Neimen Army

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Gwynn Compton
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Neimen Army

#1

Post by Gwynn Compton » 23 Apr 2004, 12:54

Which Army in the East was known as the Neimen Army. I suspect that it was either Mackensen's 11th Army, or the 10th Army. Having just read it being mentioned Robert B. Asprey's "The German High Command At War" it doesn't contain much on which German Army this actually was.

The comment is made as Asprey describes how Falkenhayn placed the 9th Army and another Corps under his personal command to prevent Oberost from sending them north to join the "Neimen Army", however the references end there.

Any idea? I'm still leaning towards it being Mackensen's 11th Army that got given the name Neimen during it's operations there, though I'm not 100% on this.

Gwynn

Gwynn Compton
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#2

Post by Gwynn Compton » 23 Apr 2004, 13:06

It could also be that the Neimen Army was an ad-hoc collection of divisions in the area, thoug the 11th Army is also a candidate, as it operated through this area following the Gorlice-Tarnow breakthrow, which would make General Max von Gallwitz the commander of the 11th/Neimen Army. The irony being of cause that Mackensen was the previous commander of this army, and was sent to oversee the Serbian campaign.

Gwynn


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Peter H
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#3

Post by Peter H » 23 Apr 2004, 16:04

Gwynn,
Otto von Below's Niemen Army operated in Kurland between May to December 1915.

The Niemen River(in German Memel) acted as part of the border between
East Prussia and Lithuania.

In the summer of 1915,the following Central Power Armies were on the Eastern Front,from north to south(Austro-Hungarian in italics):

Niemen Army
10th Army
8th Army
Gallwitz Army(later 12th Army August 1915)
9th Army
Woyrsch Army
1st Army
4th Army
11th Army
3rd Army
2nd Army
Süd Army
7th Army

The German Bug Army was also formed in July 1915,eventually replacing the 11th Army as it moved south to the Balkans.

The German 8th Army was disbanded in September 1915,then reconstituted from the Niemen Army as the new 8th Army in Kurland December 1915,still under von Below.

Gwynn Compton
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#4

Post by Gwynn Compton » 24 Apr 2004, 20:51

Ah thank you. I hadn't been able to find a map to check this one out, and was relying on deduction from the gaps missing in Asprey's text.

It's interesting that at Trenches on the Web's list of the German Armies and their commanders that the Neimen, Sud, Woyrsch and Bug armies aren't listed there, either that or my eyesight is really going.

Woyrsch was only a cavalry corps though wasn't it?

Gwynn

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Glenn2438
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Njemen-Armee

#5

Post by Glenn2438 » 24 Apr 2004, 21:31

Hi Gwynn,

to clarify the Njemen-Armee story. The original 8th Army headquarters under General der Infanterie Otto von Below assumed command of German troops in Courland under the name Njeman-Armee on the 26th of May 1915. General der Artillerie Friedrich von Scholtz then headed a new 8th Army headquarters (staff of the XX Corps) until this was dissolved on the 29th of September 1915. On the 30th of December 1915 the Njemen-Armee was renamed as the 8th Army.

Remus von Woyrsch originally commanded the Landwehr-Korps. He assumed cpmmand of Armee-Abteilung Woyrsch on the 3rd of November 1914 which in turn became Heeresgruppe Woyrsch on the 31st of August 1916 and was disbanded on the 15th of December 1917.

Regards
Glenn

Gwynn Compton
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#6

Post by Gwynn Compton » 25 Apr 2004, 03:27

Thanks for that Glenn :)

Gwynn

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Peter H
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#7

Post by Peter H » 25 Apr 2004, 03:58

Gwynn,
An excellent(but dry) reference on the changing structure of the German Army in WW1 is Hermann Cron's Imperial German Army 1914-18: Organisation, Structure, Orders of Battle.

Regards,
Moulded


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monk2002uk
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#8

Post by monk2002uk » 25 Apr 2004, 09:43

Moulded wrote:An excellent(but dry) reference
Yes, it is superb. I would heartily endorse the recommendation. I gather further works are in translation.

Robert

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