Teaching troops

In the 19th century, training troops were units to which officers , non-commissioned officers and men from the entire army were briefed. The training battalions put together in this way practiced exemplary training and tactical behavior and demonstrated this in so-called training exercises. They also served as a test force to try out new equipment or operational principles.

The training troops were initially organized in such a way that they were disbanded in the event of mobilization and the personnel returned to the main regiments. During the First World War, the teaching associations were increased and sent into the field as task forces.

At the beginning of the 20th century there were the following training groups in the German army:

1. Infantry : The Prussian training infantry battalion in Potsdam had consisted of a permanent trunk of 4 companies since 1819 , their officers and NCOs for 1 or 2 years, and their men from all Prussian infantry regiments, later from the infantry and the hunters of all German army corps except for the Bavarian and sea ​​battalions from April 1st until the end of the autumn maneuvers.
   As a badge, NCOs and men wore a woolen cord of yellow (for red epaulets and the Saxon regiments) or red color at the lower end of the epaulets, a Gothic L replaced the number of the main regiments on the epaulets for the duration of the command. During the mobilizations of 1848, 1864, 1866 and 1870 the battalion was disbanded, in 1914 it was increased to a training infantry regiment with personnel from the infantry schools and reservists and moved into the field with the 3rd Guard Brigade.
2. Cavalry : Instead of the previously existing military riding school in Schwedt an der Oder (previously in Berlin ), the military riding institute in Hanover became a teaching force in 1866 . There were also the equitation institute in Munich and the military equestrian institute in Dresden .
3. Artillery : The teaching regiment of the field artillery shooting school and the teaching battalion of the foot artillery shooting school with clothing department , both of which were located in Jueterbog , not only trained those commanded there in theory, but also placed special emphasis on practical training. The young officers of the artillery went regularly after their promotion to this rank through the artillery shooting school.

The Reichswehr did not have any training units. When the Wehrmacht was established , there were teaching associations again at the training facilities. When the war broke out, they were briefly commanded to the front in order to gain experience of the war and to be able to implement them in further teaching and experimental activities, e.g. B. the Infantry Training Regiment 900 or the later Training Brigade 900, which was composed of training units from the infantry, armored troop and artillery schools. In the second half of the Second World War, the front formations of the teaching troops were no longer removed from the front line. Many units were combined in the Panzer-Lehr-Division set up in France at the beginning of 1944 . Teaching troops that were once again set up at the schools at home were repeatedly thrown into the front as a crisis fire brigade.

The Bundeswehr also used the teaching force principle when it was set up. In April 1956, a training association was set up for each type of service, in which the cadres of the other battalions were trained. Until recently, the training battalions served in the typical double role of teaching for the respective military school and as a normal task force. With the latest restructuring, the Bundeswehr is losing its teaching force.