LXXXIV Army Corps (Wehrmacht)

The LXXXIV Army Corps (LXXXIV. Armeekorps) was an army corps of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. It was formed in 1942 and existed until 1944. The LXXXIV Army Corps is most notable as the formation that guarded the landing grounds of the Allied Normandy landings. The LXXXIV Army Corps was formed on 15 May 1942 by renaming Höheres Kommando z. b. V. LX. In turn, the Higher Command z. b. V. LX had been formed on 15 October 1940 in Prague. The initial commander of the LXXXIV was Hans Behlendorff. The corps was subordinate to the 7th Army under Army Group D, and stationed in Saint-Lô in Normandy. Behlendorff was succeeded as corps commander by Gustav-Adolf von Zangen on 1 April 1943. Zangen was succeeded as corps commander by Erich Marcks on 1 August 1943. With the Allied invasion imminent, LXXXIV Army Corps reported in late May 1944 that only half of the winter programme had been fulfilled and that many coastal batteries were still left to be installed. By March 1944, between 50 and 80% of the required fortifications in the area of the LXXXIV Army Corps had been operational. Shortly after midnight on 6 June 1944, Allied airborne landings began at the Orne river and on the Cotentin peninsula. The LXXXIV Army Corps was subsequently put to high alert to react to the ongoing Allied invasion. Because of its position within the German Atlantic Wall, the LXXXIV Army Corps was the first formation to respond to the Normandy landings by the western Allies. The forces of the 352nd Infantry Division (Dietrich Kraiss), headquartered at Le Molay-Littry, and of the 716th Infantry Division (Wilhelm Richter), headquartered at Caen, were closest to the Allied landing sites. The forces available to the corps on invasion day were the: 243rd Infantry Division 319th Infantry Division 352nd Infantry Division 709th Infantry Division 716th Infantry Division Of these, the 243rd, 319th, 709th and 716th were bodenständig (static), i.e. insufficiently equipped with motorized vehicles and intended for non-mobile operations.