Mountain Division 10
The Mountain Division 10 (Geb Div 10) was established by the order forces in 1938, French-speaking mountain brigade of the Swiss Army , the 1962 Mountain Division the newly formed Mountain Army Corps 3 was assumed. It was disbanded with Army XXI in 2003 and transferred to Mountain Infantry Brigade 10 in 2004.
prehistory
The first mountain troops of the Swiss army were created with the troop order of 1911 (TO 11). The four mountain brigades 3, 9, 15 and 18 were subordinate to divisions 1, 3, 5 and 6 in the central plateau.
With the 1938 troop order (TO 36/38), three new divisions (7 SG / TG, 8 LU / ZH, 9 TI / UR / ZH), three mountain brigades (10 VS / VD, 11 BE / VS, 12 GR / GL / SG) and 11 border brigades (Gz Br) were created and the Gotthard fortress troops were integrated into the 9th Division as 9th Mountain Brigade. There were now three mountain divisions (3, 8, 9). The Mountain Brigade 10 (Br mont 10) was subordinate to the 1st Army Corps, had a total of 35,000 men and comprised two mountain infantry regiments (Geb Bat 6, 7, 11, 12 VS and Geb Bat 8, 9 VD), motorized and horse-drawn artillery, Genius, medical, supply and transport formations.
Second World War
While the army was expanding its first position (operational order No. 4 “Aufmarsch Nord” from January 1940) on the Limmat ( Limmat position ), the 1st Army Corps had the southern front (central Alps between Saint-Maurice and Gotthard Pass, Valais and Ticino) against any surprise to secure. The order for the 1st Army Corps was as follows: 1st Army Corps is ready to counter a surprise attack on our southern border in the Mont Dolent - Pizzo di Cresem section ; in this case it is preparing to hold the positions of the border troops as well as the fortresses of Saint-Maurice and St. Gotthard .
The 10th Mountain Brigade under Colonel Brigadier Julius Schwarz was deployed in Lower Valais (fortress area Saint-Maurice), where it remained during the entire active service. It had the strength of a division and comprised four mountain infantry regiments: Geb Inf Rgt 5 (Bat 7, 8, 9), Geb Inf Rgt 6 (Bat 6, 11, 12), Geb Inf Rgt 67 (Bat 201, 202, 203), Geb Inf Rgt 68 (Bat 204, 205, 206) as well as Artillery Division 11 with three battalions.
The 16,610 soldiers were with 513 light machine guns Lmg 25 , 129 machine guns on mounts, 220 heavy machine guns Mg 11 , 52 8.1 cm mine launchers, 38 4.7 cm infantry cannons, 16 7.5 cm field cannons and eight heavy 10.5s cm motor cannons equipped. The brigade had additional fire support from around 40 fortress cannons in the fortress of Saint-Maurice.
The brigade had to protect the access to the Valais between the blocking point Chillon , Saint-Maurice and the Little St. Bernard Pass. It was closely linked to the fortress of Saint-Maurice. The artillery was set up south of Martigny, where the fortress artillery's fire protection was weak.
Cold War
After the Second World War, the army was continuously adapted to the changed conditions (TO 47 and 51). With Army 61 the mountain troops left the field army corps and brigades 10 and 12 became mountain divisions. The mountain troops with their 15 large units were combined in Mountain Army Corps 3 , which was given military responsibility for the Alpine region. The 10 Mountain Division was reinforced with the 7th Infantry Regiment from Freiburg. It consisted of French-speaking troops from the cantons of Friborg, Vaud and Wallis (Lower Valais).
The area where Mountain Division 10 was deployed was bounded in the north by the foothills of the Pre-Alps between Lake Thun and Lake Geneva, in the west and south by the national border and encompassed the Valais including the Bern, Friborg and Vaud Alps. It is crossed by one of the three major north-south connections (Engnis von St. Maurice, Grosser Sankt Bernhard, Simplon) and covers the western part of the great displacement line that runs through the entire Alpine massif. As part of Mountain Army Corps 3, Mountain Division 10 has the task of preventing the enemy from using the large north-south axis and of covering the entrances leading from the north-west, west and south into the Massif Central.
Mountain Division 10 was disbanded with Army XXI in 2003 and transferred to Mountain Infantry Brigade 10 in 2004.
Naming of Mountain Division 10 throughout history
- 1938–1961: Mountain Brigade 10, 1st Army Corps
- 1962–2003: Mountain Division 10, Mountain Army Corps 3
- 2004–2008: Mountain Infantry Brigade 10
- 2009-today: Mountain Infantry Brigade 10 (reserve brigade)
Patrol des Glaciers
The Patrouille des Glaciers was originally explored and planned by the two captains Rodolphe Tissières and Roger Bonvin of the then Swiss Mountain Brigade 10 to test and increase the operational capability of the troops as part of the mobilization organization before the Second World War *.
Individual evidence
- ↑ DDPS: Gebirgsinfanteriebrigade 10 ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Monument of the Border Brigade 9, Gola di Lago Monument of the Border Brigade 9, Gola di Lago
literature
- Adrien Tschumy : The mountain division 10. , General Swiss military magazine ASMZ. Issue 2, Volume 154, 1988
- Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa: Military-historical monuments in the canton of Valais , VBS 2002
Web links
- Mountain Division 10 , festung-oberland.ch