Seventh Army (France)
The Seventh Army (French: VIIe Armée) was a Field army of the French Army during World War I and World War II.
It was created on 4 April 1915 to defend the front between the Swiss border and Lorraine, as successor of the independent Army Detachment of the Vosges under General Putz. This Detachment had been created on 8 December 1914, with the stabilisation of the Western Front as successor of the Army of Alsace, Groupement des Vosges and 34th Army Corps.
The Seventh Army held the same position until the end of the War. Its major involvements were the Battle of Hartmannswillerkopf and the Battle of Le Linge in 1915.
Commanders
World War I
Seventh Army
A number of nations have a Seventh Army:
Germany
Others
7th Army (Wehrmacht)
The 7th Army (German: 7. Armee Oberkommando) was a World War II field army of the German land forces.
History
Origins
The 7th Army was activated in Stuttgart on August 25, 1939 with General Friedrich Dollmann in command. At the outbreak of the war, the 7th Army defended the French border and manned the Westwall in the Upper Rhine region. At the start of the Campaign in the West in 1940, the 7th Army was part of General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb's Army Group C. On 14 June 1940, Army Group C attacked the Maginot Line after it had been cut off by armored units of the XXXXI Panzer Corps. Lead elements of the 7th Army reached the area in front of Colmar and later pursued parts of the French 2nd Army Group into Lorraine. At the conclusion of the campaign, the 7th Army was in eastern France. From July 1940 until April 1941, the 7th Army guarded a region of the coast in southwestern France. From 18 April 1941, the 7th Army was responsible for coastal defense in Brittany and Normandy. By mid-1944, the 7th Army was part of Erwin Rommel's Army Group B.
7th Army (Soviet Union)
The Soviet Red Army's 7th Army first saw action in the 1939-40 Winter War against Finland. In November 1939, just before the initial Soviet attack, it consisted of the 19th Rifle Corps (24th Rifle Division, 43 RD, 70 RD, 123 RD), 50th Rifle Corps (49 RD, 90 RD, 142 RD), 10th Tank Corps, 138th Rifle Division, and an independent tank brigade. The Army was first under Commander (Second rank) Yakovlev, but he was removed from command of his army and returned to Leningrad. Command of the war operation Kirill Meretskov was called-off due to extensive failures and heavy casualties, and he replaced Yakovlev as the commander of the Seventh Army.
7th Army was reformed in Autumn (second half of) 1940 in the Leningrad Military District. Before the German Operation Barbarossa began it covered the Soviet frontier to the north of Lake Ladoga. Since 24 June 1941 the army included the 54th, 71st, 168th and 237th Rifle Divisions, the 26th Fortified Region, the 55th Composite Aviation Division, and some artillery and engineering formations. It became part of the Northern Front, then the Karelian Front, and conducted defensive operations in Karelia, however losing Ladoga Karelia to the Finns in July–August 1941. On 25 September 1941 it was renamed the 7th Separate Army, directly subordinate to Stavka, (VGK- the Supreme High Command), and it remained in that status until February 1944. In the middle of October 1941 - June 1944 it defended the Svir River line between Lakes Onega and Ladoga.
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