Battalion median de chasseurs ardennais
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Battalion median de chasseurs ardennais |
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|---|---|
 Beret badge |
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| Lineup | October 16, 1830 |
| Country |
 Belgium
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| Armed forces |
 Belgian army
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| Armed forces | infantry |
| Branch of service | Brigade mediane |
| Type | battalion |
| Location | Marche-en-Famenne |
| Nickname | Les loups verts (The Green Wolves) |
| motto | Résiste et mords! (Resist and bite!) |
| Colours | Red and green |
| Butcher |
World War II Congo Crisis |
| commander | |
| commander | Lieutenant-colonel Etienne Goudemant |
The battalion median de chasseurs ardennais (German: "Middle Ardennes Jäger -Bataillon" ) is an infantry unit of the Belgian Army . It is part of the "Brigade médiane" from 1933, when the 10th Line Infantry Regiment was renamed "Régiment de chasseurs ardennais". It carried the name until 2011, when it was reduced to one battalion in the course of the army downsizing. The unit was named after the heavily forested and very hilly area of the Ardennes , where it is also stationed. The troop's motto is Résiste et mords! ("Resist and bite!").
The “Chasseurs ardennais” stood out especially in the Second World War . During the German invasion of Belgium in 1940, they resisted the German tanks at Bodange, Chabrehez and the Battle of the Leie . They defended Deinze , with the districts Gottem and Vinkt. The merits of the unit are reflected in the awards. She was awarded six times for her achievements in World War II (Ardennes, Canal Albert, La Dendre, La Lys and Vinkt).
Today the hunters take part in the operations of NATO , the UN and the European Union . They are also used in Belgium's humanitarian operations around the world. It also supports the Belgian police in fighting terrorism.
history
The unit was founded in 1933 as a hunter regiment under King Leopold III. from the 10 e régiment d'infanterie de ligne (10th line infantry regiment). It was equipped with light armored vehicles, tank destroyers and light armored transport vehicles of the chenillette type . On July 1, 1939, the three regiments were formed into an Ardennes Jäger division with an additional motorized infantry battalion and an artillery regiment with a total strength of 30,000 to 35,000 men. The unit consisted of professional soldiers and conscripts . The staff consisted of experienced professional officers, several of whom had fought for four years with the 10th Line Infantry Regiment in World War I. In the course of mobilization in 1939, a second division with three other regiments was set up. General Maurice Keyaerts was in command of the Ardennes fighters.
The members of the “Chasseurs ardennais” come today mainly from the Walloon region and especially from the Ardennes; when the unit was set up, however, it also included a number of soldiers from other parts of Belgium. For example, the Flemings wanted to stay in their new unit after the reorganization. To this day, the battalion is not ethnically demarcated, it is open to both the Flemings and the German minority. Since there are French- and Flemish-speaking units in the Belgian army, every Belgian - regardless of his ethnic group - is free to choose a unit in which he wants to serve. Of course, knowledge of the colloquial language in such a unit is a basic requirement, and this applies above all to the superiors. Today the "Chasseurs ardennais" are a French-speaking battalion.
Until 1994 there was also a German-speaking unit of the Ardennes hunters in the 3rd Battalion in Vielsalm .
Second World War
The Belgian army was concentrated in the areas where the proximity to Germany gave rise to fear of an attack, that is, in the sector stretching from the north from Liège to Vesdre in the Ardennes. The Ardennes hunters had been set up to fight in this area. The rest of the Ardennes massif, which stretches as far as the border between Belgium and France, seemed safe, because of its rugged landscape and narrow roads, the Germans would not advance in this area - according to Marshal Philippe Pétain . When the threat of war threatened, some of the troops had been transferred to the Albert Canal on the northern Belgian front in order to repel a German attack from the right bank of the canal.
The Ardennes hunters were completely motorized from the start. For example, they had the T13 I tank destroyer with a very effective 47 mm cannon that could penetrate all German armor from that time.
The Allied plan stipulated that, on the one hand, the Ardennes fighters should delay German action in the province of Luxembourg , as the French troops in the Sedan area were supposed to prevent the German general staff from launching a major attack in this difficult sector in the first place. If the Germans were to do this and pass through the difficult forests and valleys of the Ardennes, they would be “crushed” after leaving the Ardennes, according to Pétain. This strategy had been agreed in secret negotiations between the Belgian king and the French commander-in-chief Maurice Gamelin . However, the information gathered by the various military attachés in Germany between 1938 and 1940 made it clear that Germany would attack through the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and through the Ardennes. For this reason, the Ardennes hunters were given the task of stopping the Germans by fighting and destroying infrastructure.
The general withdrawal orders were based on the principle that the orders of the General Staff or the Regimental Staff should, depending on the situation, be carried out by the commanders of the units in such a way that the unit was not destroyed or captured. These orders were given by taking into account that the transmission of orders, for example via telephone lines , could be interrupted by actions of German paratroopers . The officers of possibly cut off units of the Ardennes hunters had to be granted a certain amount of independent freedom of choice.
Beginning of the fighting
The tactics assigned to the Ardennes hunters proved their worth on the first day of the fighting. From 3:00 a.m. on May 10, 1940, the Belgian reconnaissance observed massive movements of German troops on the German-Belgian border. This caused the commander of the Ardennes fighters, General Keyaerts, to blow up the bridges near the border without waiting for orders from the Belgian staff, although at this point the German ambassador had not yet submitted the declaration of war in Brussels. However, the routes through the Belgian Ardennes had already been blocked by explosive funnels and rocky obstacles for months. The open areas and the passable parts of the forests were secured against tanks with minefields. Even in the depths of the Ardennes, German columns moving along narrow, winding roads encountered obstacles and destruction.
When General Guderian's tanks had crossed the border, they were immediately stopped at Chabrehez by a few hundred Ardennes troops and motorcyclists. The Belgians were cut off from the rest of the force in advanced positions, as was the case with many of the hunters. Nevertheless, they used all possible cover and tried to stop the tanks with improvised obstacles. Fighting back between the farms in the Ardennes, they completely disrupted the German plan of advance. Erwin Rommel noted appreciatively:
"They're not men, they're green wolves."
At the Belgian-Luxembourg border, the Ardennes hunters followed orders to hold the position without being encircled. In Martelange and Bodange , where Commander Bricart had died in battle, about a hundred hunters stood in the rear against about 3,000 German infantrymen supported by artillery. The Belgians had no heavy weapons, as the artillery had been moved there to support the 7th Division on the Albert Canal . It took the Germans eight hours to sort out the situation.
Elsewhere, the Germans were initially held up by the obstacles, the destroyed bridges and the minefields. After bypassing the obstacles, the offensive continued the following day. In Bastogne , a handful of men were able to hold off the Germans for a morning until their platoon leader, Caporal Cady, was killed in his bunker. Meanwhile, a T13 tank destroyer had shot down five attacking tanks with its Canon antichar de 47 mm modèle in 1931 . On Sunday, May 12th, the advance detachment Werner (Colonel Paul Hermann Werner) met the Maas near Yvoir as the first German unit . Since the bridge was still intact here, an immediate attempt was made to take it. However, this could be prevented by a division of one and a half times the strength of the 5th Ardennes Jäger Regiment with a 47 mm anti-tank gun. Under enemy fire, one of the hunters managed to blow up the bridge and fell. The Germans then looked for another transition, which they also found at Houx .
German superiority
According to German terminology:
"[...] the destruction testified to great expertise, this applied to the roads as well as to the bridges - the Belgians only backed away with incessant fighting."
This resistance cost the Germans another day in their advance plan.
The Ardennes fighters continued to play their role as avant-garde troops until the Battle of the Lys, where the 1st Regiment was ordered to seal the breach at Deinze , which had arisen from the surrender of the 15th Line Infantry Regiment . The resistance of the 2nd Ardennesjägerdivision had the first effect that the German 396th Infantry Regiment had to retreat. Further to the north, after the collapse of the 4th Belgian infantry division, the 1st Ardennesjäger Division carried out a counterattack in the north of Deinze on May 25, which was not directed against the Lys, but against a diversion canal that formed the Belgian front to the North Sea. The Germans crossed the river west of the canal, forming a bridgehead. The 1st and 3rd regiments of the 1st Ardennesjägerdivision held the German regiments in check, carried out several counter-attacks and retook Vinkt without being able to break through the front. The Germans lost several hundred men in the process. This stubborn resistance was probably one of the reasons that led to the Vinkt massacre . The Ardennes hunters who had been withdrawn from the Ardennes fought here.
The “Chasseurs ardennais” after the war and in the 21st century
As in many other countries, the number of troops in Belgium was reduced after the end of the Cold War . After the abolition of compulsory military service, only a battalion and the regimental music remained of the Ardennes hunters. This battalion was formed in 2010 from the former 1st to 5th battalions. The 6th Battalion was completely disbanded and the troop flag was handed over to the headquarters of the Luxembourg Province .
On July 11, 1960, the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion was assigned to Matadi on the occasion of the Congo crisis , where it was used in the fighting against the mutinous Force Publique .
While the 1st Battalion was initially stationed in Arlon , after the war it belonged to the Belgian occupation forces in Germany and was garrisoned in Siegburg , Hemer , Spich and Siegen . The other battalions were in Bastogne and Rencheux .
The battalion is now stationed in Marche-en-Famenne . This barracks has served the Ardennes hunters since July 14, 1978. From here they take part in operations of NATO, the UN and the European Union (BELBAT, UNOSOM , BELUBG, UNIFIL , ISAF , BELKOS, MALI, etc.). Due to the increased threat of terrorism on Belgian territory, the Ardennes hunters were assigned to the Belgian police to support them in security tasks.
Standard
The standard is embroidered (based on the French model) with the following honorable mentions:
It is decorated with the Order of Leopold II class and the French Croix de guerre .
mascot
Traditionally, the wild boar is the mascot of the Ardennes hunters
museum
- “Musée des chasseurs ardennais” in Marche-en-Famenne.
Footnotes
- ↑ Battalion de Chasseurs ardennais. In: La Défense , website of the Belgian Ministry of Defense.
- ^ Website of the Fraternelle Royale des Chasseurs Ardennais .
- ^ Lieutenant-colonel Jacques Belle: La défaite française. Un désastre évitable. Volume 1. Éditions Economica, Paris 2007, p. 172.
- ^ Général Maurice Gamelin : Servir. Volume 1: Les armées françaises de 1940. Volume 2: Le prologue du drame (1930 – août 1939). Volume 3: La guerre (September 1939-19 May 1940). Plon, Paris 1946.
- ^ Les Relations militaires franco belges 1936–1940. Éditions Center national de la recherche scientifique , Paris 1968.
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser : Le Mythe de la guerre éclair. La Campagne de l'Ouest de 1940. Belin éditeur, Paris 2003, ISBN 978-2-7011-2689-0 , pp. 130, 136, 137, 138, 139, 141 (German: Blitzkrieg legend. The western campaign 1940 [= Operations of the Second World War. Volume 2]. 4th edition. 2012. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, ISBN 978-3-486-71544-6 [first edition 1995]).
- ↑ Frieser, 2003, p. 136.
- ^ Belle, 2007, p. 127.
- ↑ General Erich von Manstein : Lost victories. 18th edition. Bernard & Graefe, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7637-5253-9 , p. 123 ( limited preview in the Google book search; first edition Athenäum, Bonn 1955). Reviews: Manstein. In loyalty kess. In: Der Spiegel . January 14, 1959; Manstein's lost victories. In: The time . July 7, 1955.
literature
- Jean-Claude Delhez: Les Chasseurs ardennais. Debout sur la frontière, fidèles et courageux. Éditions Weyrich, Neufchâteau 2015, ISBN 978-2-87489-321-6 .
Web links
- Website of the Fraternelle Royale des Chasseurs Ardennais
- Battalion de chasseurs ardennais. In: La Défense , website of the Belgian Ministry of Defense
- La Composante Terre. In: La Défense , website of the Belgian Ministry of Defense