Klaus Feldmann (soldier)

Klaus Feldmann

Klaus Feldmann (born January 15, 1950 in Dissen am Teutoburg Forest ) is a retired Brigadier General . D. of the Army of the German Armed Forces and was General of the Armored Forces and Commander of the Munster Training Center from 2003 until his retirement in January 2012 .

Military career

Feldmann passed his Abitur in Osnabrück in 1968 . He then joined the 213 tank battalion in Augustdorf as an officer candidate and completed his training as an officer in the troop service. He stayed at this location until 1978 as a platoon leader and then as an S2 officer. From 1978 to 1982 he was company commander of the 3rd  company of Panzer Battalion 344 in Koblenz .

From 1982 to 1984 he took part in the 25th  general staff course at the command academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg . Then (1984-1986) he went through a staff assignment as G2 in the 11th Panzer Grenadier Division in Oldenburg . 1986/87 he took part in the Canadian General Staff training in Toronto .

Before he became commander of Panzer Battalion 334 in Celle from 1989 to 1991 , he was G3 of Panzergrenadierbrigade 7 in Hamburg from 1987 to 1989 .

After an employment (1991-1993) at the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn , he was seconded as a staff officer to the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City , USA (1993/94). He was then (1994–1996) head of the leadership teaching department at the Bundeswehr Leadership Academy in Hamburg and from 1996 to 1997 at the National War College in Washington, DC , USA.

From 1998 to 2003 he was in command of the 30th Panzer Grenadier Brigade in Ellwangen . During this time he took part in the foreign assignment as Chief of Staff of the Multinational Division South East SFOR in Mostar.

After September 11, 2001 , he was the first head of the German liaison staff to the US Central Command in Tampa , Florida , USA . In August 2003 Feldmann became General of the Armored Troops and Commander of the Armored Troop School . As part of the transformation of the Bundeswehr , the armored troop school was decommissioned in 2007 and the Munster training center was reorganized, and he became its first commander. The training centers of the Army Reconnaissance Force , Army Air Defense Force and Armored Troops, as well as the central area, were subordinate to him . As the commander of the Munster training center, Feldmann was also general of the armored forces, while the commanders of the Army Reconnaissance and Air Defense Force training centers, who are subordinate to him, are also the generals of their respective branches. In January 2012 he handed over his official duties to his successor Bernd Schütt .

New conception of the armored force

During his service as general of the armored troops , the self-image of the armored troops and the armored infantry troops changed significantly. At the beginning of his tenure in 2003, these branches of service were considered relics from the Cold War and were massively reduced with the 2010 army structure.

In addition to the new scenarios of the Three Block War , the further development of the armored force by the work group of the same name under Feldmann's command was also largely responsible for this. Not only was the new Leopard 2 PSO / Leopard 2 UrbOp battle tank developed in cooperation with KMW and Rheinmetall , but also the classic armored combat troops and the armored reconnaissance vehicles of the time equipped with new weapon systems with the Puma infantry fighting vehicle and the Fennek reconnaissance vehicle.

Not least the consistent public relations work and the close cooperation with the Armor Center of the US Army in Fort Knox , Kentucky and the Canadian armed forces contributed to the change described. For example, Canadian soldiers were trained in the armored forces school. The Canadians later deployed the Leopard 2 A6 leased from Germany in Afghanistan.

The restructuring in the area of ​​teaching and training also takes these changes into account. The most conspicuous here is undoubtedly the reclassification of the armored troop school to the Munster training center between 2005 and 2008 and the establishment of the new officer candidate battalion in 2006 - together the largest reclassification in the history of the Munster armed forces location .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b Change of} command: retiring with 1,500 hp. In: www.deutschesheer.de. January 18, 2012, accessed January 19, 2012 .