Before the Allied invasion 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, 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. 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.
After 6 June 1944 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 eastern landing sites. The
21st Panzer Division, although not directly subordinate to the LXXXIV Army Corps, was stationed nearby at
Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives. He was succeeded by
Wilhelm Fahrmbacher, who was on 15 June replaced in turn by
Dietrich von Choltitz. The Allied breakout from Normandy began on 25 July, when the
3rd U.S. Army, which became the
Twelfth United States Army Group beginning 1 August, broke the positions of the LXXXIV Army Corps and penetrated the German left. The Allied troops reached Countaces by 28 July,
Granville and
Avranches by 31 July and advanced over
Pontaubault into
Brittany beginning on 1 August. The LXXXIV Army Corps was hindered in its operational capabilities by the Allied bombing campaign against the French railways. At the beginning of the Allied operation, less than two days of fuel were available for the forces of the corps. On 28 July, the LXXXIV Army Corps was ordered by
Paul Hausser, now in command of the 7th Army, to retreat southeast to strengthen the German frontline. As a result, there were even fewer German forces on the southern flank to oppose the advancing American forces. Choltitz was replaced as corps commander by
Otto Elfeldt on 30 July.
Günther von Kluge, commander of
Army Group D, blamed Choltitz for the German defeat in Normandy and thus saw him removed in favor of Elfeldt. By 5 August, the LXXXIV Army Corps had been forced back to
Barenton and
Le Teilleul, where it now stood on the left flank of the
XLVII Panzer Corps. By 16 August, the German forces were stuck in a small cauldron between
Falaise,
Chambois and Argentan, with the LXXXIV Army Corps and its superior 7th Army stuck just east of
Flers and
Condé-sur-Noireau. A German relief thrust allowed parts of the 7th Army to escape on 20 August, after which the Germans took a new defensive line far to the northeast, from
Elbeuf over
Les Andelys to
Versailles by 25 August. The Allied
Liberation of Paris was completed on that day. The LXXXIV Army Corps did however not escape from the Falaise Pocket. Otto Elfeldt was taken prisoner on 29 August. Starting in September 1944, the LXXXIV Army Corps was marked as
status unknown () in German documents. The corps was formally dissolved on 2 November 1944. == Structure ==