6th Panzer Grenadier Division (Bundeswehr)

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6th Panzer Grenadier Division
- 6th PzGrenDiv -
XX

Association badge

Association badge
active Nov. 1, 1958 to Sep. 30th 1997
Country GermanyGermany Germany
Armed forces Bundeswehr Kreuz.svg armed forces
Armed forces army army
Type Panzergrenadier Division
Insinuation I. Corps I. Corps (Peace) LANDJUT (V case)
LANDJUT
last seat of the staff Neumünster (as 6th PzGrenDiv)

Kiel (as WBK I / 6th PzGrenDiv)

commander
last commander Major General Manfred Dietrich

The 6th Panzer Grenadier Division, based in Neumünster for many years, was a division of the Army of the Bundeswehr . The division was dissolved on September 30, 1997. The last commander was Major General Manfred Dietrich . The troops of the association were mainly stationed in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg .

Association badge

The 6th Panzer Grenadier Division had a white nettle leaf on a red background and two blue lions on a yellow background in its association badge . The white nettle leaf on a red background is the family coat of arms of the Counts of Schaumburg and became the coat of arms of Schleswig-Holstein when Adolf von Schaumburg received Holstein and Stormarn as fiefs from the German Emperor in 1110 . Schleswig was a Danish fiefdom at that time . His coat of arms, two blue lions on a gold background, was taken from the coat of arms of Denmark . In 1386 the Counts of Schaumburg received Schleswig from the Danish crown as a fief. This association remained in place. It finds expression in the merging of both coats of arms to form the state coat of arms of Schleswig-Holstein.

The silver-black border stands for the division status. A white border means that it is the first brigade of the 6th Panzer Grenadier Division, PzGrenBrig 16. PzGrenBrig 17 had a red border, PzBrig 18 a yellow border.

Associations and locations (selection)

  • Headquarters company 6th PzGrenDiv., Neumünster
  • Field Replacement Battalion 62 (GerEinh), Itzehoe
  • Field Replacement Battalion 63 (GerEinh), Hamburg
  • Field Replacement Battalion 64 (GerEinh), Hamburg
  • Field Replacement Battalion 65 (GerEinh), Neumünster
  • Jägerbataillon 66, Wentorf near Hamburg (i. Peace to Panzergrenadierbrigade 16)
  • Jägerbataillon 67 (partially active), Breitenburg (i. Peace to Panzerbrigade 18)
  • Security Battalion 68 (GerEinh), Breitenburg
  • Artillery Regiment 6, Kellinghusen
    • Stick battery artillery regiment 6
    • Accompanying battery 6, Kellinghusen
    • Field Artillery Battalion 61, Albersdorf
    • Missile Artillery Battalion 62 , Kellinghusen
    • Observation Battalion 63, Itzehoe
    • Rocket Artillery Battalion 650, Flensburg-Weiche
      • Special weapons replenishment company 611, Flensburg-Weiche
  • Army Aviation Regiment 6
  • Medical Battalion 6, Itzehoe
  • Anti-aircraft regiment 6, Lütjenburg
  • Engineer Battalion 6, Plön
  • Pioneer Battalion 61, Lübeck
  • Supply Battalion 6 (partially active), Neumünster
  • Repair Regiment 6, Flensburg-Weiche
    • Repair Battalion 6, Hamburg-Jenfeld
    • Repair battalion 610, Flensburg-Weiche
  • Panzergrenadierbrigade 16 , Wentorf
  • Panzergrenadierbrigade 17 , Hamburg
  • Panzer Brigade 18 , Neumünster
  • Homeland Security Brigade 51

Troop strength and mission

The 6th Panzer Grenadier Division (6th PzGrenDiv) was at peace, together with the Homeland Security Brigade 51 (HSchBrig 51), subordinated to the I. Corps and, in the V case, LANDJUT , and with its main forces, the two Panzergrenadierbrigades 16 and 17 and the tank brigade 18 a strength of around 30,000 men, 5,800 wheeled and 1,200 tracked vehicles.

In view of this troop strength and the importance of the section to be defended, the NVA considered it one of the strongest and most combat-capable divisions of the Bundeswehr. In addition, the sixth PzGren was in peacetime with 252 battle tanks type Leopard 1 equipped and 1A2. According to other sources 370 Leopard tanks and more than 220 armored personnel carriers of the Marder and MTW M113 types .

As a fully mechanized large unit, it was supported by an Army Aviation Regiment consisting of 21 liaison helicopters and 24 transport helicopters. Furthermore, the 6th PzGrenDiv 14 helicopters of an anti-tank helicopter squadron were available, which had the task of fighting massed tank units of the Warsaw Pact.

The HSchBrig 51 with two hunter and two tank battalions, together with one tank artillery and one field artillery battalion, totaling 4,500 men, was to be subordinated to the combined arms division in the V case .

The main task of the 6th PzGrenDiv included the forward defense on the inner-German border and the defense against enemy sea and air landings in the Schleswig-Holstein area, with special attention to the defense of the sector east of the Hamburg - Lübeck motorway . Enemy groups that had broken in should be sealed off and broken up. The 6th PzGrenDiv faced attack formations of the 8th motorized rifle division , the 94th and 21st Soviet rifle divisions on the level between Lübeck and Gudow . In the event of an escalation to a nuclear war, 14 tactical nuclear weapons strikes were planned for the 6th PzGrenDiv according to internal training documents of the NVA in order to eliminate the unit.

history

Army structure I

1958 ( Army Structure I ) began with the establishment of a work and liaison command at the headquarters of the 3rd Panzer Division in Hamburg with the establishment of the headquarters and the 6th Grenadier Division headquarters . 6th Grenadier Division was the first name of the later Panzer Grenadier Division. In 1958, the work and liaison command moved to Neumünster. For the staff of the division, the combat group staff B 1 of the 1st Panzer Division was spun off in 1958 , renamed combat group staff B 6 and integrated into the deployment staff of the 6th Grenadier Division . The deployment staff of the 6th Grenadier Division was divided into: Kampfgruppe A6 ( Flensburg ) with Grenadier Battalion 16, Grenadier Battalion 26, 3rd / Field Artillery Regiment 6 and 3rd / Medical Battalion 6, Kampfgruppe B6 (Neumünster) with Grenadier Battalion 31, Grenadier Battalion 46, Panzer Battalion 13 and Panzer Battalion 3, as well as the division troops Pioneer Battalion 6 , Telecommunications Battalion 6, Anti-Aircraft Battalion 6, and the Music Corps 1B (later Army Music Corps 6). In 1958, the work and liaison command was renamed the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 6th Division and the division was subordinated to the 1st Corps in peacetime . In the event of a defense, there would have been a change to LANDJUT .

Army structure II-IV

In Army Structure 2, the division was renamed the 6th Panzer Grenadier Division in 1959. Combat group A3, based in Hamburg, was reorganized and soon afterwards was renamed Panzergrenadierbrigade 17 . The Panzergrenadierbrigade 17 was subordinate to Grenadier Battalions 3 and 13, Panzer Battalion 3 and Artillery Battalion 3. The other combat groups were also renamed in 1959. Combat group A6 became Panzergrenadierbrigade 16 , combat group B6 became Panzerbrigade 18 . In 1959 the division was divided into the Panzergrenadierbrigade 16 with the Panzergrenadierbataillonen 161, 162, 163 and the supply battalion 166, the Panzergrenadierbrigade 17 with the Panzergrenadierbataillon 171, the Panzergrenadierbataillon 172, the field infantry battalion, the 173rd Panzergrenadierbataillon, the 173rd Panzergrenadierbataillon, the 177th supply battalion and the 173rd armored battalion as well as Brigade 18 with the Panzergrenadierbataillon 182, the tank battalions 183, 184, the tank artillery battalion 185 and the supply battalion 186. In addition, the division was subordinate to the artillery regiment 6 with the field artillery battalion 61, the rocket artillery battalion 62, the observation battalion 63, the rocket artillery battalion 650, the 610 as well as division troops the 6th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion, the 6th Telecommunications Battalion, the 6th Engineer Battalion, the 6th Medical Battalion, the 6th Military Police Company and the 6th Supply Company.

With this structure, the division was able to be integrated into the NATO structures in 1960 and took part in the NATO maneuver "Hold Fast" in Germany in autumn 1960. The division's armored infantry brigades formed the German contribution to the German-Danish Corps (LANDJUT) .

In 1959 soldiers of the 6th Panzer Grenadier Division provided assistance with forest fires in the Segeberger Forest and Tensfelder Moor, in February 1962 with the storm surge in Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, and in January 1976 with the storm surge in Schleswig-Holstein and in 1978/79 with the snow disaster .

The strategic purpose of the division was to prevent troops of the Warsaw Pact after a amphibious landing in Schleswig-Holstein East Coast to North punctured and the maritime supply routes of NATO after West Germany were cut off. In addition, the Bundeswehr and NATO assumed that the Elbe crossings in Lauenburg / Elbe , Geesthacht and Hamburg were exposed to a nuclear first strike by the Warsaw Pact. With all reservists fully positioned, the 6th Panzer Grenadier Division was by far the largest division of NATO with 28,000 soldiers in the event of mobilization .

The Brisk Fray and Bold Guard exercise series were among the most important autumn maneuvers of the 6th PzGrenDiv .

Army structure V to dissolution

As part of Army Structure 5, the division was merged in 1994 with Wehrbereichskommando I (WBK I) to form WBK I / 6th Panzer Grenadier Division based in Kiel. The 6th Panzer Grenadier Division as an independent division was thus de facto dissolved and the brigades under it were assigned to other divisions. WBK I / 6th Panzer Grenadier Division was defused in 1997, but the remaining units of 6th Panzer Grenadier Division were completely disbanded by autumn 1997. The tradition of the division was continued at WBK I until its dissolution .

Commanders

No. Surname Beginning of the appointment End of appointment
13 Major General Manfred Dietrich October 1, 1995 September 1997
12 Major General Jürgen von Falkenhayn October 1, 1990 September 30, 1995
11 Major General Klaus-Christoph Steinkopff April 1, 1986 September 30, 1990
10 Major General Wolfgang Malecha April 1, 1984 March 31, 1986
9 Major General Dieter Clauss April 1, 1983 March 31, 1984
8th Major General Konrad Manthey September 25, 1979 March 31, 1983
7th Major General Hans-Joachim Mack April 1, 1978 September 24, 1979
6th Major General Johannes Poeppel April 1st. 1973 March 31. 1978
5 Major General Franz-Joseph Schulze December 15, 1970 March 31, 1973
4th Major General Karl Schnell 1st October 1968 September 30, 1970
3 Major General Gerd Niepold September 1, 1965 September 30, 1968
2 Major General Werner Haag February 7, 1962 August 31, 1965
1 Major General Peter von der Groeben November 1, 1958 February 6, 1962

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Rüdiger Wenzke: The armed forces of the GDR and Poland in the operational planning of the Warsaw Pact, military corporation. Research Office, ISBN 978-3-941571-09-9 , p. 39.
  2. ↑ in NVA parlance also referred to as "Jutland operational direction"
  3. ^ Siegfried Lautsch: Kriegsschauplatz Deutschland: Experiences and knowledge of an NVA officer, Military History Research Office, 2013, ISBN 978-3-941571-28-0 , p. 121.
  4. ↑ the 5th NVA Army subordinate large association
  5. ^ A heap of ruins of feelings, The National People's Army of the GDR: Defiant soldiers and frightened officers, Der SPIEGEL, 10/1990
  6. ↑ / Märkische Allgemeine, Arsenal des Cold War MILITARY HISTORY In the Lychen II depot near Himmelpfort, nuclear weapons for the National People's Army were stored

Coordinates: 54 ° 4 ′ 56 ″  N , 9 ° 58 ′ 8 ″  E