The 2nd Army Corps (french: 2 Corps d'Armée) was first formed before World War I. During

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 ...

it fought in the Campaign for France in 1940 and during the 1944–45 campaigns in

southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...

, the

Vosges Mountains The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a singl ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, and southwestern Germany. It was active under the First Army for many years after World War II.

World War I

2^e Corps was one of five corps of the Fifth Army and upon mobilization consisted of the 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions. 2 Corps headquarters in 1914 was in Amiens. Commanders were: * At mobilization: Gen.

Gérard Gérard (French: ) is a French masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constitue ...

* 24 Jul 1915: Gen. Herr * 10 Aug 1915: Gen. Duchêne * 29 Dec 1916: Gen. Buat * 2 Jan 1917: Gen. Cadoudal * 11 Jun 1918: Gen. Philipot 2^e Corps received credit for participation in these battles: * Aug 1914: Battle of the Ardennes * Aug 1914: Battle of the Meuse * Sep 1914: Battle of the Marne * Sep 1914: Battle of Vitry * Feb 1915: First battle of Champagne * Apr 1915: First battle of Woëvre * Feb 1916:

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun (french: Bataille de Verdun ; german: Schlacht um Verdun ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

* Jul 1916:

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

* May 1918: Third battle of the Aisne * Jun 1918: Battle of Matz * Jul 1918: Second battle of the Marne * Sep 1918: Battle of Champagne and the Argonne

World War II

In 1940, the ''2 Corps d'Armée Motorisé'' was one of three corps of the Ninth Army and consisted of the 4th Light Cavalry Division and 5th Motorized Division. During the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

, its commander general Jean Bouffet was killed and after the French capitulation, the Corps was dissolved on 26 May 1940. After

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – 16 November 1942) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while al ...

, the French troops in North Africa joined the allies, and a new 2nd Army Corps was created in Algeria on 16 August 1943. In November 1943, units of the 2nd Army Corps were used to create the

French Expeditionary Corps (1943–44) The French Expeditionary Corps (french: Corps Expéditionnaire Français, CEF), also known as the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy (french: Corps Expéditionaire Français en Italie, CEFI), was an expeditionary force of the French Liberati ...

, which fought in Italy.
In September 1944, the 2nd Army Corps landed in the Provence and later liberated Lyon, Autun, Dijon and Chaumont. After having taken over the Vosges and Alsace, the 2nd Army Corps victoriously defended Strasbourg against the German counter-attack in January 1945. In April and May the Corps took part in the German campaign and captured Stuttgart. In 1944–45, the 2nd Army Corps was subordinated to the First Army. During the campaigns in France and Germany, many divisions served with the corps but the 1st March Infantry Division, the

3rd Algerian Infantry Division The 3rd Algerian Infantry Division (french: 3e Division d'Infanterie Algérienne, 3e DIA) was an infantry division of the Army of Africa (french: Armée d'Afrique) which participated in World War II. Following the liberation of French North Afr ...

, and the 9th Colonial Infantry Division spent several months under 2nd Army Corps command. The 10th Infantry Division spent its last active months in the

French occupation zone in Germany The French occupation zone in Germany (, ) was one of the Allied-occupied areas in Germany after World War II. Background In the aftermath of the Second World War, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin met at the Yalta ...

under the command of the 2nd Army Corps.

commanders

* general

Edgard de Larminat Edgard de Larminat (29 November 1895 – 1 July 1962) was a French general, who fought in two World Wars. He was one of the most important military figures who rejoined the renegade Free French forces under the British in 1940. He was awarded ...

(16.08.1943 – 31.08.1944) * general Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert (31.08.1944 - 24.07.1945)

Cold War

In 1984-5 and 1989, 2nd Army Corps was headquartered in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

, Germany, and controlled the

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * H ...

and 5th Armored Divisions, as well as the 15th Infantry Division.David Isby and Charles Kamps, Armies of NATO's Central Front, Jane's Publishing Company, 1985, 127
NATO Order of Battle 1989 (p. 93)
/ref> The corps was probably disestablished in the early 1990s. With the end of the Cold War, the French Army underwent significant reorganization and no longer has any numbered corps headquarters.

Article sources and citations

* Cordesman – Anthony H. Cordesman, ''NATO's Central Region Forces'', London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1988. * GUF – Guerre 1939 – 1945. Les Grandes Unités Françaises. Armée de Terre, Service Historique. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1967. * ''Les Armées Françaises dans la Grande Guerre''. Army Corps. Armée Service Historique. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1922.

World War I

World War II

commanders

Cold War

Article sources and citations

See also

Further reading