The 18th Army (german: 18. Armee / Armeeoberkommando 18 / A.O.K. 18) was an
army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
level command of the
German Army in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. It was formed against France on 27 December 1917 from the former
Heeresgruppe Woyrsch command. It served exclusively on the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
* Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...
and was dissolved on 2 January 1919.
History
18th Army was one of three armies (along with
17th Army and
19th Army) formed in late 1917 / early 1918 with forces withdrawn from the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 the Russian withdrawal from the war (
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers ( Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russi ...
).
At the end of the war it was serving as part of ''
Heeresgruppe Deutscher Kronprinz
The Army Group German Crown Prince or Army Group B (german: Heeresgruppe Deutscher Kronprinz) was an Army Group of the German Army, which operated on the Western Front under command of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, between 1 August 1915 and 11 No ...
''.
Order of Battle, 30 October 1918
By the end of the war, the 18th Army was organised as:
Commanders
18th Army was commanded throughout its existence by
General der Infanterie Oskar von Hutier (previously commander of
8th Army).
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.
See also
*
18th Army (Wehrmacht) for the equivalent formation in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
*
German Army order of battle, Western Front (1918)
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{German Empire Armies, 18th=y
18
Military units and formations established in 1917
Military units and formations disestablished in 1919