German Army

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German Army Deutsches Heer
Logo of the German Army
Active	1955–present
Country	Federal Republic of Germany
Role	Land force
Size	136,689 (incl. 35,000 reserve forces)
Motto	To protect, help, moderate and fight Schützen, helfen, vermitteln, kämpfen
Colors	Blue, Grey and White
Anniversaries	November 12, 1955
Engagements	United Nations Operations in Somalia Aftermath of the Balkan Wars 1995-1999 Kosovo War War in Afghanistan
Decorations	Badge of Honour of the Bundeswehr Military Proficiency Badge Badge of Marksmanship Service Medal Flood Service Medal
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant General Hans-Otto Budde
Notable commanders	General Ulrich de Maizière General Ernst Ferber, COMAFCENT 1973–1975 Lieutenant General Jörg Schönbohm, later Undersecretary of Defense

The German Army (German: Deutsches Heer, [heːɐ̯ ] (help·info)) is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Traditionally the German military forces have been composed of the Army, the Navy, and an Air Force after World War I. It was reinstalled in 1955 as the West German Army and as a part of the newly formed Bundeswehr. In the aftermath of the German reunification of 1990, the National People's Army of the former German Democratic Republic was integrated into the West German Army.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Overview 1.2 Pre-1914 1.3 World War I 1914–1918 1.4 Reichswehr 1918–1935 1.5 Wehrmacht 1935–1945 2 Current Army 2.1 Personnel 2.2 Current structure of the German Army 2.2.1 Chief of Staff, German Army 2.2.2 German Army Office 2.2.3 German Army Forces Command 2.3 Truppengattungen 3 Rank structure 4 Weapons 4.1 Standard light weapons 5 Reconnaissance systems 6 Combat vehicles 6.1 Statistics 6.2 Artillery 6.3 Air Defence Systems 6.4 Engineer equipment 7 Aircraft inventory 8 Logistic equipment 9 Non-combat vehicles 10 Further reading 11 See also 12 References 13 External links 13.1 Historical links

[edit] History

[edit] Overview

Since Germany first became a modern unified state in 1871, previous names of German unified ground forces have included:

• 1871–1935 Reichsheer or Imperial Army, part of Imperial Forces
• 1935–1945 Heer or Army, part of the Wehrmacht
• 1956–1990 Landstreitkräfte, Ground forces of East German Nationale Volksarmee
• 1955–present Deutsches Heer, German Army

[edit] Pre-1914

After the reform movement of the Prussian Army following a series of disastrous defeats at the hands of her enemies in the 18th Century, internal analysis of the lessons learned had informed Prussian civilian and military leadership that, while individual soldiers were first rate, command structures, staff organization and generalship was a hit-and-miss affair, more dependent on the martial skills of the King and the individual members of the German nobility who dominated the military profession. Too often, military talent was brought together only after the Nation faced a crisis. There was little effective organizational work in between wars. The rise of the German General Staff, an institution that sought to institutionalize military excellence, brought the German Army back from years of atrophy and the humiliation of Napoleon's capture of Berlin. With a membership in the officer corps extended to all qualified German speaking men via national examinations, the improved education of the military schools, the intensive selection process of the top 1% graduated from the Kriegsacademie, with its new rising class of top notch and world class leaders, the German Army was set on a course of eventual near total dominance in Europe.

Following the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo the Prussian Kingdom had years of military successes in the 19th and 20th centuries. Every able bodied man between the ages of 17 and 45 was liable for military service. There were 4 classes of service - Active (Aktiv), Reserve, Landwehr and Landsturm. The Landwehr and Landsturm were only called up at times of war. The basic unit of the army at this time was the Regiment. Regiments were typically raised and supported by a specific city or region. Each regiment was then stationed near its home city. The Reserve regiment was often made up of past members of the local regiment. The Landwehr and Landsturm units were also organized the same way. An individual could spend all 22 years of military service surrounded by their friends and family. This created close ties within regiments, however, because of this system, the entire population of young men from a city or region could be wiped out in one battle.

[edit] World War I 1914–1918

The German army that fought in World War I was not in fact a single, unitary army. The four German kingdoms that existed prior to the unification of Germany in January 1871 - Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony and Württemberg - retained their own army upon unification. Prussia had the largest army of the four. After the unification and the formation of the German Empire, the Prussian army became the nucleus of the Army of the German Empire (Deutsches Reichsheer). By 1914 the German army fielded 50 active divisions and by 1918 251 divisions had been created.

[edit] Reichswehr 1918–1935

Following the end of World War I and the collapse of the German Empire, most of the German Army (Heer) was demobilized or simply dissolved. Many former soldiers drifted into small paramilitary groups known as Free Corps (Freikorps). The Free Corps were generally groups of 100 men or fewer that protected a neighbourhood or town.

On 6 March 1919 an army known as the Provisional German Defence Force (Vorläufige Reichswehr) was formed with about 400,000 men, many drawn form the Free Corps. Then, on 30 September 1919 the Transitional Army (Übergangsheer) was created from the Defence Force and the Free Corps.

Finally, on 1 January 1921 the 100,000 man Army of the Weimar Republic (Reichswehr) was formed with seven Infantry Divisions and three Cavalry Divisions. In November 1923, it was troops from the Army of the Weimar Republic who crushed Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch in Munich.

[edit] Wehrmacht 1935–1945

Under the Treaty of Versailles, the Reichswehr was only allowed 100,000 men split between the Army and the Navy. Following the 1932 German elections the Nazi party came to power and began to abrogate the treaty. The Army was made part of the Wehrmacht in May 1935 with the passing of the "Law for the Reconstruction of the National Defence Forces". The Wehrmacht included not just the Army and Navy but also a third branch known as the Luftwaffe. Initially, the Army was expanded to 21 divisional-sized units and smaller formations. Between 1935 and 1945 this force grew to consist of hundreds of divisions and thousands of smaller supporting units. Between 1939 and 1945 close to 16 million served in the Army. Over 3 million were killed and over 4.1 million were wounded. Of the 7,361 men awarded the initial grade of the highest German combat honour of World War II, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, 4,777 were from the Army, making up 65% of the total awarded. The Allies dissolved the German Army on 20 August 1946.

[edit] Current Army

Bundeswehr Teilstreitkräfte or TSK (Branches) Heer Luftwaffe Marine Organisationsbereiche (Organisational areas) Sanitätsdienst Streitkräftebasis

The Heer was founded in 1955 as the army of West Germany. After 1990, it absorbed the army of socialist East Germany, a part of the Nationale Volksarmee. The former East German forces were initially commanded by the Bunderwehr Command East under command of Lieutenant General Jörg Schönbohm, which was disbanded on 30 June 1991. In the aftermath of the merge, the German Army consisted of four Corps with a manpower of 360,000 men. Hencefoward it was continuously downsized to its current structure which is called "Army of the future". All corps were either disbanded or transferred to a multinational level such as Multinational Corps North East. IV. Corps was reorganized and became a overseas deployment command like the British Permanent Joint Headquarters. In 1996, an airborne brigade was converted into a new command leading the Army's special forces, known as Kommando Spezialkräfte.

• see also: Tank formations during the Cold War

[edit] Personnel

A total of 101,000 soldiers are currently on active service in the German Army.^[1] Of these, approximately 17,000 are draftees. Additionally, a further 35,000 personnel are reservists of the German Army reserve force.

[edit] Current structure of the German Army

The German Army is commanded by the Chief of Staff, Army (Inspekteur des Heeres) based at the Federal Ministry of Defence in Berlin and Bonn. The major commands are the German Army Office in Cologne and the German Army Forces Command in Koblenz. In 2002 a number of army units and their personnel were transferred to the newly-formed Joint Support Service (Streitkräftebasis) and Joint Medical Service branches.^[2]

[edit] Chief of Staff, German Army

• Lieutenant General Hans-Otto Budde
• Army Staff at the Federal Ministry of Defence

[edit] German Army Office

The German Army Office in Cologne (Heeresamt) is the superior authority for all supporting elements of the Army, such as schools and education centres. It is commanded by a Major General, currently MajGen Joachim Clauß.

• NBC Defence and Self-Protection School in Sonthofen
• Military Police and Headquarters Services School in Sonthofen
• Artillery School in Idar-Oberstein
• Three Officer Candidate Battalions in Idar-Oberstein, Münster and Hammelburg
• Special Operations Training Centre (formerly International Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol School) in Pfullendorf
• Army Warfighting Simulation Centre in Wildflecken
• Army Combat Training Centre in Letzlingen
• Army Aviation School in Bückeburg
• Training Centre Munster for
  • Army Air Defence
  • Armour
  • Reconnaissance
• Mountain and Winter Combat School in Mittenwald
• Infantry School in Hammelburg
• Airborne Operations and Air Transport School in Altenstadt
• Army Officers' Academy in Dresden with Army Tactics Centre
• Army NCO Academies (three at different locations)
• Engineer School and Army School of Structural Engineering in Ingolstadt (formerly in Munich)
• Army Maintenance School and Army School of Engineering in Aachen

[edit] German Army Forces Command

The German Army Forces Command in Koblenz (Heeresführungskommando) exercises command and control over all combat units. It is commanded by a Lieutenant General. These units include two armour divisions, two mechanized infantry divisions, the Division for Specialized Operations and the Airmobile Division. Depending on their size and role, brigades can be commanded either by a Brigadier General alike or a Colonel. Unlike other European armies such of neighbouring Netherlands and France, regiments are no common form of organization and thus rare in the German army. Battalions are most likely directly subordinate to brigades or to divisions as divisional troops.

• Division Intervention Forces/ 1st Armoured Division (Hannover)
  • Divisional troops
  • 9th Armoured Brigade
  • 21st Armoured Brigade "Lipperland"

• 10th Armoured Division (Sigmaringen)
  • Divisional troops
  • 12th Armoured Brigade "Oberpfalz"
  • 23rd Mountain Infantry Brigade "Bayern"

• 13th Mechanized Infantry Division (Leipzig)
  • Divisional troops
  • 37th Mechanized Infantry Brigade "Freistaat Sachsen"
  • 41st Mechanized Infantry Brigade "Vorpommern"

• Special Operations Division (Regensburg)
  • Divisional troops
  • Special Forces Command (brigade-equivalent)
  • 26th Airborne Brigade "Saarland"
  • 31st Airborne Brigade "Oldenburg"

• Airmobile Operations Division (Veitshöchheim)
  • Divisional troops
  • Airmobile Brigade 1
  • Army Combat Support Brigade

• Eurocorps (Strasbourg)
  • Command Support Brigade
  • German elements in two permanent battalions and one staff company

• 1 (German/Netherlands) Corps (Münster)
  • German elements in two permanent battalions and one staff company

• Multinational Corps North East (Szczecin)
  • 610th Signal Battalion
  • German elements

• Franco-German Brigade Müllheim

• Army Central Dump Herongen

• Army Central Dump Pirmasens

• Central Mobilisation Base in Brück

[edit] Truppengattungen

The German Army has eleven different branches of troops, designated as Truppengattungen. Each Truppengattung is responsible for training and readiness of its units and disposes of its own schools and centres of excellence for doing so. Optically this distinction can be made by the branch colour, called Waffenfarbe which is displayed by a cord attached to the rank insignia, and the colour of their beret with a specific badge attached to it.

Beret Colour (Army only)

• Black: Armoured Troops, Reconnaissance Troops
• Green: Mechanized Infantry and Rifles
• Dark Red: Aviation Troops, Airborne Troops, Special Forces, troops assigned to airborne formations
• Light Red: Combat Support Troops and Military Police
• Dark Blue: Medical Troops
• Navy Blue: Multinational Units, Officer Cadet Battalions, Navy Security Units
• Bright Blue: Troops with United Nations Missions

Waffenfarbe (Army and army support branch only)

Military Police/ Signal/ Army Air Defence/ Army Air Corps

NBC/ Artillery/ Army Reconnaissance

Infantry as Airborne, Mountain Infantry, Light Infantry (Rifles), Mechanized Infantry/ Armoured Troops/ Engineers

Army Bands/ Supplies, Maintenance an Transportation Troops/ Medical Corps

• Bright Red:General ranks (only "Kragenspiegel", not "Litze"),
• Crimson: General Staff

[edit] Rank structure

The rank structure of the German army is adjusted to the rank structure of the NATO. Unlike its predecessors, the modern German Army does not use the rank of Colonel General. The highest rank for an army officer is Lieutenant General, as the rank of Full General is reserved for the Armed Forces chief of staff or officers serving as NATO officers. Officer cadets do not pass through all enlisted ranks, but are directly promoted to Lieutenant after 36 months of service.
Equivalent US Army ranks are shown below according to "STANAG 2116 NSA MC LO (EDITION 6) – NATO CODES FOR GRADES OF MILITARY PERSONNEL":

Officers of the German Army
General (General) Gen	Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant) GenLt/GL	Major General (Generalmajor) GenMaj/GM	Brigadier (Brigadegeneral) BrigGen/BG	Colonel (Oberst) Oberst/O	Lieutenant Colonel (Oberstleutnant) Oberstlt/OTL
OF-9	OF-8	OF-7	OF-6	OF-5	OF-4

Officers of the German Army
Major (Major) Maj/M	Staff Captain (Stabshauptmann) StHptm/SH	Captain (Hauptmann) Hptm/H	1st Lieutenant (Oberleutnant) OLt /OL	Lieutenant (Leutnant) Lt/L
OF-3	OF-2	OF-2	OF-1	OF-1

Non-Commissioned Officers of the German Army
Sergeant Major (Oberstabsfeldwebel) OStFw/OSF	First Sergeant(Stabsfeldwebel) StFw/SF	Master Sergeant (Oberfähnrich) (officer cadet) OFähnr/OFR	Master Sergeant (Hauptfeldwebel) HptFw/HF	Sergeant 1st Class (Oberfeldwebel) OFw/OF
OR-9	OR-8	OR-8	OR-7	OR-6

Non-Commissioned Officers of the German Army
Sergeant (Fähnrich) (officer cadet) Fähnr/FR	Sergeant (Feldwebel) Fw/F	Staff Corporal (Stabsunteroffizier) StUffz/SU	Corporal (Fahnenjunker) (officer cadet) Fhj/FJ	Corporal (Unteroffizier) Uffz/U
OR-6	OR-6	OR-5	OR-5	OR-5

Enlisted Ranks of the German Army
Lance Corporal (Oberstabsgefreiter) OStGefr/OSG	Lance Corporal (Stabsgefreiter) StGefr/SG	Lance Corporal (Hauptgefreiter) HptGefr/HG	Lance Corporal(Obergefreiter) (officer cadet) OGefr/OG	Lance Corporal (Obergefreiter) (NCO cadet) Gefr/G
OR-4	OR-4	OR-3	OR-3	OR-3

Enlisted Ranks of the German Army
Lance Corporal (Obergefreiter) OGefr/OG	Private 1st Class (Gefreiter OA) (officer cadet) Gefr/G	Private 1st Class (Gefreiter UA) (NCO cadet) Gefr/G	Private 1st Class (Gefreiter) Gefr/G	Private (Soldat) S
OR-3	OR-2	OR-2	OR-2	OR-1

[edit] Weapons

[edit] Standard light weapons

• Heckler & Koch G36—5.56 mm x 45 assault rifle (Version G36K and G36C for several branches including Special Forces)
• Heckler & Koch MG4—5.56 mm light machine gun
• MG3—7.62 mm x 51 machine gun
• G8—7.62 mm x 51 automatic rifle, only used by special forces
• HK21E—7.62 mm x 51 machine gun, only used by special forces
• Heckler & Koch MP7—4.6 mm x 30 submachine gun, replacing the MP2
• MP2—9 x 19 mm submachine gun
• Heckler & Koch MP5—9 x 19 mm submachine gun, used by various units like the Feldjäger and special forces
• Heckler & Koch P8—9 x 19 mm pistol
• Remington 870 - shotgun, used in small numbers by special forces and the military police (Feldjäger)
• G22—7.62 mm x 66.5B sniper rifle
• G24—sniper rifle, only used by special forces
• G82—sniper rifle
• HK MSG3—7.62 mm x 51 designated marksman rifle
• Dynamit Nobel Panzerfaust 3—anti-tank rocket launcher
• Raytheon Fliegerfaust 2 (FIM-92 Stinger)—infrared homing surface-to-air missile
• MILAN—anti-tank guided missile system
• Granatpistole 40mm—grenade launcher
• HK GMG—grenade autocannon
• AG36—grenade launcher
• KM2000—172 mm tantō style blade standard combat knife

Gewehr G36 with AG36 grenade launcher	KM2000 & P8 pistol	MG4	Panzerfaust 3
G82	G22	HK GMG	MP7A1
MG3

[edit] Reconnaissance systems

• Fennek (wheeled armoured reconnaissance vehicle), replacing the Spähpanzer Luchs
• Luna X 2000 (reconnaissance drone system)
• KZO (reconnaissance drone system)
• Aladin (reconnaissance drone system)
• Camcopter S-100 (VTOL reconnaissance drone system, procurement planned)^[3]
• MIKADO (mini reconnaissance drone system)
• RASIT (radar system), being phased out
• BÜR (radar system), replacing RASIT and ABRA

Luna X 2000 UAV

EMT Aladin UAV

Fennek

MIKADO

[edit] Combat vehicles

[edit] Statistics

• Leopard 2 (Main Battle Tank)
  • A4, being phased out
  • A5
  • A6
• Marder 1 A3/A5 (infantry fighting vehicle)
• Spz Puma- on order (infantry fighting vehicle), replaces the Marder in the Mechanized Infantry
• Wiesel 1/2 (armoured weapons carrier)
  • as a reconnaissance vehicle for the airborne troops
  • with autocannon 20 mm
  • with TOW anti-tank guided missile
  • with mortar 120 mm
  • as a radar vehicle for the light air defence system (LeFlaSys)
  • as a command vehicle for the LeFlaSys
  • as an engineer reconnaissance vehicle
  • with Stinger equipped for the LeFlaSys
  • as a medical vehicle for the airborne troops
• M113 A2 (multirole armoured vehicle), being phased out (date uncertain)
• GTK Boxer (multirole armoured vehicle), replaces M113 and Fuchs
• Dingo 1/2 (armoured wheeled vehicle)
• Eagle IV (armoured wheeled vehicle)
• LAPV Enok (light armoured patrol vehicle)
• Grizzly (armoured wheeled vehicle)
• AGF Serval (reconnaissance and combat vehicle)
• YAK (Duro III) (armoured wheeled vehicle)
• Mungo ESK (armoured transport vehicle)
• TPz Fuchs (multirole armoured vehicle)
• BV 206 S (tracked armoured transport vehicle)

GTK Boxer	PzH 2000	Mungo ESK	ATF DINGO 2
AGF Serval	Marder (IFV)	TPz Fuchs	Wiesel AWC

[edit] Artillery

• M270 MLRS (227 mm multiple rocket launcher)
• PzH 2000 (155 mm self-propelled howitzer)
• ABRA (artillery radar system), being phased out
• Mortar TAMPELLA (120 mm)
• Mortar "R" (120 mm)
• COBRA (counter artillery radar system)
• ATMAS (artillery weather measure system)
• SMA (artillery sound measure system)

[edit] Air Defence Systems

• Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard 1 A2 (self-propelled anti air gun)
• LeFlaSys (light anti-aircraft missile system), based on Wiesel 2
• NBS C-RAM (stationary counter rocket, artillery, and mortar system for base protection), to be delivered in 2011
• SysFla (system air defence - mobile and stationary platforms using the LFK NG and NBS C-RAM), under development
• LÜR (radar system), being phased out
• BÜR (radar system)

[edit] Engineer equipment

• Dachs (tracked engineer tank)
• Büffel (tracked salvage tank)
• Biber (bridge layer)
• Panzerschnellbrücke 2 (bridge layer), replacing the Biber
• Skorpion (mine layer)
• Keiler (mine breaker)
• M3 Amphibious Rig (amphibious vehicle)
• Motorboot 3 (motorboat)
• Medium Girder Bridge (bridge system)
• Faltfestbrücke (solid bridge system)
• Faltschwimmbrücke (swimming bridge system)
• Pontoon bridge
• Faltstraßensystem (mobile roadway system)

[edit] Aircraft inventory

The German Army operates more than 320 helicopters. Nearly all were built in Germany while nearly 40% are indigenous designs. 80 Eurocopter Tiger and 80 NH90 helicopters have been ordered.

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	In service[4]	Notes
UH-1 Iroquois	Germany	utility helicopter	UH-1D	82	being withdrawn; built by Dornier
Bölkow Bo 105	Germany	utility/attack helicopter	PAH-1/VBH	180[5]
Eurocopter EC 135	European Union	utility helicopter		15
Eurocopter Tiger	European Union	attack helicopter		80 (planned), entered service
NHI NH90	European Union	transport helicopter	NH90 TTH	80 (planned), entered service
Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion	Germany	transport helicopter	CH-53G/CH-53GS	96	110 built by VFW

[edit] Logistic equipment

• SLT 50-3 Elefant (heavy tractor trailer, tank transporter)
• Berge- und Kranfahrzeug, BKF 30.40 (salvage vehicle)

[edit] Non-combat vehicles

• Mercedes-Benz 250 GD "Wolf"
• KTM LC4 Military 27 PS, motorcycle
• ATV Yamaha Kodiak 400, Quad
• LKW 2t mil gl, 4x4 (Unimog)
• LKW 5t mil gl, 4x4
• LKW 5t tmil, 4x4
• LKW 7t mil gl, 6x6
• LKW 7t tmil, 6x6
• LKW 10t mil gl, 8x8
• LKW 15t mil gl, 8x8
• LKW 15t mil gl MULTI, 8x8
• Volkswagen T platform (T3/T4)

[edit] Further reading

• Hubatscheck, Gerhard (2006), 50 Jahre Heer. Der Soldat und seine Ausrüstung, Sulzvach: Report-Verlag, ISBN 3-9323-8521-7 
• Wheeler-Bennet, Sir John (2005), The Nemesis of Power: German Army in Politics, 1918-1945 (2nd ed.), New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing Company, ISBN 1-40391-8120 

[edit] See also

• Bundeswehr
• Heer
• Infantryman of the Future
• History of Germany during World War II
• Prussian Army
• Reichswehr

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Homepage of the German Army (Heer) in German

[edit] Historical links

• German Armed Forces 1918-1945
• German Army pre 1914
• German Army 1914-1918
• German Army Organization 1914
• German Infantry Photographs from World War II - Colour photographs of German infantry during World War II
• Gebirgsjaeger - German Mountain Troops
• Axis History - Axis History site including German troops.

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