1st Airborne Division (Bundeswehr)

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1st Airborne Division
- 1st LL Div -
XX

1st Airborne Division (Bundeswehr) .svg

Association badge
active January 1, 1956 to March 31, 1994
Country GermanyGermany Germany
Armed forces armed forces
Armed forces Bundeswehr Logo Heer with lettering.svg army
Type Airborne Division
last seat of the staff Bruchsal
commander
last commander Brigadier General Fritz Eckert

The 1st Airborne Division was the 9th Division and only Airborne Division of the Army of the Armed Forces . The last seat of the staff was the Eichelberg barracks in Bruchsal . Units of the brigades were throughout Germany dislocated . The tasks of the division and the command of the airborne brigades were taken over in 1994 by the command Air Mobile Forces / 4th, which was created from parts of the disbanded 4th Panzer Grenadier Division and the 1st Airborne Division . Division in Regensburg taken over. The division was de facto dissolved. The Air Mobile Forces command was in turn the nucleus of the Special Operations Division (DSO), from which the Rapid Forces Division (DSK) emerged on January 1, 2014 , and which today bundles the Bundeswehr's airborne forces.

First sleeve badge, which was worn in this form until around the end of the 1960s (here version for NCOs).

Association badge

Above, a metal knight's badge until 1959; underneath the second German jumper badge, the wings. It was worn as a patch on the right chest side of the uniform jacket until 1966.
Waiting for the use, Airborne Special Device Company 9, airbase Penzing , July 1958
Paratroopers in uniform - Ellwangen 1957

As is customary with a division, the association badge was enclosed in a silver-black cord and showed an unfolded parachute in shadow color on a blue background with an arrow pointing downwards "attached". The symbolism referred to the airborne duties of the association and dives simplified in the form of tactical character of NATO - Parachute troops on.

description

Fighter infantryman in the airborne force - reserve parachute T7A, conceals the main parachute T10, 1958

The large formation consisted of airmobile, anti-tank paratroopers and combat support forces in association with army aviators , who were dependent on cooperation if necessary. The division could be used regardless of the terrain. The air mobility made the division more manoeuvrable than the mechanized army divisions with their large marching columns and enabled a quick deployment. The strengths of the airborne division were in particular:

  • rapid deployment,
  • rapid focus shift and focus formation,
  • Independence from the terrain
  • great flexibility in crisis situations
  • operational reserve and interception of operational enemy forces that have broken through.

Order of the 1st Airborne Division was

  • Quickly moving available force of the corps
  • Reinforcement of the anti-tank defense on threatened sections
  • Interception of enemy forces that have broken in or through
  • Closing gaps
  • Protection of open flanks
  • Fight in localities , metropolitan areas and in forest areas
  • Hunting fight

history

List of paratrooper associations of the Bundeswehr List of airborne associations of the Bundeswehr

Army structure I

In 1957, the 1st Airborne Division was set up from parts of the previously formed 106th Airborne Brigade . The seat of the staff was Esslingen am Neckar . The division was assigned to the II Corps . The division was subordinated to NATO in 1958 . At first the division was under -

  • Headquarters and headquarters company,
  • Airborne Telecommunication Company 9,
  • Airborne Tank Reconnaissance Company 9,
  • Airborne Combat Group A 9 and Airborne Combat Group B 9
    • Airborne Jäger Battalion 9,
    • Airborne Jäger Battalion 19,
    • Airborne Jäger Battalion 29,

as division support troops

  • Airborne Panzerjäger Battalion 9,
  • Airborne Engineer Company 9,
  • Airborne anti-aircraft artillery battalion 9,
  • 9th Airborne Artillery Battalion

Army structure II

With the capture of Army Structure 2 in 1959, the Airborne Combat Groups A 9 was renamed the 25 Paratrooper Brigade and the B 9 Paratrooper Brigade 26 . These were subordinate to the parachute battalion 252, the parachute battalion 261 , and the parachute battalion 291 and the parachute artillery battalion 255 Muna-Heide . Division troops were the 9th airborne telecommunications battalion, the 9th airborne engineer battalion, the 9th Army Aviation Squadron, the 9 Army Music Corps, the 92 rocket artillery battalion in Großengstingen and the 9th airborne anti-aircraft battalion. The division headquarters was relocated to Bruchsal in 1964.

Army Structure III until dissolution in 1994

To take over Army Structure 3, the Paratrooper Brigade 27 was reorganized in 1970 as the third brigade of the division in Lippstadt from two already existing paratrooper battalions. In 1971 the paratrooper brigades were renamed the airborne brigades. After taking Army Structure IV, the division was divided as follows:

In Army Structure 5, Airborne Brigade 27 was separated from the 1st Airborne Division and in 1991 it was directly subordinate to the 1st Corps . In 1993 it merged with Panzergrenadierbrigade 31 to form Airborne Brigade 31 . In 1994 the 1st Airborne Division was dissolved .

The tasks of the division and the command of the airborne brigades were taken over in 1994 by the newly established Command Air Mobile Forces / 4. Division in Regensburg , which was set up from parts of the also disbanded 4th Panzer Grenadier Division and the 1st Airborne Division. This was subordinate to the Luftlandefernmeldekompanie 9 , which was renamed in 2003 in Luftlandefernmeldekompanie 200 and dissolved in 2007 together with the Luftlandefernmeldekompanie 100 (Regensburg) and formed the trunk for the newly established airborne communications battalion DSO ( Stadtallendorf ). The airborne telecommunications Demonstration Battalion 9 was dissolved, the teaching of Signal Battalion of the 1st Mountain Division assumed.

The 9th Airborne Artillery Regiment, which was partially active with the 9th airborne artillery battery, was disbanded in 1996. The airborne artillery battery had been equipped with the air-transportable mountain howitzer model 56 since the 1960s and was converted to the LARS before it was disbanded . (see also the list of artillery units of the Bundeswehr ). The Army Music Corps 9 switched to the Command Support Regiment 50 of the 10th Panzer Division and was disbanded.

Calls

In 1961, parts of the division were used for humanitarian aid after the 1960 Agadir earthquake in Morocco . In 1991, the division was deployed in Iran to coordinate all the Bundeswehr's aid measures for Kurdish refugees as part of Operation Kurdish Aid . The division led the forces of the air force and the army assembled for the mission. Paratroopers of the division, under Colonel Helmut Harff , provided the security troops at United Nations Operation in Somalia II in the German Somalia Support Association from March 1993 .

Commanders

No. Surname Beginning of the appointment End of appointment
13 Brigadier General Fritz Eckert October 1, 1991 March 31, 1994
12 Major General Georg Bernhardt April 1, 1988 September 30, 1991
11 Major General Christoph-Adolf Fürus April 1, 1983 March 31, 1988
10 Major General Walter Hoffmann 1st October 1979 March 31, 1983
9 Major General Hans Kubis 1st October 1977 September 30, 1979
8th Major General Heinz Walther von zur Gathen April 1, 1977 September 30, 1977
7th Major General Hans Spiegel 1st October 1972 March 31, 1977
6th Major General Heinrich Schwiethal 1st October 1970 September 30, 1972
5 Major General Franz Pöschl October 1966 September 30, 1970
4th Major General Hubert Sonneck April 1, 1965 September 7, 1966
3 Major General Walter Gericke October 1, 1962 March 31, 1965
2 Major General Hans Kroh September 1957 September 30, 1962
1 Colonel Bern von Baer January 1956 September 1957

tradition

March of the 1st Airborne Division was the march regimental salute .

Web links

Coordinates: 49 ° 6 ′ 9 ″  N , 8 ° 35 ′ 23 ″  E