Formation The XXV Army Corps was established as a reserve command staff in the
Upper Rhine border region in 1938. This staff was mobilized as
Generalkommando Oberrhein on 26 August 1939 and renamed XXV Army Corps on 17 September 1939. It was initially part of the
7th Army (
Dollmann) under
Army Group C (
von Leeb), tasked with guarding the Franco-German border. The division remained in the Upper Rhine area until the
Battle of France in June 1940.
Occupation duty in France, 1940 – 1944 (middle), commander of XXV Corps, next to
Erwin Rommel (left), commander of
Army Group B, in
Saint-Nazaire. After the Battle of France, the XXV Army Corps became part of the
German occupation force in France. It served briefly under the
12th Army (
Wilhelm List) between May and June 1940. Subsequently, the XXV Army Corps served a three-month tenure under the guidance of the
1st Army between September and November 1940. Under both the 12th and 1st Armies, the XXV Army Corps was on occupation duty in Eastern France. On the rearend of that service, the corps switched from Army Group C to
Army Group D (
Erwin von Witzleben, the
OB West). Under Army Group D, the XXV Army Corps was reassigned to the
6th Army (
von Reichenau), where it remained between December 1940 and April 1941. Under the 6th Army, the XXV Army Corps was redeployed from eastern France to the country's northwest. On 30 October 1943,
Wilhelm Fahrmbacher received the
German Cross in Silver for his service as the commander of XXV Army Corps. On 3 June 1944, just before the Allied invasion, the corps, still at Pontivy, oversaw the
275th Infantry Division at Redon, the
265th Infantry Division at Quimperlé, the
2nd Parachute Division at
Quintin and the
343rd Infantry Division at
Landerneau. On the northern cost of Brittany, the
LXXIV Army Corps at
Guingamp secured the XXV Army Corps' right.
Western Front, 1944 – 1945 The Allied
Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 re-opened the
Western Front. The Allied attacks at the beaches
Gold,
Sword,
Omaha,
Utah and
Juno in
Normandy (
Operation Neptune) attacked the positions of
LXXXIV Army Corps, which stood to the right of LXXIV Army Corps, which was in turn the right neighbor of XXV Army Corps. The Allied forces reached
Rennes at 1 August,
Saint-Malo on 5 August and Brest on 6 August. Furthermore, a southward push by the
4th U.S. Armored Division from Rennes towards Saint-Nazaire and
Nantes began on 3 August with the goal of cutting Brittany off any Axis reinforcements. The CCA of 4th Armored Division would take Nantes on 12 August. The XXV Army Corps had quickly retreated its forces into an area around Lorient, starting south of
Pont-Scorff and reaching southeast all the wait to
Quiberon Bay, including the
Quiberon peninsula. Here, the CCB of 4th Armored Division makes first contact with the defenses of the XXV Army Corps on 7 August 1945 at 09:00. Subsequently, the American siege units were content with allowing most of the German garrisons to remain in their pockets; only Brest and
Saint-Malo fell under heavy immediate attack. US Army units completed the
liberation of Saint-Malo on 18 August 1944. The forces of the 2nd Parachute Division,
266th Infantry Division and 343rd Infantry Division, constituting most of the remains of the XXV Army Corps, were trapped in Brest, where they were defeated until 19 September 1944 in the
Battle for Brest., commander of XXV Army Corps, surrenders at
Lorient.|alt=The Lorient fortress held out against the Allied siege until after the
German surrender on 8 May 1945. The commander of XXV Army Corps Wilhelm Fahrmbacher surrendered the fortress on 10 May 1945. == Commanders ==