On 28 October 1943, Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge, the commander of Army Group Centre, was injured in a vehicle accident and Busch was named as his replacement. Army Group Centre controlled 76 divisions across four field armies. Fifty-four of these divisions were infantry, which included six from Hungary, and there were also five Panzer divisions. However, few divisions were at full strength and over the coming months Busch amalgamated several of them. Others were low quality, particularly the Hungarian divisions and also the eight Luftwaffe Field Divisions that were also part of two of his armies. By June 1944, his command numbered 38 infantry divisions.