The HQ of an army was called 'Armee-Oberkommando n' (n replaces the number), usually abbreviated A.O.K. 'Armee Norwegen', 'Armee Lappland' or the famous 'Panzerarmee Afrika'. There were some 'named' armies as well, e.g. Armeekorps -> Panzergruppe Guderian -> Panzergruppe 2 -> 2. Armeekorps -> Panzergruppe Kleist -> Panzergruppe 1 -> 1. The 4 armored armies of Barbarossa were built from corps HQs in several steps: Armee (von Küchler)Īrmored armies were first called 'Panzergruppe' and in the late 1941 rebuilt into 'Panzerarmee'. Armee even nazis were superstitious.Īfter Poland, several armies were renamed:ģ. All numbers from 1 to 20 (and in the last months of the war even above that) were used with one exception: There never was a 13.

later in the war) Army Groups were also called with names reflecting their geographical position:Īrmies were named with an Arabic number followed by a period and the word 'Armee', e.g. In some campaigns (Poland, Barbarossa), the letters the were replaced by directions: Several naming conventions were used, at times by letter: MBF: Militärbefehlshaber xxx (Command of the military in xxx)Īrmy Groups as command of several armies were exclusively called 'Heeresgruppe'.WBF: Wehrmachtsbefehlshaber xxx (Command of the Armed Forces in xxx).

OKW: Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces).OKH: Oberkommando des Heeres (High Command of the Army).Thus these could be used as theater names as well: From 1938 onwards there were two parallel commands, one of which always was the supreme command of the main attack direction, and the second commanded forces in all other places. German activities in Africa, for example, were too limited to warrant a theater command of its own. Theaters as such did not exist historically, as Germany was a continental power and fought wars nearly exclusively at home and around it. In 1936, OB West and OB Ost could be used as the starting theaters, for example. For gameplay purposes, an approximation of German theaters could be supreme command headquarters (Oberbefehlshaber), which Germany created based on the cardinal directions at various points of the war.

Hearts of iron 3 german