17th Army (German Empire)

The **17th Army** () was an army-level command of the German Army in World War I. It was formed in France on 1 February 1918 from the former [14th Army](14th-army-german-empire) command. It served exclusively on the Western Front and was dissolved on 19 January 1919. ## History 17th Army was one of three armies (along with [18th Army](18th-army-german-empire) and [19th Army](19th-army-german-empire)) formed in late 1917 / early 1918 with forces withdrawn from the Eastern Front. They were in place to take part in Ludendorff's German spring offensive. The Germans had realised that their only remaining chance of victory was to defeat the Allies before the overwhelming human and matériel resources of the United States could be deployed. They also had the temporary advantage in numbers afforded by nearly 50 divisions freed by Russia's withdrawing from the war (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk). At the end of the war it was part of Heeresgruppe Kronprinz Rupprecht. The Headquarters was at St Amand until 6 April 1918, Douai until 1 May 1918, Denain until 18 October 1918 and Mons until start of the march back, reaching Zülpich for disbandment on 19 January 1919. ### Order of Battle, 30 October 1918 By the end of the war, the 17th Army was organised as: ::data[format=table] | Organization of 17th Army on 30 October 1918 | Army | Corps | Division | |---|---|---|---| | **17th Army** | I Bavarian Reserve Corps | [187th Division](187th-infantry-division-german-empire) | | | [26th Reserve Division](26th-reserve-division-german-empire) | | | | | [10th *Ersatz* Division](10th-ersatz-division-german-empire) | | | | | 208th Division | | | | | II Bavarian Corps | 234th Division | | | | [25th Division](25th-division-german-empire) | | | | | XVIII Corps | 220th Division | | | | [35th Division](35th-division-german-empire) | | | | | [6th Division](6th-division-german-empire) | | | | | XIV Reserve Corps | 214th Division | | | | [111th Division](111th-infantry-division-german-empire) | | | | | [48th Reserve Division](48th-reserve-division-german-empire) | | | | | 206th Division | | | | | [12th Division](12th-division-german-empire) | | | | | [28th Reserve Division](28th-reserve-division-german-empire) | | | | :: ## Commanders 17th Army had the following commanders: ::data[format=table title="17th Army"] | From | Commander | Previously | Subsequently, | |---|---|---|---| | 1 February 1918 | General der Infanterie Otto von Below | [14th Army](14th-army-german-empire) | [1st Army](1st-army-german-empire) | | 12 October 1918 | General der Infanterie Bruno von Mudra | [1st Army](1st-army-german-empire) | | :: ## Glossary - Armee-Abteilung or army detachment in the sense of "something detached from an army". It is not under the command of an army so is in itself a small army. - Armee-Gruppe or army group in the sense of a group within an army and under its command, generally formed as a temporary measure for a specific task. - Heeresgruppe or army group in the sense of a number of armies under a single commander. ## References ## Bibliography - {{cite book - {{cite book ## References 1. {{harvnb. Cron. 2002 2. {{harvnb. Ellis. Cox. 1993 3. {{harvnb. Ellis. Cox. 1993 4. {{harvnb. Cron. 2002 5. {{harvnb. Cron. 2002 ::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_Army_(German_Empire)) and is available under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the [article history page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_Army_(German_Empire)?action=history). ::