The Heeresgruppe B was formed in October 1939 from Heeresgruppe Nord and was redesignated Heeresgruppe Mitte on 1 April 1941

It was reformed from Heeresgruppe Süd in July 1942 and was disbanded on 17 April 1945.

Commanders

Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock (3 Oct 1939 - 1 Apr 1941)
Generalfeldmarschall Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs (15 July 1942 - 10 July 1943)
Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (10 July 1943 - 17 July 1944)
Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge (17 July 1944 - 15 Aug 1944)
SS-Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser (15 Aug 1944 - 17 Aug 1944)
Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model (17 Aug 1944 - 17 Apr 1945)

Osttruppen attached to Heeresgruppe B, 15 November 1942

Kosaken Ausbildungs-Lager (Lager Wojenstroj-Sseleschtschina) [Regiment]
- Kosaken Stamm-Kompanie
-- I. Kosaken Ausbildungs-Bataillon (2 x le.MG, 1 x le.Gr.W)
-- II. Kosaken Ausbildungs-Bataillon (2 x le.MG, 1 x le.Gr.W)
-- III. Kosaken Ausbildungs-Bataillon (2 x le.MG, 1 x le.Gr.W)
-- (Gliederung zunächtst nur für Ausbildung)
Ost-Feldzeug-Abteilung 550 (3 Kompanien)
- Feldzeug-Fahr-Kolonne
4., 5. Ost-Kompanie/571 (je mit 9 x le.MG)
5., 6. Ost-Kompanie/122B (je mit 9 x le.MG)
Ost-Wach-Bataillon 555 (5 Kompanien)

Osttruppen in the area of Heeresgruppe B (22 Nov 1943)

Bevollmächtigt General der deutschen Wehrmacht
- Ost-Bataillon 339
- Ost-Bataillon 555
- Ost-Bataillon Kranz
Generalkommando Witthöft
- Ost-Bataillon 556
LI. Gebirgskorps
- Ost-Bataillon 620
II. SS-Panzerkorps
- 162. Infanterie-Division (turk.)
- Ost-Btl. 263
- Ost-Bataillon 412
- Ost-Bataillon 616
- Ost-Bataillon 617
- Georgisches Infanterie-Bataillon II./198

Notable members

Fedor von Bock (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1940, he was killed 4 May 1945 by a strafing British fighter-bomber, the only German Field Marshal to be killed during the war)
Jürgen Bennecke (recipient of the German Cross in both Gold and Silver)
Rudolf-Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff (Active in the resistance against Hitler and also the one who in 1943 discovered the mass graves from the Soviet massacre of Polish officers in the Katyn forest)
Günther von Kluge (Active in the resistance against Hitler and took cyanide after the failure of the July 20 Plot)
Walter Model (Holder of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds)
Erwin Rommel ("The Desert Fox", forced to committ suicide to avoid trial for involvement in the resistance against Hitler, the Bundeswehr barracks Generalfeldmarschall Rommel-Kaserne in Augustdorf was named in his honour 1961 and the Rommel-Kaserne in Dornstadt/Ulm in 1965 as was the Bundesmarine destroyer D187 Rommel)
Hans Speidel (Active in the resistance against Hitler, post war he became a General in the Bundeswehr and held the NATO position of Commander-in-Chief of the Allied ground forces in Central Europe)
Henning von Tresckow (Active in the resistance against Hitler and committed suicide after the failure of the July 20 Plot, the Bundeswehr barracks Henning-von-Tresckow-Kaserne in Oldenburg was named in his honour 1961 and the Henning-von-Tresckow-Kaserne in Geltow in 1992)

In fiction

The 2012 board game "Blitzkrieg Undone: The Battle of Hannut" by Paul Rohrbaugh covers the actions of the army group during the 1940 battle of Hannut in Belgium.

Generalleutnant Hans Speidel, Hauptmann Lang and Generalfeldmarschall Rommel during the inspection of the Atlantikwall in April 1944

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Sources used

Research by Jason von Zerneck
T-78-413, Frame 993 - 995
Georg Tessin - Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht 1933-1945

Reference material on this unit

Wingolf Scherer - Vergeblicher Widerstand: Das Ende der Heeresgruppe B zwischen Rhein, Ruhr und Sieg
James A. Wood - Army of the West: The Weekly Reports of German Army Group B, May-october 1944