 1А) was an army-level command of the Russian Imperial Army created during World War I. The First Army, commanded by General Paul von Rennenkampf, invaded East Prussia at the outbreak of war in 1914 along with the Second Army commanded by General Alexander Samsonov. After declaring war on the German Empire, the Russian Empire had been able to mobilize very quickly. All Russian forces were put under the command of Grand Duke Nikolai and his Quartermaster General Yuri Danilov.


1st Army (Russian Empire)
The invading forces made a determined and speedy attack on East Prussia. However, the First and Second Armies were stopped by the German Eighth Army, led by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and his chief of staff, General Erich Ludendorff. The German and Russian armies met at Tannenberg, where the Second Army was encircled and suffered complete destruction.


1st Army (Russian Empire)
Both the First and Second Armies suffered terrible casualties in one of the most comprehensive German victories of World War I. The First Army also suffered defeat at the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes in September 1914, which led to Rennenkampf's dismissal and replacement by Litvinov. First Army served under Northwestern front for the remainder of the war. Litvinov was replaced by Sokovnin in April 1917. Vannovski replaced Sokovnin in July and the army's final commander, von Notbek, took over in September 1917.


1st Army (Russian Empire), Order of battle on formation
The First Army consisted of the following units in August 1914:


1st Army (Russian Empire), Commanders
The 1st Army had the following commanders until it was demobilized in 1918.


1st Army (Wehrmacht)
The 1st Army (German: 1. Armee) was a World War II field army.


1st Army (Wehrmacht), Combat chronicle, 1939
The 1st Army was activated on 26 August 1939, in  Wehrkreis XII with General Erwin von Witzleben in command. Its primary mission was to take defensive positions and guard the western defences (West Wall) of Germany against Allied forces along the Maginot Line during the attack on Poland, making it the principal German combatant during the short-lived French Saar Offensive.


1st Army (Wehrmacht), Combat chronicle, 1940
During the Western campaign it belonged to the Army Group C and initially remained passive towards the Maginot Line. the 1st Army continued its defensive assignment on the French border until June 1940, when the Battle of France had turned decisively to Germany's favor.


1st Army (Wehrmacht), Combat chronicle, 1940
Starting on 14 June 1940, the 1st Army began the penetration of the Maginot Line, breaking through French defenses, it began concentrating its forces in the frontier sector south of Saarbrücken. Another penetration was conducted north of Wörth am Main on 19 June. Beginning on 21 June and until 24 June, the 1st Army participated in the annihilation of the remnants of the French forces in the Moselle and Vosges regions.


1st Army (Wehrmacht), Combat chronicle, 1940
After the end of the western campaign, the army remained in France. It secured the  demarcation line and then the Atlantic coast (Atlantic Wall) in southwest France until May 1942, when they were moved to Normandy.


1st Army (Wehrmacht), Combat chronicle, 1944
After the French capitulation, the 1st Army spent until mid-1944 protecting the Atlantic coast of France from a possible seaborne incursion. Following the successful Allied Normandy landings in June 1944, the 1st army was pushed back to the western border of the German Reich.


1st Army (Wehrmacht), Combat chronicle, 1944
and reorganized in Lorraine after a hasty retreat with the rest of the German forces across France, in August 1944, During the battles along the German frontier, the First Army attempted to prevent the Third United States Army from crossing the Moselle River and capturing Metz while also attempting to hold the northern Vosges Mountains against the Seventh United States Army.


1st Army (Wehrmacht), Combat chronicle, 1944
In November 1944, both defensive lines were broken and the First Army retreated to the German border and defended the Saarland of Germany, an important industrial region.


1st Army (Wehrmacht), Combat chronicle, 1945
With the Third U.S. Army engaged to the north against the German Ardennes Offensive, the 1st Army attacked the Seventh U.S. Army on New Year's Day 1945 in Operation Nordwind, causing the Americans to give ground and inflicting significant casualties where Seventh U.S. Army defensive lines were stretched taut by the length of frontage they had to cover.


1st Army (Wehrmacht), Combat chronicle, 1945
With the failure of Nordwind in late January, the 1st Army was first pushed back to the Siegfried Line and then forced to retreat across the Rhine River, From March 15 to March 24, 1945 during (Operation Undertone), the 7th US Army on a broad front surrounded to the 1st Army near Kaiserslautern. However, when the Allies pierced the German fortifications, they were forced to retreat, Thereafter, the First Army made an ordered withdrawal to the Danube River, and later to Munich, on May 6, 1945, near the alps, the 1st army surrendered to allied forces.


1st Army (Yugoslav Partisans)
The 1st Army of the Yugoslav Partisans was a Partisan army that operated in Yugoslavia during the last months of the Second World War.


1st Army (Yugoslav Partisans)
The Army was created on 1 January 1945, along with the 2nd and 3rd Armies, when Chief Commander Marshal Josip Broz Tito converted the guerilla National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia in a more regular Yugoslav Army.


1st Army (Yugoslav Partisans), History
As commander was named General lieutenant Peko Dapčević, as Political Commissioner Mijalko Todorović, and as Chief of staff, Savo Drljević. The Army was first formed from the 1st Proletarian Corps (1st, 5th, 6th, 11th, and 21st Divisions), and on 3 April the 15th Corps (42nd and 48th Divisions) and several independent divisions and brigades (22nd, 2nd, 17th Divisions and 2nd Tank Brigade) were added. The 1st Army had some 60,000 combatants in mid-April 1945.


1st Army (Yugoslav Partisans), History
It first fought on the Syrmian Front, and after its breakthrough in mid-April, liberated the western part of Yugoslavia with other units of the Yugoslav army. It liberated Zagreb on May 8, together with parts of the 2nd Army. Then, with four divisions, it liberated northern Slovenia, encircled and captured the enemy Army and reached the Austrian border on 13 May. There, along with units of the 2nd and 3rd Armies and 4th Operational Zone, it participated in the last battles of World War II on European soil, more than a week after the German surrender on 8 May.


1st Army Aviation Brigade (Greece)
The 1st Army Aviation Brigade "Kilkis-Lachanas" (Greek: 1η Ταξιαρχία Αεροπορίας Στρατού «ΚΙΛΚΙΣ ΛΑΧΑΝΑ», romanized: 1 Taxiarchia Aeroporias Stratou "Kilkis Lachana", abbreviated 1η ΤΑΞΑΣ) is the main formation of the Hellenic Army's Army Aviation.


1st Army Aviation Brigade (Greece), History
In August, 1950, the first Αrmy Aviation unit was created, belonging to Artillery, the 190th Air Observation Unit, based at Megara airport. Also, few years later, a special Air Observation School was created in order to provide training, in parallel with the establishment of other support units. At that time, the unit's main activities included target detection for Artillery units and light transportation.


1st Army Aviation Brigade (Greece), History
One of the most important dates was 1961, when the first helicopters, the Bell 47G, were delivered, marking the eve of new era, that of air assault and medium transportation. The modernization continued with the acquisition of Bell UH-1 Iroquoises in 1969, Boeing CH-47 Chinooks in 1981 and recently with the delivery of the Boeing AH-64D Apache and NHIndustries NH90.


1st Army Aviation Brigade (Greece), History
With the continuous growth of the Hellenic Army Aviation combat arm, the 1st Army Aviation Brigade was founded in 1998 to encompass  its various units. Since 2013, the brigade is subordinated to the First Army via the 1st Infantry Division. The brigade's headquarters is at Stefanovikeio.


1st Army Aviation Brigade (Greece), History
The brigade bears the honorific title "Kilkis Lachanas", in commemoration of the Battle of Kilkis–Lachanas during the Second Balkan War.


1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares"
The 1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares" (Italian: 1° Reggimento Aviazione dell'Esercito "Antares") is an active unit of the Italian Army based at Viterbo Airport in Lazio. The regiment is part of the Italian army's army aviation and operationally assigned to the Army Aviation Brigade.


1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares", History, Formation
During the 1975 Army reform the army reorganized its aviation units and for the first time created aviation units above battalion level. On 1 February 1976 the 1st Army Light Aviation Grouping "Antares" was raised at Viterbo Airport to take command of the aviation units based there. After its activation the grouping was structured as follows:


1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares", History, Naming
Since the 1975 army reform Italian army aviation units are named for celestial objects: groupings, and later regiments, are numbered with a single digit and named for stars in the 88 modern constellationss. Accordingly, an army aviation regiment's coat of arms highlights the name-giving star within its constellation. Squadron groups were numbered with two digits and named for constellations, or planets of the Solar System. The 1st Army Light Aviation Grouping was named for Antares the brightest star in the Scorpius (Italian: Scorpione) constellation. When the army raised army aviation support regiments in 1996 they were named in relation to the regiment they supported, and therefore the 1st Antares' support regiment was named 4th Army Aviation Support Regiment "Scorpione".


1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares", History, Naming
With the decree 173 from 14 March 1977 the President of the Italian Republic Giovanni Leone granted the grouping a newly created war flag, which has since been awarded one Military Order of Italy for the regiment's service with the United Nations Transition Assistance Group in Namibia and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, one Military Order of Italy for the regiment's international operations between 1991 and 2016, one Silver Medal of Army Valour for the regiment's service after the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, and one Silver Cross of Army Merit for the regiment's service with the United Nations Operation in Somalia I and the United Nations Operation in Somalia II.


1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares", History, Events
On 25 June 1979 the grouping activated the ITALAIR Squadron in Naqoura in Lebanon as asset of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. On 1 September 1981 the 12th Medium Transport Helicopters Squadrons Group "Gru" was disbanded and its personnel and equipment integrated into the 11th Medium Transport Helicopters Squadrons Group "Ercole". On 6 October 1991 the grouping was renamed regiment without changing size or composition. On 29 November 1993 the regiment activated the Liaison and Light Transport Planes Squadron (ACTL Squadron) with Dornier 228-212 planes.


1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares", History, Events
On 1 October 1999 a major reorganization of the regiment occurred: the 28th Squadrons Group "Tucano" moved from Rome Urbe Airport to Viterbo Airport and received the ACTL Squadron from the Antares regiment. On the same day the 28th Tucano also received the Army Aviation Center's Liaison and Regional Transport Planes Squadron (ACTR Squadron) with P180E Avanti II planes and the ITALAIR Squadron transferred to the Army Aviation Command.


1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares", History, Events
On 1 September 2001 the 26th Squadrons Group "Giove" at Pisa Air Base left the Paratroopers Brigade "Folgore" and joined the Antares regiment. The same year the regiment entered the Air Cavalry Grouping, which on 1 March 2006 became the Army Aviation Brigade. On 4 November 2002 the 26th Squadrons Group "Giove" was disbanded in Pisa and its name transferred to the new 26th Special Operations Helicopter Unit "Giove" (26th REOS) at Viterbo airport. The 26th REOS had been formed that day by the merger of the 39th Squadrons Group "Drago" and the 51st Squadrons Group "Leone". In June 2013 the 28th Tucano joined the regiment, while on 10 November 2014 the 26th REOS left the regiment to form the 3rd Special Operations Helicopter Regiment "Aldebaran".


1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares", Current Structure
As of 2019 the 1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares" consists of:


1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares", Equipment
The regiment is equipped with 16x CH-47F Chinook transport helicopters.


1st Army Aviation Support Regiment "Idra"
The 1st Army Aviation Support Regiment "Idra" (Italian: 1° Reggimento Sostegno Aviazione dell'Esercito "Idra") is an active unit of the Italian Army based at the "Oscar Savini" Airfield near Bracciano in Lazio. The regiment is part of the Italian army's army aviation and operationally assigned to the Army Aviation Support Command.


1st Army Aviation Support Regiment "Idra"
The regiment provides 2nd-line maintenance, upgrade and test services for the A109 and AB206 helicopters, which are in service with the Army Aviation Training Center at Viterbo Airport, and for the AB 212 and AB 412, which are in service the 2nd Army Aviation Regiment "Sirio" and 3rd Special Operations Helicopter Regiment "Aldebaran".


1st Army Aviation Support Regiment "Idra", History
The regiment was formed on 1 September 1996 by elevating the existing 1st Army Aviation Repairs Unit to regiment without changing the unit's size or composition. The unit traces its roots back to the Army Light Aircraft Repairs Unit, which was founded in 1953 and renamed 1st Light Army Aviation Repairs Unit on 1 July 1958. The unit was granted a war flag by the President of the Italian Republic on 12 December 1989 and on 2 June 1993 it dropped "Light" from its name. Since 2012 the regiment is part of the Army Aviation Support Command.


1st Army Aviation Support Regiment "Idra", Naming
Since the 1975 army reform Italian army aviation units are named for celestial objects: support regiments are numbered with a single digit and named for one of the 88 modern constellations. The 1st Army Aviation Support Regiment was named for Hydra the largest of the 88 modern constellations. As the regiment was founded in the city of Bracciano the regiment's coats of arms fourth quarter depicts Bracciano's coat of arms.


1st Army Aviation Support Regiment "Idra", Current Structure
As of 2019 the 1st Army Aviation Support Regiment "Idra" consists of:


1st Army Corps (Armed Forces of South Russia)
The 1st Army Corps (Russian: 1-й армейский корпус) was one of the main formations of the Armed Forces of South Russia (Russian: Вооружённых Сил Юга России, ВСЮР; VSUR) during the Russian Civil War. Formed in November 1918, it was first established as part of a reorganization of the White movement's Volunteer Army.


1st Army Corps (Armed Forces of South Russia), History
On 16 April 1920, it was organized from the remnants of the Volunteer Army (known as the Volunteer Corps) in Crimea when Pyotr Wrangel reorganized the White forces in Crimea, known as the Russian Army, into numbered army corps. The Volunteer Corps included all non-Cossack units evacuated from Novorossiysk by the end of March.


1st Army Corps (Armed Forces of South Russia), History, Order of Battle
The 1st Army Corps was the strongest of the four army corps, and was commanded by Alexander Kutepov. It included:


1st Army Corps (Armed Forces of South Russia), History, Reorganisation, July
On 7 July, the 6th Infantry Division joined the corps, and the 2nd Cavalry Division was transferred to the Cavalry Corps.


1st Army Corps (Armed Forces of South Russia), History, Reorganisation, September
On 4 September, it became part of the new 1st Army when Wrangel split the Russian Army into two armies. Kutepov took command of the 1st Army, and Pyotr Pisaryev became corps commander.


1st Army Corps (Armed Forces of South Russia), History, Operational history
During its attacks in northern Taurida, the corps lost 23% of its strength in three days.


1st Army Corps (Armenia)
The 1st Army Corps (Armenian: 1-ին բանակային կորպուս), also known as the 1st Military Unit is a regional military formation of the Armenian Army, located in the city of Goris in the Syunik Province. It helps make up Armenia's southeastern military positions.


1st Army Corps (Armenia), Overview
After the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the development of army building imposed the need to form large military units. This resulted in the corps creation on 20 June 1996 at the initiative of General Yuri Khatchaturov. On its 18th anniversary in 2014, the Governor of Syunik Vahe Hakobyan donated 30 TV sets to the corps. A tank crew of the corps participated in the "Tank Biathlon-2017" international competition. In September 2020, a subdivision of the corps participated in the "Caucasus-2020" command-staff military exercise in Russia. During the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, the corps was deployed in the Aghdara District. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence indicated that the corps was one of three units with White phosphorus in their possession.


1st Army Corps (Armenia), Structure
Other small units include the 5th Mountain Rifle Regiment of the 10th Mountain Rifle Division.


1st Army Corps (Azerbaijan)
The 1st Army Corps (Azerbaijani: 1-ci Ordu Korpusu), also referred to as the Barda Army Corps is a regional military formation of the Azerbaijani Land Forces. It is considered to be the most dangerous, strategic post of the Armed Forces. Most of its units are located on the Armenian border with Nagorno-Karabakh. It is currently led by Major General Hikmat Hasanov. It is currently deployed from Barda, which is south of Yevlakh near Ganja.


1st Army Corps (Azerbaijan), History
Raised in on 3 March 1992 the corps descends from the Azerbaijani 701st Motor Rifle Brigade, 708th Motor Rifle Brigade, and the 130th Motor Rifle Brigade. The former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces General Najmaddin Sadikov made a great contribution to the establishment of the military unit, becoming the first commander of the unit. Among the operations it took part in were the Battle of Kalbajar.


1st Army Corps (Azerbaijan), History, Karabakh operations
During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the corps took part in clashes in Madagiz. It would later be captured by the Azerbaijani forces on 3 October. On 9 December, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to award General Hasanov with the Karabakh Order, congratulating the corps at the same time for their work. Deputy corps commander Babak Samidli led part of the corps in the Madagiz offensive, giving an interview to Euronews on 27 October announcing the capture of the Sarsang Reservoir. He was later killed by a mine in a post ceasefire collection of bodies.


1st Army Corps (Azerbaijan), Composition
The corps HQ is in Barda, Azerbaijan. Among the brigades is the 701st Motorized Rifle Brigade, the first unit in the military. The brigades have artillery, tank, anti-tank, reconnaissance, communication and other subdivisions. The armament of choice are the T-72 tanks, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, and the BMP-2. The total staff of the brigades are estimated at 3500-4000 people.


1st Army Corps (Azerbaijan), Gallery
Members of the corps at the Baku Victory Parade of 2020.


1st Army Corps (France)
The 1st Army Corps (French: 1er Corps d'Armée) was first formed before World War I. During World War II it fought in the Campaign for France in 1940, on the Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Elba in 1943 - 1944, and in the campaigns to liberate France in 1944 and invade Germany in 1945.


1st Army Corps (France), World War I
The Corps saw service throughout the entirety of World War I, notably participating in the Battle of Passchendaele (as part of the French First Army). At the time of the Battle of Passchendaele, the Corps comprised the 1st, 2nd, 51st and 162nd Infantry Divisions. Its troops came from the 1st military region of the Metropolitan Army, which covered the départements of Nord & Pas-de-Calais.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, 1940 Campaign
1st Army Corps was constituted on August 27, 1939, in Lille under the command of Major General Sciard as part of the French mobilization for war. Initially assigned as part of the French First Army, the corps was transferred to the French Seventh Army and moved to coastal regions near Calais and Dunkerque by mid-November 1939. On May 10, 1940, the Corps commanded the 25th Motorised Infantry Division (25e DIM) in addition to its organic units.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, 1940 Campaign
With the German invasion violating the neutrality of Belgium and the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, the 1st Army Corps moved into Belgium with the goal of gaining contact with the Dutch Army. This was achieved on May 12 near Breda, but the general failure of the Allies to hold the German advance mandated early retreats so that the 1st Army Corps would not be cut off. Breda fell to the Germans on May 13 and the corps conducted a fighting withdrawal through Dorp and Wuustwezel to the fortified zone of Antwerp, Belgium. During May 15–17, the corps defended the Scheldt Estuary with the 60th and 21st Infantry Divisions (60e DI and 21e DI), but was ordered to retreat back into France on May 18.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, 1940 Campaign
The period from May 19–26 saw the corps falling back to the line of the Somme River, where the French Army intended to make a major stand. Because of German advances, the 1st Army Corps had to deploy its divisional reconnaissance units to cover positions on the river that the slower-moving infantry divisions (4th Colonial Infantry Division - 4e DIC, 7th North African Infantry Division - 7e DINA, and the 19e DI) could then occupy. This required combat with the Germans, but the corps reached positions near Le Hamel, Aubigny, and along the road between Amiens and Saint-Quentin.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, 1940 Campaign
During May 24–25, troops of the corps seized and lost Aubigny twice. The Germans, however, had held onto a large bridgehead at Peronne. The Germans broke out of this bridgehead on June 5, 1940, and continued their advance into the heart of France. A counterattack by armored elements of the corps on June 6 was halted by the Germans.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, 1940 Campaign
From June 9, the corps was involved in a succession of withdrawals that were meant to form lines of defense along the Avre, Oise, Nonette, Seine, and Loire rivers. The crossing of the Oise River was made under German air attack, some bridges were destroyed by the Luftwaffe, and portions of the corps' infantry had to surrender north of the Oise.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, 1940 Campaign
After the Germans crossed the Loire River on June 18, the 19e DI of the corps was largely destroyed near La Ferté. This was followed by capture of the bulk of the infantry of the 29th (29e DI) and 47th Infantry Divisions (47e DI) on June 19 near Lamotte-Beuvron. The final week of the campaign was a constant retreat for the remnants of the corps, with elements crossing the Dordogne River near Bergerac on June 24, 1940. The following day, an armistice was declared and the corps assembled in the region of Miallet and Thiviers.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, 1940 Campaign
On July 1, Brigadier General Trancart assumed command of the corps. The 1st Army Corps was demobilized on July 10, 1940.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Corsica 1943
The 1st Army Corps was reconstituted on August 16, 1943, in Ain-Taya, French Algeria. Now commanded by Lieutenant General Martin the primary combat units of the corps were provided American equipment and weapons as part of the rearmament of the French Army of Africa.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Corsica 1943
While British and American troops invaded mainland Italy in September 1943, the 1st Army Corps, comprising Headquarters, 4th Moroccan Mountain Division (4e DMM), the 1st Regiment of Moroccan Tirailleurs (1er RTM), the 4th Regiment of Moroccan Spahis (4e RSM) (light tank), the 2nd Group of Moroccan Tabors (2e GTM), the Commandos de Choc battalion and the 3rd Battalion, 69th Mountain Artillery Regiment (69e RAM), landed on the island of Corsica in the same month. To the south, the German 90. Panzergrenadier-Division and the Reichsführer-SS assault infantry brigade were evacuating Sardinia and landing on the southern coast of Corsica.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Corsica 1943
Wishing to cut off the German troops, and informed on September 10, 1943, that the Italian troops on Corsica were willing to fight on the side of the Allies, the French launched Operation Vésuve and landed elements of the 1st Army Corps at Ajaccio on September 13, meeting Corsican partisans who also wanted enemy troops off the island.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Corsica 1943
German General von Senger und Etterlin hoped to obtain reinforcements with which to hold the island. After the Germans began disarming Italian soldiers, General Magli of the Italian Army ordered Italian forces to consider the Germans as an enemy rather than as allies. Thereafter, Italian units on the island cooperated with the French forces. Surprising the Italian Friuli Division in the northern port of Bastia on the night of September 13, 1943, the SS troops took 2,000 Italian prisoners and secured the port from which the Germans could evacuate their forces.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Corsica 1943
Although supported by the Royal Navy, the French were unable to land forces quickly enough on Corsica to prevent the bulk of the German troops from reaching their exit ports on the east coast of the island. The final combat took place around Bastia, with the island secured by French forces on October 4, 1943. The bulk of the German forces, however, had made good their escape. The Germans took 700 casualties and lost 350 men to POW camps.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Corsica 1943
The Italians lost 800 men in the fighting (mostly Friuli Division troops), and the French had 75 killed, 12 missing, and 239 wounded. From October 1943 until May 1944, the 1st Army Corps defended Corsica, conducted training, and moved units between Corsica and North Africa. On April 18, 1944, the 1st Army Corps was subordinated to General de Lattre's Armée B.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Elba 1944
Following the liberation of Corsica, the French proposed to invade the island of Elba, possession of which would allow the Allies to dominate by gunfire ships in the Piombino Channel and vehicles on the coastal road of the Italian peninsula, both transportation arteries essential to the supply of German forces in western Italy. Initially, the proposal was denied by General Eisenhower, who considered it a dispersal of resources while the planning for the Anzio landings was underway. After British General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson took over the Mediterranean Theater, however, attitudes at Allied headquarters changed and the operation was approved. By this time, though, the Germans had strongly fortified Elba, an island dominated by rugged terrain in any case, making the assault considerably more difficult.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Elba 1944
At 0400 hours on June 17, 1944, the 1st Army Corps assaulted Elba in Operation Brassard. French forces comprised the 9th Colonial Infantry Division (9e DIC), two battalions of French commandos (Commandos d'Afrique and Commandos de Choc), a battalion and supplementary battery of the Colonial Artillery Regiment of Morocco (R.A.C.M.) and the 2nd Group of Moroccan Tabors (2e GTM), in addition to 48 men from "A" and "O" commandos of the Royal Navy.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Elba 1944
French Choc (lightly armed fighters who had the mission of operating behind enemy lines) units landed at multiple points before the main landing force and neutralized coastal artillery batteries. Landing in the Gulf of Campo on the south coast, the French initially ran into difficulties because of the German fortifications and extremely rugged terrain that ringed the landing area. Falling back on an alternate plan, the landing beach was shifted to the east, near Nercio, and here the troops of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division seized a viable beachhead.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Elba 1944
Within two hours, French commandos reached the crest of the 400-meter Monte Tambone Ridge overlooking the landing areas. The RN commandos boarded and seized the German Flak ship Köln and also landed to guide in other troops headed for the beaches, but a massive blast from a German demolition charge killed 38 of their men. Portoferraio was taken by the 9th Division on June 18 and the island was largely secured by the following day. Fighting in the hills between the Germans and the Senegalese colonial infantry was vicious, with the Senegalese employing flamethrowers to clear entrenched German troops.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Elba 1944
The Germans defended Elba with two infantry battalions, fortified coastal areas, and several coastal artillery batteries totaling some 60 guns of medium and heavy caliber. In the fighting, the French seized the island, killing 500 German and Italian defenders, and taking 1,995 of them prisoner. French losses were 252 killed and missing, and 635 men wounded in action, while the British lost 38 of their 48 commandos, with nine others wounded by the blast of the demolition charge.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
Following the successful Operation Dragoon landings in southern France, the headquarters of the 1st Army Corps was assembled at Aix, France on September 1, 1944, to command troops as a subordinate corps of the French First Army. 1st Army Corps was now under the command of Lieutenant General Émile Béthouart, a veteran of the 1940 campaign in Norway and an officer who had actively assisted the Allied landings in French North Africa in November 1942.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
For the remainder of the war in Europe, many French divisions would be subordinated to 1st Army Corps, but the divisions that spent the most time with the corps were the 2nd Moroccan Infantry Division (2e DIM), the 9th Colonial Infantry Division (9e DIC), the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division (4e DMM), and the 1st Armoured Division (1re DB).


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
1st Army Corps drove north along the east bank of the Rhône River, but the push lacked strength as the 4e DMM was still deploying to France (and would be further engaged securing the alpine frontier with Italy for several months) and the 1re DB was still assembling in southern France. In mid-September, the corps secured the Lomont Mountains, a range about 130 kilometers (81 mi) long running from the Doubs River to the Swiss border.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
German resistance was spotty in September, but rapidly coalesced in front of the Belfort Gap, a corridor of relatively flat terrain that lies between the Vosges and Jura mountains on the Swiss frontier, and a gateway to the Rhine river. Operating with one division and experiencing the same logistics problems as other Allied units in Europe, the advance of the 1st Army Corps was slowed in front of the Belfort Gap by the German 11. Panzer-Division.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
Compounding the distance that supplies had to travel from the ports in southern France were the north–south railway lines with destroyed bridges and sections of track. Early October 1944 also saw the unseasonably early arrival of cold and wet weather more characteristic of November. All of these factors served to force a halt to the 1st Army Corps' advance in October while the corps improved its supply situations and resolved manpower issues caused by the French high command's decision to rotate the Senegalese troops to the south and replace them with FFI manpower. The supply situation had improved by early November, coinciding with orders from General Eisenhower, now in charge of all Allied forces in northwestern Europe, directing a general offensive all along the Western Front.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
Believing that the relative inactivity of 1st Army Corps meant the corps was digging in for the winter, the Germans reduced their forces in the Belfort Gap to a single, not-at-full strength infantry division. The 1st Army Corps launched their attack to force the Belfort Gap on November 13, 1944. By a stroke of fate, the French attack caught the German division commander near the front lines, who perished under a hail of Moroccan gunfire. The same attack narrowly missed capturing the commander of the German IV. Luftwaffen-Feldkorps.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
Although desperate German troops formed islands of resistance, most notably at the fortified city of Belfort, troops of the 2e DIM, 9e DIC, and the 1re DB pushed through gaps in the German lines, disrupting their defense and keeping the battle mobile. French tanks moved through the Belfort Gap and reached the Rhine River at Huningue on November 19.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
The battle cut off the German 308. Grenadier-Regiment on November 24, forcing the German troops to either surrender or intern themselves in Switzerland. On November 25, 1st Army Corps units liberated both Mulhouse (taken by a surprise armored drive) and Belfort (taken by assault of the 2e DIM). Realizing the German defense had been too static for their own good, General De Lattre (commander of the French First Army) directed both corps of his army to close on Burnhaupt in order to encircle the German LXIII. Armeekorps (the former IV. Luftwaffe Korps).


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
This maneuver succeeded on November 28, 1944, and resulted in the capture of over 10,000 German troops, crippling the LXIII. Armeekorps. French losses, however, had also been significant, and plans to immediately clear the Alsatian Plain of German forces had to be shelved while both sides gathered strength for the next battles.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
The November offensives of the French First Army and the U.S. Seventh Army had collapsed the German presence in Alsace to a roughly circular pocket around the town of Colmar on the Alsatian Plain. This Colmar Pocket contained the German 19. Armee. As the southernmost corps of Allied forces in northwestern Europe, the French 1st Army Corps now faced the Rhine at Huningue and held Mulhouse and the southern boundary of the Colmar Pocket.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
A French offensive in mid-December designed to collapse the Colmar Pocket failed for lack of offensive power and the requirement to cover more of the Allied front line as U.S. units were shifted north in response to the Ardennes Offensive. On January 1, 1945, the Germans launched Operation Nordwind, an offensive with the goal of recapturing Alsace. After the U.S. Seventh and French First Armies had held and turned back this offensive, the Allies were ready to reduce the Colmar Pocket once and for all.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
The 1st Army Corps led the attack against the Colmar Pocket on January 20, 1945. Fighting in woodlands and dense urban areas, the 1st Army Corps attack stalled after the first day, meeting a German defense in depth and attracting German 19. Armee reinforcements.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, France 1944
By the end of the month, however, other attacks by U.S. and French forces against the Colmar Pocket had forced the Germans to redistribute their troops, and an early February attack by the 1st Army Corps moved north through weak German resistance, reaching the bridge over the Rhine at Chalampé and making contact with the U.S. XXI Corps at Rouffach, south of Colmar. The final German forces in the 1st Army Corps area retreated over the Rhine into Baden on February 9, 1945. Thereafter, the thrust of the Allied offensive moved to the north, and the 1st Army Corps was assigned the defense of the Rhine River from the area south of Strasbourg to the Swiss frontier until mid-April 1945.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Germany 1945
On April 15, 1st Army Corps was given the mission of crossing the Rhine, traversing the Black Forest, and sweeping south Baden of German troops. The 4e DMM drove directly on Freudenstadt, an important Black Forest road junction, capturing it on April 17, 1945. The 9e DIC, crossing the Rhine north of Karlsruhe, raced south along the east bank of the Rhine and then swung east, paralleling the course of the Swiss frontier. From Freudenstadt, the 4e DMM turned south and met the 9e DIC near Döggingen on April 29, cutting off the German XVIII. SS-Armeekorps in the Black Forest. Frantic attempts at escape by the encircled German troops came to naught among French roadblocks and the formidable terrain of the forest, and they were left no options save death or surrender.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Germany 1945
From Freudenstadt, elements of the 1re DB pushed east and south, capturing Ulm on April 24, and then pushed south again with elements of the 2e DIM into the Alps, crossing into Austria and marching into Sankt-Anton on May 7, 1945. Elements of the 5e DB and the 4e DMM drove southeast along the north shore of Lake Constance, capturing Bregenz and then turning east toward Sankt-Anton. The following day was VE Day, ending Allied military operations in Europe.


1st Army Corps (France), World War II, Germany 1945
During the course of its operations in France and Germany in 1944 - 1945, the 1st Army Corps lost 3,518 men killed, 13,339 wounded, and 1,449 missing, for a total of 18,306 casualties. Although not all casualties inflicted on the Germans by 1st Army Corps are known, the corps is credited with taking 101,556 Germans prisoner during the campaigns to liberate France and invade Germany.


1st Army Corps (France), Postwar
After VE Day, the 1st Army Corps occupied Baden, parts of Württemberg, and Austria, with corps headquarters initially in Ravensburg. On July 16, 1945, the 1st Army Corps was renamed "Army Corps of the South" (French: Corps d'armée sud). General Béthouart became the commander of French forces in Austria and the High Commissioner for France in Austria until 1950. 1st Army Corps was inactivated on April 30, 1946.


1st Army Corps (France), Postwar
It was reformed later during the Cold War, with corps headquarters being at Nancy in 1970. In 1977, the corps was fused with the 6th Military Region, and the artillery commandant took up quarters in the Chateau of Mercy (Ars-Laquenexy). Genérals Faverdin, Bonmati, D'HULST, BARASCUD, MARTINIE and DELISSNYDER succeeded him there. However, by 1984 the corps headquarters and military region HQ had been split again.


1st Army Corps (France), Postwar
From circa 1965 to 1978 it included the 8th Division (with 4th and 14th Brigades) until the 8th Division, later the 8th Armoured Division, was disestablished in the small divisions reorganisation of the late 1970s.


1st Army Corps (France), Postwar
In 1989 it had its HQ at Metz with the 1st Armoured Division at Trier (Germany), the 7th Armoured Division at Besançon, 12th Light Armoured Division at Saumur, and the 14th Light Armoured Division at Montpellier. The headquarters staff of the 12e Division légère blindée was to be mobilized in time of war from the Armoured and Cavalry Branch Training School headquarters in Saumur.


1st Army Corps (France), Postwar
The corps was again disbanded in 1990, seemingly on 1 July 1990.


1st Army Corps (Russian Empire)
The 1st Army Corps (Russian: 1-й армейский корпус) was a formation in the Imperial Russian Army, formed in the 1870s. It took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, and later, in August 1914, the 1st Army Corps fought as part of the Second Army in the Battle of Tannenberg. There, it was defeated by the Germans along with the rest of the Second Army. During the rest of World War I, it took part in other operations, up until around 1918.


1st Army Corps (Russian Empire), Composition
The following is a list of units that made up the 1st Army Corps at different points during its existence:


1st Army Corps (Soviet Union)
The 1st Army Corps was an army corps of the Soviet Armed Forces. It was formed in 1957 and finally deactivated in 1991. It draws its history from the 1st Rifle Corps, formed in 1922. Troops of the 1st Rifle Corps participated in the Winter War (November 1939 - March 1940) and World War II.


1st Army Corps (Soviet Union), First Formation
The corps was formed in June, 1922 in Petrograd (currently Saint-Petersburg) as the 1st Army Corps (1 ak). Creation of the corps was based on a Directive of the Commander number 195060/69, of 15 May 1922, Order Petrograd VO No.1416/383, 6 June 1922. In July 1922 it was named the 1st Rifle Corps. In 1926 corps headquarters was moved to Novgorod, and in 1938 to Pskov.


1st Army Corps (Soviet Union), First Formation
On May 15, 1939, the 75th Rifle Division (75th RD) was transferred from the 14th Rifle Corps (Kharkov Military District) and arrived in the Leningrad Military District. In September 1939, the 75th Rifle Division concentrated in the 1st Rifle Corps 8th Army on the border with Estonia.


1st Army Corps (Soviet Union), First Formation
In November 1939 the 75th Rifle Division arrived in Schlusselburg (LenVO) where on vehicles it was transferred to Karelia, as part of the 1st Rifle Corps, 8th Army, LenVO. That same month corps headquarters was moved to Petrozavodsk (November 1939 - April 1940).


1st Army Corps (Soviet Union), First Formation
The corps participated in the Soviet-Finnish War (1939-1940) (November 1939 - March 1940).


1st Army Corps (Soviet Union), First Formation
On June 22, 1941, at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the corps comprised the:


1st Army Corps (Soviet Union), First Formation
Last mention in the Boevoi sostav Sovetskoi armii (Combat composition of the Soviet Army, BSSA) was on 1 July 1941 with the corps directly subordinated to the Western Front (Soviet Union).


1st Army Corps (Soviet Union), Second formation
The corps reappeared in BSSA on 1 June 1942 directly subordinated to the North Caucasian Front, and made up of four rifle brigades. Thereafter, the last 1942 BSSA mention of the corps is on 1 August 1942.


1st Army Corps (Soviet Union), Third formation and Cold War
The 1st Rifle Corps reappears in the BSSA on 1 September 1943 as part of the Northwestern Front. Final mention on 1 May 1945 subordinated to the 1st Shock Army, Leningrad Front, and in command of the 306th, 344th, and 357th Rifle Divisions. The corps headquarters, as well as the 4th Shock Army, was moved to Central Asia after the end of the war and established at Ashgabat. On 25 June 1957 it was renamed the 1st Army Corps. In April 1970, the corps headquarters was moved to Semipalatinsk, where in September 1981 it was raised in status to become 32nd Army. A tank division may have moved to Semipalatinsk alongside the corps headquarters.


1st Army Corps (Soviet Union), Third formation and Cold War
32nd Army was redesignated 1st Army Corps once again on 1 March 1988, but on 4 June 1991 the headquarters was again renamed to become 40th Army.