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German Roundel

Army Group I was a Wehrmacht army group created on December 15, 1944, founded when the German 30th Army and the 1st Dutch SS Army were conjoined to form a defensive formation in the Netherlands. Hasso von Manteuffel commanded it until March 10, 1945, and General Otto von Lehm took over the army group, leading it until it gave up resistance on April 5.

History[]

Army Group I was created by the OKW on December 15, 1944, in preparation for the Winter Offensive. The army was a mixture of Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS troops, some of whom were Dutch and Belgians (two-thirds of the 1st Dutch SS Army were actually from the Low Countries). The OKW gave General Hasso von Manteuffel the opportunity to lead the army, and Manteuffel accepted, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. By February 1945, Army Group I was pushed to the Danish border. On March 10, by which time Army Group I had lost 135,000 troops out of 200,000, Manteuffel was transferred to the Eastern Front, so Otto von Lehm was made the commander. On April 5, he surrendered Army Group I at Kiel, northern Germany, to Bernard Montgomery.

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