Field Division 5

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Flueholz multipurpose facility, Baden
Field Army Corps 2 (FAK 2) and Field Division 5 in the basic disposition from 1992

The Field Division 5 was a traditional northwestern Swiss Federation of the Swiss militia army with the main body was of troops from canton Aargau . Its first commandant was Christian Emil Rothpletz. It was formed in 1875 due to the new troop order, disbanded in 2003 and replaced by the 5th Infantry Brigade in 2008.

prehistory

With the Federal Constitution of 1848, the cantonal troops began to be combined into a national army. With the partial revision of the Federal Constitution of 1874, the legal basis for the construction, equipment, training and leadership of a unified army as well as the Army classes Excerpt (20 to 32 years of age) and Landwehr (33 to 44) were created, with a repeat course every two years had to afford.

Field Division 5 consisted of two infantry brigades with two regiments each and one artillery brigade (three field artillery regiments with two batteries each). In 1891 the 5th Division was combined with the Bern 3rd Division in the 2nd Army Corps . In 1907 there was a change to the annual refresher course.

With the troop order of 1911, the previous eight divisions were reduced to six, making the 5th division the 4th division by 1936 and consisting of two brigades with three infantry regiments each, one artillery brigade and over 20,000 militiamen. The battalions from Solothurn were exchanged for those from Zug and Lucerne.

First World War

On August 3, 1914, the day after the mobilization in World War I , the 4th Division moved in under its commandant Wilhelm Schmid (1913-1918) to secure the border section west of Basel to Burg-Rämel. The Army Reserve Division was later in the canton of Bern. The division performed a total of six active duties of two to six months in the Jura and Laufental, 400 to 600 days of service per Wehrmann. During the national strike in 1918, units had to perform security services in the cities on strike of Aarau, Baden, Brugg, Basel and Zurich.

According to the Ordre de Bataille of 1917, the war inventory of the 4th Division (including Mountain Brigade 12) was: 949 officers, 24,470 NCOs and soldiers, 5855 horses, 18,031 rifles, 126 machine guns, 287 sabers, 56 artillery pieces.

With the troop order of 1936 (TO 36), the 4th division became the 5th division again. The troop population of 1924 (TO 24) of 33,953 men was halved and the intermediate level of the brigade was dropped. The Fusilier Battalions (Füs Bat) 58, 59 and 60 were assigned to the newly established Border Brigade 5 and placed under the command of the division. The Stadtzürcher Infantry Regiment 4 joined the Aargau Infantry Regiments 23 and 24 (S Bat 4, Füs Bat 46, 102).

  • Oberstdivisionär Wilhelm Schmid, Commander 4th Division

  • 4th Division staff

  • Field artillery, Wangen an der Aare

  • Guard house, Damvant / Pruntrut

Second World War

After mobilization in the Second World War in September 1939, the 5th Division, which was subordinate to the 2nd Army Corps, and its commander Eugen Bircher , moved around 13,600 men to the Brugg - Bözberg area in the Limmat position between the 3rd Division (west) and the 8th Division ( east). The ad hoc Bözberg Regiment and the 13th and 24th corps artillery regiments were reinforcing the 5th Division.

After fortresses had been built in the Reduit and supplies for the troops and the local population had been laid out for six months, the 5th Division, which had previously been deployed with the 2nd and 4th Divisions in the advanced position to secure the building of the Reduit, moved to the central area relocated.

The bulk of the 5th Division was deployed in the Reduit in the Bürgenstock - Pilatus - Engelberg area from May 1941 , the 4th Infantry Regiment was moved to the Schwyz basin , where it was subordinate to the 4th Army Corps until autumn 1944. As part of the 2nd Army Corps, the 5th Division had to block the Reduitz access to the Brünig Pass . In the spring of 1943, most of the division was subordinated to the 4th Army Corps in order to secure the Reduitz access on both sides of the Rigi in the Schwyz basin. Towards the end of the war from October 1944, the reunited division was used for relief services in the border security in the Basel area.

Cold war and army reforms

From 1948 on, the repetition courses resumed the normal three-week cycle. With the Troop Order 51 (TO51), the 5th Division took over the structures of the TO 36, in addition it received a reconnaissance and a mobile light Flababteilung. In addition to the Aargau regiments 23 and 24, there was a change between the city of Zurich regiments 4 and 27. In 1955, the maneuver was the first to practice behavior in the event of an attack with nuclear weapons.

With Army 61 , the 22nd Infantry Regiment in Basel joined the division again after a 25-year absence, and the 27th Infantry Regiment in Zurich switched to Field Army Corps 4. The rather static border division became a dynamic field division capable of counter-attack from 1965 with the incorporation of a reconnaissance battalion and the creation of tank battalions.

The operational area of field division 5 was located south of the border brigade 5 in the area of ​​the Swiss moated castle (Aare, Limmat, Reuss). It had to maintain the Limmat-Brugg-Lenzburg-Birmensdorf area and to block the axes to the Knonauer Amt (Reuss valley towards Gotthard). With her tanks she led the defense in the mixed area, consisting of defense and counter-attack. It claimed the Limmat-Brugg-Lenzburg-Birmensdorf area and locked the axes in the Knonau office.

In its area of operations AG / Eitenberg were in addition to the artillery positions Bremgarten and Hausen the blocking points in Arni-Islisberg, Baden , Birmensdorf , Dietikon , Gebenstorf Spoonbill (Birmensdorf), Upper Reppischtal (Birmensdorf, Güpf-Risi (Ramer Forest Uitikon / Birmensdorf), Landikon, ), Reppischhof (Dietikon), Ringlikon, Schlieren, Sellenbüren-Stallikon, Wollishofen-Sihltal , Uetliberg , Unter Reppischtal (Urdorf), Urdorf , Waldegg and Wüerital (Birmensdorf). The two-story command post A 5258 of Field Division 5 was located in Arni AG , was built in 1986 and renovated in 2002.

With Army XXI , all army corps and divisions were disbanded and with it Field Division 5, which had existed for around 130 years. In 2008, Infantry Brigade 5 was newly formed as the successor to the 5th Division.

  • Lock Birmensdorf

  • KP Felddivision 5 A 5258 Arni AG

  • Memorial plaque on the Limmatspitz

Commanders

  • 1875–1883 ​​Christian Emil Rothpletz
  • 1884–1888 Ludwig Arnold Zollikofer
  • 1889–1890 Eduard Müller
  • 1891–1895 August Carl Rudolf
  • 1896–1898 Arnold Keller
  • 1899–1904 Alfred Scherz
  • 1905–1912 Isaak Iselin (4th Div from 1911)
  • 1912 Alfred Audéoud (4th Div)
  • 1913–1918 Wilhelm Schmid (4th Div)
  • 1918–1920 Emil Sonderegger (4th Div)
  • 1920 Charles Sarasin (4th Div)
  • 1920–1925 Arnold Biberstein (4th Div)
  • 1926–1931 Guillaume Favre (4th Div)
  • 1931–1934 Rudolf Miescher (4th Div)
  • 1935–1942 Eugen Bircher (4th Div until 1936)
  • 1942–1944 Rudolf von Erlach
  • 1944–1950 Paul Wacker
  • 1951–1955 Robert Frick
  • 1956–1962 Fred Küenzy
  • 1963–1969 Karl Walde
  • 1969–1977 Hans Trautweiler
  • 1978–1985 Pierre-Marie Halter
  • 1986–1992 Werner Frey
  • 1993–1995 Rudolf Zoller
  • 1996-2000 Max Riner
  • 2001-2003 Paul Müller

Naming of Field Division 5 throughout history

  • 1875–1911: 5th Army Division
  • 1911-1936: 4th Division
  • 1936–1961: 5th Division, Border Division 5th
  • 1962–2003: Field Division 5
  • 2003-2017: Infantry Brigade 5

  • Observation tower Gibstorfer Horn

  • Soldier memorial 1940–45 of the 5th Division in Villigerfeld

  • "Soldiers' pub " in Rüfenach , known as the "Blue Angel" since 1939 because of the daughter of the inn.

literature

Web links

Commons : Field Division 5  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Structure of the 6 divisions of the Swiss Army, “Ordre de Bataille” from 1917
  2. ^ Limmat position of the 5th division ( Memento from September 24th 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Edgar Bonjour : History of Swiss neutrality. Four centuries of federal foreign policy. Volume 9: Documents. 1939-1946. Helbing and Lichtenhahn, Basel et al. 1976, ISBN 3-7190-0677-8 .
  4. ↑ Fortress Oberland: Field Division 5
  5. ↑ DDPS: Infantry Brigade 5 ( Memento from April 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Blue Angel: History