Can we say that the German 9th Army can be consider the strongest Army on the Eastern Front?

Hello Benoit,

In what context do you mean? Numbers, guns, etc. and what time period are you looking at? We do not get many threads regarding the Germans, it is nice to see someone else join the forum, welcome.

Ralph

Ralph,

Well, the same question was raise on another forum and nobody answer it yet and I tought I would give a shot here. It is in the context of the Moldavian front Battles of 1917, Romanian historiography attributes the German 9th Army the qualifier of the strongest German army on the Eastern Front.

Regards

Thanks for the clarifiction of the question. Unfortunately I have little information on the Eastern Front units and honestly cannot give an opinion on this point. Is there anyone else out there who could?

Ralph

I can look that up, but I'm afraid it will be a few days...sorry


Paul

I can wait no problem. However, I have found those info concerning the German 9th Army for those who are interested.

The 9th Army was composed of low grade units. this is not a reflection on their opponent, the Rumanians, but the defensive mode adopted by the Germans in Moldavia.

For comparasion the Süd Army at Tarnopol in July/August 1917 was strengthened by 8 Divisions brought in from elsewhere ,meaning a force of some 15 Divisions along their front. After reinforcing the Austrians they then launched their own counteroffensive and made good gains. At Riga in September the 8th Army totalled some 14 infantry Divisions, plus most of the the German heavy artillery resources available on the Eastern Front.

With some 95 German divisions in the East, or moving between, in the summer of 1917 an Army force of 15 divisions seemed to be the norm.

For the offensive, the German 9th Army was strengthened with units brought from the French or Italian fronts. General von Eben decided to deliver the main blow with the German 1st Corps (6 Divisions), while to its left the German 18th Reserve Corps (3 Divisions) had to pin down the Entente troops opposite it. The right wing of the 9th Army was manned by 2 Divisions. The reserve was made up of one German and one Austro-Hungarian divisions and the Alpine Corps, which arrived in the area during the first day of the battle. The German forces in the attack sector were 102 infantry battalions.

Regards

Well, there you have the answer: the Rumanian historiography of course describes the 9th Army as the strongest. They were defeated by it. Could they say that they were defeated by a bunch of low quality units?

Yet I believe that the 9th Army was perhaps strengthened with high quality units (as f.i. the Alpenkorps) for the final blow against the Rumanian forces in order to get Rumania out of the war.

Jan