Training company 6/9

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The training company 6/9 (unofficial paratrooper training company 6/9 ) was a training unit of the paratrooper brigade 25 of the Bundeswehr , stationed in the iceberg barracks in Nagold in the Black Forest . It was set up in 1962 as a basic training company for aspiring paratroopers , but was disbanded in 1963 due to the Nagold affair about the mistreatment of recruits by its trainers, the so-called "Nagold grinders".

Until the dissolution of the 2nd Company of the Special Forces Command on August 1, 2020, the company was the only unit of the Bundeswehr and probably the entire German military history of modern times that was immediately disbanded by order due to misconduct by superiors. At the time of its dissolution, it was considered to be "the most controversial company of the entire Bundeswehr [...] for a long time, and one that has been plagued by most scandals." The name of the city of Nagold was associated with this affair for a long time.

Nagold affair

prehistory

In January 1962, the Defense Commissioner of the German Bundestag Hellmuth Heye was turned on because of incidents among paratroopers in Nagold. Three officers and two sergeants had attacked, handcuffed and ill-treated a military guard at the local ammunition depot under the influence of alcohol . The reason they gave was that they wanted to test the guard's attention. They were later sentenced to several months' imprisonment.

For the second time, the Armed Forces Commissioner was active in November 1962 because of incidents in the neighboring unit, the paratrooper training company 5/9 in Nagold. There were several cases of unauthorized absences and desertions there within a month . During an unannounced inspection, he found several violations due to inadmissible educational methods. The reason for him was that the company had only three NCOs as instructors and the rest of the permanent staff were auxiliary instructors from the career of the teams . He recommended that more unannounced controls and service supervision of the company be given to the local commander of Paratrooper Battalion 252 . The recommendations of the Armed Forces Commissioner were noted, but not implemented. The incidents were reported in the press with little public awareness.

Events

On July 25, 1963, the training company 6/9 had a 15 km acclimatization march on the schedule in the afternoon . The company's recruits had moved in at the beginning of July and were thus at the beginning of basic training. The acclimatization march serves to slowly accustom the soldiers to marching with luggage over longer distances. It was a hot, humid summer afternoon. Hunter Gerd Trimborn from the 1st  train collapsed from a heat collapse shortly before the end of the march and died a week later in a Tübingen hospital without having regained consciousness. Due to the death, the Tübingen public prosecutor opened an investigation and the media became aware of the case.

A forensic report revealed that the soldier in question suffered from a previous disease of the liver and kidneys and that the march was therefore not the cause of the death.

resolution

The results of the investigation by the Tübingen public prosecutor's office prompted the commanding general of the II Corps , Lieutenant General Leo Hepp , who was responsible for the 1st Airborne Division with the 25th Paratrooper Brigade, to issue a daily order in which he sharply reprimanded the behavior of the trainers in the company and the three Days in all units of the 1st Airborne Division. With the order, the company was disbanded with immediate effect.

It was unclear whether he was legally authorized as the commanding general to disband the company. The Federal Ministry of Defense is responsible for setting up and dissolving associations and units . There was therefore internal criticism of the commander, but externally the measure was approved.

Legal processing and aftermath

After the investigation into negligent homicide was discontinued, investigations continued under the Military Penal Act for several offenses such as mistreatment of subordinates. A total of 22 of the 45 trainers in the company were investigated and charges were brought against 11 soldiers . In December 1963 the negotiations took place before the Nagold District Court . Two defendants were acquitted, the others sentenced to terms ranging from several days of disciplinary detention to several months' imprisonment without parole. The company commander was finally acquitted of the accusation of negligent homicide by the Higher Regional Court in 1965, but was later sentenced to several months' imprisonment because of unofficial false testimony during the trials against the other soldiers.

The affair became known throughout Germany under the name Die Schleifer von Nagold , as trainers and supervisors repeatedly expressed the opinion in connection with the investigations and research of the journalists that paratroopers were rough diamonds that should be cut accordingly. In addition, the press drew analogies to the sergeant Platzek, the instructor of the 1954 published and filmed novel trilogy 08/15 by Hans Hellmut Kirst , who was referred to as the grinder .

In the following year the training company 3/9 was set up as a replacement for the disbanded company. She was relied on to cooperate with Paratrooper Battalion 252 and, as suggested after the first incidents, was placed under the supervision of the battalion commander.

To this day, the incidents in the training company 6/9 are the epitome of the rejection of the principles of internal leadership by parts of superiors and the officer corps in the early years of the Bundeswehr and the worst incident of mistreatment of subordinates. In later incidents in the Bundeswehr, references were made to the events in the training company. The name of the city of Nagold was associated with this affair for a long time.

literature

  • Helmut R Hammerich, Michael Poppe, et al .: Das Heer 1950 to 1970: Conception, organization and installation , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3486579741 .
  • Rudolf J. Schlaffer : The Defense Commissioner of the German Bundestag: Out of concern for the soldier. (Security Policy and Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany, Volume 5) , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3486580259 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Nagold lowest gait. In: Der Spiegel No. 46 , November 13, 1963, accessed on August 24, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b Heiko Hofmann: How Nagold became a grinding town. Schwarzwälder Bote , July 31, 2013, accessed on August 24, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Helmut R. Hammerich , Michael Poppe, et al .: Das Heer 1950 to 1970: Concept, Organization and Setup , Oldenbourg Verlag, 2006, 651f.
  4. ↑ Lieutenants played Karl May. In: Die Zeit No. 5. February 2, 1962, accessed on August 24, 2019 .
  5. ^ Rudolf J. Schlaffer: The Defense Commissioner of the German Bundestag: Out of concern for the soldier , Oldenbourg Verlag, 2006, p. 161
  6. ↑ Recruits: Tauglich II. In: Der Spiegel No. 34. August 21, 1963, accessed on August 24, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b A shame for the whole corps - one company is disbanded. In: Die Zeit Nr. 45. November 8, 1963, accessed on August 24, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Such rascals. In: Der Spiegel No. 51 , December 18, 1963, accessed on August 24, 2019 .
  9. ^ Klaus Schroeder: "Hardness must be" - The early Bundeswehr in the reporting of German daily newspapers. In: Heiner Möllers and Jörg Jacobs (eds.): Bundeswehr und Medien, Nomos, 2019, pp. 184ff.
  10. ^ Reymer Klüver: Push-ups over the open knife. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . May 11, 2010, accessed August 24, 2019 .