First division "7 December"

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1st (Netherlands) Division

Lineup 1946
Country Netherlands
Armed forces Royal land power
Branch of service Mech. Infantry / tank troops
Type division
Subordinate troops

11th Pantser Infantry Brigade
12th Pantser Infantry Brigade
13th Pantser Brigade
Location Arnhem
Badge of the Eerste Divisie
Prince Bernhard on the 40th anniversary of the Eerste Divisie in 1986
Gele Rijders Prinsjesdag 2012
Leopard tank of the Dutch armed forces
Regiment van Heutsz at the Veteran's Day 2014

The Eerste Divisie was a major Dutch association that was set up in 1946 to ensure security in the Dutch colonies in the Far East. Later, the division was one of a total of three divisions of the Eersten Legerkorps (I. NL Corps), which was stationed in the municipality of Arnhem ( Dutch Arnhem ). The nickname "7 December" refers to a speech broadcast on Radio Oranje on December 7, 1942 by Queen Wilhelmina from exile in London, in which the unity of the Dutch colonies with the motherland was evoked.

coat of arms

The coat of arms consists of the coat of arms of Batavia , a sword with a laurel wreath on a red background. Also the letters EM for expeditionary corps.

history

The Eerste Divisie was set up in 1946 at the behest of Queen Wilhelmina . The military association was to be part of the overseas colonies of Indonesia , Suriname and Curaçao and to enforce Dutch interests there. In the years from 1946 to 1950 a total of 18,544 men (880 officers, 1,300 NCOs and 16,364 crew ranks), many of them from Indonesia, served in the Eersten Divisie. At the end of November 1949 , the division was transferred back to Holland. Many members of the division had spent more than three years' service in the tropics. The first division commander was Major General Henri Julius Jan Willem Dürst Britt (1894–1963), who transferred the command on September 2, 1949 to Major General Eduard Engles (1895–1959).

Cold War

Between 1958 and 1959 , the Eerste Divisie was converted into a modern NATO army unit that was operational after alerting and mobilization and that was to be deployed within the I. NL Corps in northern Lower Saxony in the event of a defense . In 1985 the headquarters of the Eerste Divisie was in Schaarsbergen near Arnhem . The 102nd Reconnaissance Battalion ( armored reconnaissance battalion ) was one of the advanced units in the battle section of NORTHAG , along with other associations that delaying action had to carry on, until the main forces on VRV arrived and were ready for combat.

Outline during the Cold War

  • 11e Pantser Infantry Brigade (11 Painfbrig) / 11th Armored Infantry Brigade (PzGrenBrig)
    • 101st Tank Battalion "Regiment Huzaren Prins Alexander" (PzBtl)
    • 12th Armored Infantry Battalion "Garde Regiment Jagers" (PzGrenBtl)
    • 48th Armored Infantry Battalion "Regiment van Heutsz" (PzGrenBtl)
    • 11th Horse Artillery Battalion "Gele Rijders" (ArtBtl)
  • 12e Pantser Infantry Brigade (12 Painfbrig) / 12th Armored Infantry Brigade (PzGrenBrig)
    • 11th Armored Infantry Battalion "Garde Regiment Grenadiers" (PzGrenBtl)
    • 13th Armored Infantry Battalion "Garde Fusiliers Princess Irene" (PzGrenBtl)
    • 59th Tank Battalion "Regiment Huzaren Prins Oranje" (PzBtl)
    • 14th Field Artillery Battalion (ArtBtl)
  • 13e Pantser Brigade (13th Pabrig) / 13th Armored Brigade (13th PzBrig)
    • 11th Tank Battalion "Huzaren van Sytzama" (PzBtl)
    • 49th Tank Battalion "Huzaren van Sytzama" (PzBtl)
    • 17th Armored Infantry Battalion "Regiment Infanterie Chasse" (PzGrenBtl)
    • 12th Field Artillery Battalion (FeldArtBtl)

Modern

After the fall of the Iron Curtain , the division carried out peace missions under the mandate of the United Nations in Bosnia and Afghanistan . In 1995 the First Division and a German division were subordinated to the 1st German-Dutch Corps .

On January 1, 2004, the "Airmobile Brigade" received the division suffix "7. December".

monument

According to the Dutch Ministry of Defense, 683 soldiers of the 1st Division were killed in Indonesia (most of them are in the Menteng Pulo War Cemetery in Jakarta ), which was taken as an opportunity to hold a commemoration in front of the national monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam every year on December 7th to hold. After various protests about the war crimes of this unit, the memorial for the fallen soldiers of the 1st division “7. December “in 1997 moved to the King Willem III barracks in Apeldoorn .

literature

  • Martin Elands and Richard van Gils in Ben Schoenmaker: De geschiedenis van 1 Divisie '7 December' 1946–1996. The Hague: Sdu, 1996, ISBN 90-12-08307-9 .

Web links

Notes and individual references