Of the 25 Wehrmacht Armies of World War II, the 15th Army was a sweet and bitter force, because from its formation until the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944, this unit was stationed in France, accompanied not only by beautiful women and champagne, but also by the long beaches of the Atlantic Ocean and the beautiful scenery of the West Bank. However, since Montgomery launched Operation Market Garden, the 15th Army has been an important target, and by mid-November 1944, the Allies could not even find a trace of this force, so why did the 15th Army suddenly disappear out of thin air?
In the summer of 1940, after the German occupation of France, the Anglo-French coalition army crossed Dunkirk under the eyes of the German army, but the competition between Britain and Germany in the air and at sea intensified, but despite this, Adolf set his sights on the far east, although he also formed several army groups to prevent the British army from fighting the English Channel, but the German army only used 30% of its troops to deploy in Western Europe and North Africa, and 70% of the main force was all invested in the blitzkrieg of the Soviet Union.
However, with the unfolding of barbarossa's planned campaign in Moscow, on October 15, 1941, the German high command formed a special 15th Army in France, with the upper management unit of Army Group D, the purpose of which was mainly to carry out strategic deception, while monitoring the every move of the British army across the English Channel, from the battlefield environment at that time, the 15th Army was like a border coastal defense force, because it defended the west coast of France and prevented possible landing operations by the Allies.
However, although Stalin had always hoped that Churchill would seize the opportunity to open a second front after the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the British army was fighting on the three fronts of North Africa, Southeast Asia and the Atlantic Ocean, and it was a mud bodhisattva crossing the river, and there was no remaining force to launch a land attack on Germany. Therefore, after the establishment of the 15th Army, it was basically in a state of no war on the Western Front and lived a very peaceful life.
However, after the defeat of Rommel's army in North Africa, he was ordered to form Army Group B in August 1943, and by November he was under the supervision of the head of Atlantic engineering, and the 15th Army also became an important part of Rommel's command, and thus began to live a hard life. It was also from this time that the 15th Army and the Allies engaged in a series of important operations, from Normandy to Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Salient, and inflicted heavy losses on the Allies in the battles of the port of Antwerp and the Schütgen Forest.
From this point of view, the time for the 15th Army of the Wehrmacht to participate in the battle was limited, and when Rommel formed Army Group B, the overall combat effectiveness of the German army on the Western Front had shown a downward trend, so although the 15th Army fought tenaciously, the result was the same, and after Modell took over the command of two operations, in the Ruhr industrial area, he ordered the disbandment of Army Group B, and the 15th Army was also scattered.
On 6 June 1944, the Allies landed in Normandy, followed by Montgomery's famous Operation Market Garden on 14 September, with the aim of encircling the Germans from the Netherlands, Belgium and northeastern France to attack behind the Germans, and although the new commander Modell was in good command and inflicted heavy damage on the two American airborne divisions in Operation Market Garden, it did not stop the Allied attack.
After the defeat of Operation Market Garden, the Allies decided to start with the port of Antwerp, which the 15th Army focused on defending, and in fact, before Operation Market Garden began, the Allies had already attacked Antwerp, but with little success. However, the Battle of Shelter, which the Allied forces had regrouped, still did not have the desired effect, and the 15th Army had been prepared for the battle until the beginning of November.
However, although the 15th Army lost more than 12,000 allied troops in this battle, due to the Allied superiority in air and long-range strikes, in a raid, The Allied aircraft hit the headquarters of the 15th Army, killing 2 generals and more than 60 middle and senior officers, paralyzing the entire command system of the army group, the German army had 53,000 captured and killed, and the 15th Army was equivalent to losing its combat effectiveness.
After the Allies took Antwerp, the remnants of the 15th Army retreated to the Rhine under the command of Modell, and Modell named the defensive operation "Operation Watch over the Rhine", in fact, the entire Army Group B had no way to retreat, and the Allies not only approached the Elbe from the flank with two armies, but also used the Ruhr industrial area as the last battlefield for the German army to be annihilated on the western front.
However, in order to make a final attempt, Modell made the necessary preparations, and from November 14, 1944, the Allies found that the number of the 15th Army on the German position was gone, and the number of the 25th Army appeared. The remnants of the 15th Army, renamed von Mantefir Army Group, took over the defensive positions from the 5th Panzer Army and established the last barrier in the Ruhr area, the Schütgen Forest Line.
In February 1945, although the 15th Army changed its name, it could not escape the Pursuit of the Allies, and after 3 months of painstaking defense in the Schütgen Forest, it was finally insufficient to supply the troops and was broken through by the Allies after losing more than 20,000 troops, and the rest of the Army Group Model B fell into the Ruhr encirclement.
On April 8, 1945, Adolf issued an order to the Western Front Command to form the 12th Army Group, demanding the rapid rescue of Army Group B, but Modell saw that the situation was gone, and the commander of the 12th Army Group, General Wink, had negotiated the surrender terms with the American Army, and Moder issued an order on April 17 to disperse the troops, so that all 325,000 men and horses of the 15th Army and Army Group B were taken prisoner.
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