First Leger Corps

First Leger Corps
active	January 1949  to  July 18, 1995
Country	Netherlands
Armed forces	Royal land power
Type	corps
Strength	Peace strength: 35.00 men, war strength: 80,000
Insinuation	NORTHAG
former seat of the staff	Zeven barracks, Seedorf
commander
last commanding general	Lieutenant General M. Schouten

Areas of responsibility of the corps in NATO Central Europe in the 1980s

Veterans day of the I. NL Corps

Structure of a NL-Pz- / PzGrenBrig

The Eerste Leger Corps ( German I Corps or I. NL Corps) was a Dutch wholesale association , which during the Cold War to 1995, the multinational NATO - Army Group NORTHAG was subordinated to and in the North German Plain operated.

assignment

The area of ​​responsibility of the I. NL Corps was northern Lower Saxony with the borders of the Elbe in the north and the Uelzen area in the south. The western neighbor was the German-Danish corps LANDJUT and the right was the I. DE Corps of the Bundeswehr . The order from NORTHAG to the I. NL Corps envisaged the following scenario:

• The I. NL Corps is responsible for its combat segment and covers the deployment of the I. DE Corps
• According to the COMNORTHAG operational plan, the I. NL Corps is fighting a delay battle close to the border
• In defense, the I. NL Corps smashed armored forces of the Warsaw Pact as much as possible. It maintains liaison with the I. DE Corps and ensures solidarity with its neighbors. In the event of an enemy breakthrough, the space between BAB-7 and B-3 must be held to enable NORTHAG to counterattack
• Securing solidarity with LANDJUT and the left flank of NORTHAG at the VRV

The 4th Panzer Grenadier Division defended the area around Lüneburg and the 1st Panzer Grenadier Division the section near Uelzen . The 5th Panzer Grenadier Division acted as an operational corps reserve west of Schneverdingen . The Elbe Lateral Canal essentially formed the VRV of the I. NL Corps. In front of the two Dutch divisions, the 41st Panzer Brigade formed a delay unit that operated east of the ESK in Wendland . The rear corps area was secured by the 101st Infantry Brigade, along with the 102nd and 105th Reconnaissance Battalions. The main thrust of the Warsaw Pact was expected in the southern section of the battle near Uelzen. Therefore, the COMNORTHAG ordered focus was concentrated on this zone.

Unfavorable deployment

In view of the great quantitative superiority of the Warsaw Pact, a short warning time of around 48 hours was assumed for a long time. Troops from Holland (apart from a few advanced combat troops such as the 41 Pabrig and reconnaissance forces in the Lüneburg Heath , the bulk of the I. NL Corps was largely stationed in the Netherlands) had to travel around 350 to 400 kilometers as the crow flies to the VRV (Vorderer Edge of the defense) . The headquarters of the corps was in Apeldoorn . Thus NORTHAG was the only Army Group, whose HQ was not a resident of West Germany. This problem was discussed within NATO that mobilization and deployment of the I. NL Corps in its GDP positions cannot take place promptly. About 60% of the I. NL Corps had to be mobilized before the forces could intervene in the fighting ready for action. " The greatest problem facing the Dutch will be getting to the war. - The greatest problem for the Dutch is getting to war at all ."

history

The I. NL Corps was established after World War II and ended its history after the fall of the Iron Curtain. A forerunner of this army corps was founded in 1936 . In January 1949 it was decided to reorganize the I. NL Corps. After the Federal Republic of Germany joined NATO , the I. NL Corps was given the task of defending an assigned section in the North German Plain. Since 1963 the headquarters of the I. NL Corps has been in the Zeven barracks of Seedorf in northern Lower Saxony. The I. NL Corps consisted of three divisional headquarters, six brigades present (2 PzBrig and 4 PzGrenBrig), four brigades available as equipment units (1 PzBrig, 2 PzGrenBrig and 1 InfBrig), corps disposition troops and a corps logistics command. In contrast to the Bundeswehr, the brigades were not supplied with supplies by the division, but by the corps. The I. NL Corps was equipped with Leopard 1 and 2 main battle tanks, which replaced the outdated Centurion type in the 1980s . The combat vehicle of the mechanized infantry was the YPR 765 (an M113 MTW equipped with a turret and 25mm on-board cannon ). In addition, it was with the YPR 765, antitank guided missile TOW equipped and thus as a tank hunter could act. Army anti-aircraft defense had the Gepard anti-aircraft tank in use. Only the Panzer Brigade 41, which had a slightly increased peacekeeping strength, was stationed in Germany. Most of the brigades were cadre and were activated by soldiers on standby. Active parent units trained staff for non-active daughter units.

The Dutch brigades are composed as follows:

• Panzergrenadierbrigade / Mech Infantry Brigade
  • Panzergrenadierbataillon / Mech Infantry Battalion with a tank reconnaissance company
  • Panzergrenadierbataillon / Mech infantry battalion with tank engineer company
  • Panzerbataillon with military aircraft battery ( FlakPz )
  • Tank artillery battalion with tank destroyer company
  • Resupply Battalion

• Tank brigade
  • Panzergrenadierbataillon / Mech Infantry Battalion with a tank reconnaissance company
  • Tank battalion with tank engineer company
  • Tank battalion with anti-aircraft battery (FlakPz)
  • Armored Artillery Battalion
  • Resupply Battalion

After the end of the Cold War, the Dutch military involvement in Germany was significantly reduced. In 1995 the 1st German-Dutch Corps was established in Münster , which carried out joint operations in Afghanistan .

Subordinate associations

From 1949 to 1995 the I. NL Corps consisted of three divisions:

• First Division “7. December ”
• 4th division
• 5th division

The tank brigades (Pantserbrigade) 13, 41 and 51 had the following structure:

• • 2 tank bataljons (PzBtl)
  • 1 Pantserinfanteriebataljon (PzGrenBtl)
  • 1 gemechaniseerd Artilleriebataljon (ArtBtl)
  • 1 Pantsergeniecompagnie (PzPiKp)
  • Logistieke Troepen (NschbTr)

The Panzergrenadierbrigades (Pantser Infantry Brigade) 11, 12, 42, 43, 52 and 53 were divided into:

• • 1 tankbataljon (PzBtl)
  • 2 Pantserinfanteriebataljons (PzGrenBtl)
  • 1 gemechaniseerd Artilleriebataljon (ArtBtl)
  • 1 Pantsergeniecompagnie (PzPiKp)
  • Logistieke Troepen (NschbTr)

Commanding generals

• Major General (Generaal-Majoor) Jhr J.Th. Alting von Geusau (1936–1938)
• Major General NT Carstens (1938–1940)
• Lieutenant General (Luitenant-Generaal) ATC Opsomer (1949–1956)
• Lieutenant General JH Couzy (1956-1959)
• Lieutenant General P. Gips (1959–1962)
• Lieutenant General F. van der Veen (1962–1964)
• Lieutenant General EJC van Hootegem (1964–1967)
• Lieutenant General LA Savalle (1967–1969)
• Lieutenant General JAC Bartels (1969–1971)
• Lieutenant General FE Meijnderts (1971–1974)
• Lieutenant General E. Gitz (1974–1977)
• Lieutenant General AWT Gijsbers (1977–1981)
• Lieutenant General GLJ Huijser (1981-1983)
• Lieutenant General WJ Loos (1983–1986)
• Lieutenant General MJ Wilmink (1986–1988)
• Lieutenant General J. Tjassens (1988–1990)
• Lieutenant General AK van der Vlis (1990–1992)
• Lieutenant General M. Schouten (1992–1995)

See also

The successor unit of the I. NL Corps is the 1. German-Dutch Corps

Web links

• Official website of the Ministerie van Defensie / Koninklijke Landmacht (Dutch)
• Fighting apart together. Het optreden van de Nederlandse krijgsmacht in NAVO association. By tweede-luitenant drs. RM Verbeek (nl.)
• Organizations in legervorming. 2. Van battle group naar legerkorps. From majoor the cavalerie PH de Vries (nl.)

Notes and individual references

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} 1 (NL) Corps, Eerste Legerkorps (1 Lk)
2. ^ Commander NORTHAG Army Group
3. ↑ Front Edge of Defense
4. ↑ Quote from James Reed Golden, Asa A. Clark et al. Bruce E. Arlinghaus: Conventional deterrence: alternatives for European defense, Rowman & Littlefield. July 1984. ISBN 978-066907-397-3 .