Belgian garrison Düren

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After the Second World War, Düren was the largest Belgian garrison abroad. At times it comprised up to 6,000 people, including 3,000 soldiers .

The following units were stationed here:

  • two tank regiments , equipped with Leopard tanks , namely the 1st Lancers Regiment (since 1952 in Düren) and the 3rd Lancers Regiment
  • the 13th missile squadron
  • 1. Guides 1955 - 72
  • 4. Cyclistes 1952-70
  • 19th artillery 1951-73

The armed forces in Germany were visited on October 28, 1953 and October 28, 1959 by the Belgian King Baudouin and in April 1961 by Queen Fabiola . During her visit she opened the motorway slip road between Schoellerstraße and the motorway .

Every year a fencing tournament took place in the sports hall of the commercial schools at that time in Euskirchener Straße . In 1974 350 fencers from Germany , Belgium , Denmark , France , Luxembourg , Italy and Switzerland took part.

The infrastructure for the members of the Belgian army was excellent. They had their own kindergartens , schools , a royal high school (Athenee Royal), supermarkets , churches , indoor and outdoor swimming pools with diving boards, sports facilities, scouts , motor clubs, tennis and fencing clubs, football, swimming and riding groups, etc. On Stockheimer Landstrasse there was a church and a cinema with 1000 seats. In November 1970, the “Center Culturel de Düren” was opened at Markt 16 (today a special edition). The officers' mess had the entrance on Friedrichstrasse and extended to Oberstrasse .

The Belgian armed forces had their barracks , named after Edith Cavell , along Stockheimer Landstrasse from where the entrance for the huge used car park is today to Gut Stepprath (now an industrial park). Between the castle Auerswald and the former barracks which is armored road , up to the training area Drover Heide at Stockheim leads.

Panzerstraße, on the right the barracks area

The members of the army lived in over 1000 apartments in Düren

  • the skyscrapers on Miesheimer Weg
  • the houses in Bücklersstr.
  • the Euskirchener Str.
  • the Eberhard-Hoesch-Str.
  • the Sedanstrasse, today August-Bebel-Str.
  • the provincial high-rise in Hans-Brückmanhn-Str.
  • the Oberstrasse
  • At the barley mill
  • the Römerstr.
  • the Oststr.
  • the Saarstrasse
  • the Schoellerstr.
  • the Kreuzstrasse
  • the Bismarckstr. (on the mountain)
  • the Binsfelder Str.
  • the Dechant-Vaaßen-Str.
  • Am Adenauerpark, formerly Friedhofstr.
  • the Nideggener Str.
  • the Piusstr.

as in

The tanks often drove with loud chain rattling over today's Euskirchener Strasse, through the Friedrich-Ebert-Platz roundabout , Schoellerstrasse and the former Schulstrasse (today Eisenbahnstrasse) to the loading ramp there , which incidentally still exists. The then lower road traffic came to a complete standstill on the route.

Most of the Belgians left Düren between 1978 and 1979, the last Belgian soldiers left in 1992.

swell