Airborne Brigade 26

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Airborne Brigade 26
"Saarland"
- LLBrig 26 -
X

Association badge Airborne Brigade 26

Association badge
active Oct. 20, 1958 to 
March 31, 2015
Country GermanyGermany Germany
Armed forces Bundeswehr Kreuz.svg armed forces
Armed forces Bundeswehr Kreuz.svg army
Type Airborne Brigade
last staff seat Saarlouis
Nickname Saarland Brigade
motto Ready for use - anytime - worldwide
Awards Flag of Saarland.svg Saarland flag
ribbon (2008)

The airborne brigade 26 " Saarland " with the headquarters of the brigade staff in Saarlouis was an association of the Rapid Forces Division of around 3500 men . The brigade was also referred to as the "Saarland brigade" due to its almost complete stationing in Saarland. Other units were in Rhineland-Palatinate . The Airborne Brigade 26 belonged for the most part to the intervention forces of the Bundeswehr , the association therefore provided the majority of paratroopers and airborne troops of the intervention forces of the Army. The brigade motto was: "Ready for action - anytime - worldwide". The brigade greeted with "good luck".

history

Army structure 1

Prehistory as a combat group in the Army Structure 1

To assume the Heeresstruktur one that was airborne battle group B 9 September 1957 Location of the rod in the Becelaere barracks in Esslingen am Neckar reorganized . The staff of the airborne combat group A 9 moved to the Graf Stauffenberg barracks in Sigmaringen in 1958 . Airborne Combat Group B 9 was subordinate to the 1st Airborne Division .

Lineup

On October 20, 1958, Airborne Combat Group B 9 was reclassified to Airborne Brigade 26.

Army structure 2

To take over Army Structure 2 , Airborne Brigade 26 was reclassified to Paratrooper Brigade 26 in 1959 .

Army structure 3

In 1972 the paratrooper brigade was renamed Airborne Brigade 26 again. In 1972 the staff moved to Saarlouis so that the brigade was completely stationed in Saarland.

As soldiers murder of Lebach perpetrated in 1969 raid was the ammunition depots of the murder of the guards Graf-Haeseler Barracks (Lebach) into the West German history. The guards killed were Corporal Dieter Horn and Ewald Marx, Corporal Arno Bales and Sergeant Erwin Poh.

Army structure 4

In the autumn of 1989, the brigade comprised around 3,000 soldiers in the peace structure . The planned growth strength in the case of defense was even higher. For nursery which was convened by reservists and the mobilization of non-active units provided. In the autumn of 1989, the brigade continued to be managed by the staff of the 1st Airborne Division . For the operation, the brigade was the commander of the III. Corps directly subordinated as a reserve. At the end of Army Structure 4 in autumn 1989, the brigade was roughly divided into the following units :

Army structure 5 until disbandment

Members of Paratrooper Battalion 261 in 1993 in Somalia
Delegation of the brigade in Paris
Structure of the airborne brigade

In 1991 the brigade was given the nickname "Saarland". With the relocation of the paratrooper battalion 263 from Saarlouis to Zweibrücken , the brigade also has an "outpost" in Rhineland-Palatinate .

In 1991 the brigade provided forces for the humanitarian aid operation " Operation Kurdish Aid " in Iran and in 1992/1993 it was involved in the "Medical Service Support of the United Nations in Cambodia ". In 1993 the brigade was the lead unit for the first contingent of the Somalia mission.

In 1994 the training company of LLBtl 263 (2./263) was in the focus of the Saarland press because of the training methods used there.

Since 1995, soldiers from all parts of the brigade have been deployed almost continuously in rotation in the Balkans . On March 14, 1997, the later Brigadier General Henning Glawatz, at the time still Colonel and Commander of Saarland Airborne Brigade 26 , carried out Operation Libelle to evacuate German and foreign citizens from the Albanian capital Tirana with forces stationed in Rajlovac / Bosnia .

In 2002/2003, the brigade staff with subordinate units led the Multinational Brigade in Kabul of the International Protection Force in Afghanistan ( ISAF ). In 2006, parts of the brigade took part in the overseas mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( EUFOR RD CONGO).

In 2006, soldiers from the Saarland Brigade were involved in the scandal over alleged desecration of the dead in Afghanistan. In the barracks of the paratrooper battalion 263 in Zweibrücken a public prosecutor's office investigated for obscene acts and degrading treatment in the presence of the company commander during a "Uffz celebration".

On July 14, 2007, 30 members of the parachute battalion 261 belonging to the brigade took part in the traditional military parade on the occasion of the French national holiday , at which soldiers from all other EU countries were represented for the first time. From July 16, 2007, a paratrooper platoon , integrated into a Russian company in Pskow (Bleskau) / Russia, took part in an airborne exercise with combat shooting for 5 days . At the same time a Russian platoon visited the paratrooper battalion 263 in Zweibrücken.

The last assignment of the brigade was the command of the paratrooper battalions 261 and 263 as well as the airborne support battalion 262. As part of the intervention forces, the brigade was able to set up an airmobile combat formation from the brigade's units within 24 to 72 hours. To this end, the brigade may have worked with special forces on protection and evacuation operations. Furthermore, the brigade was able to carry out limited initial operations to create conditions for the use of other forces by taking and holding key areas. The brigade also led specialized forces in operations at depth against the facilities, forces and means of command and logistics of the enemy.

The Airborne Brigade 26 was finally divided as follows:

resolution

2012 was the last time that training took place in Saarland. Due to the stationing concept 2011 , the training of the recruits was moved to the base in Zweibrücken . The last exercise of the paratrooper battalion 261 took place from September 16-19, 2012 at the Losheim reservoir .

On November 26, 2014, Airborne Engineer Company 270 and Airborne Reconnaissance Company 310 of the disbanded Airborne Brigade 31 were subordinated to the brigade .

As part of the implementation of the “HEER2011” implementation plan , Airborne Brigade 26 was reclassified to Airborne Brigade 1 on April 1, 2015 .

Commanders

The commanders of the brigade were (rank when taking command):

No. Surname Beginning of the appointment End of appointment
17th Colonel Stefan Geilen 4th December 2014 March 31, 2015
16 Colonel Andreas Hannemann February 1, 2012 4th December 2014
15th Colonel Eberhard Zorn January 14, 2010 January 31, 2012
14th Colonel Volker Bescht August 29, 2005 January 14, 2010
13 Colonel Hans-Werner Fritz 2003 August 29, 2005
12 Colonel Manfred Schlenker (2000) (2002)
11 Colonel Henning Glawatz (1996) (1999)
10 Colonel Hans-Heinrich Dieter April 1, 1994 (1995)
9 Colonel Helmut Harff April 1, 1990 March 31, 1994
8th Colonel Fritz Eckert April 1, 1983 March 31, 1990
7th Colonel Herbert Hagenbruck April 1976 March 31, 1983
6th Colonel Hans Kubis September 1973 March 1976
5 Colonel Helmut Liebeskind October 1970 September 1973
4th Colonel Heinrich Schwiethal October 1968 September 1970
3 Colonel Karl-Albert Keerl April 1967 October 1968
2 Colonel Hans-Werner Voss October 1963 April 1967
1 Colonel Erich Timm October 1958 September 1963

Association badge

The blazon of the association badge for the uniform of the members of Airborne Brigade 26 initially read:

Bordered in red , in blue an open silver parachute with an attached arrowhead pointing downwards .

The first association badge showed a parachute, which stylized the main motif in the tactical symbol of the paratrooper troops . The paratroopers were the infantry core of the airborne troops . The association badges of the division and the subordinate brigades were identical except for the shelves . In the tradition of the Prussian color sequence , the association badge of the Airborne Brigade 26 was given a red border as the “second” brigade of the division.

After the special operations division was established, the division and its brigades received redesigned association badges. The blazon of the 26th Airborne Brigade's badge read:

Bordered in red , an upright black arrowhead in blue , consisting of a notched shaft and the two wings , topped with a falling, golden eagle .

The eagle resembled the bird of prey in the beret badge of the paratrooper troops . The arrow resembled the tactical sign for special forces . It symbolized a sword or dagger pointing upwards . Swords and daggers were used worldwide as symbols in the environment of special forces - for example also in the beret badge of the special forces command . Airborne Brigade 26 was again considered the "second" brigade. Therefore her association badge received a red border again.

Since the badges of the division's brigades differed only slightly in both the old and the new design, the internal badge of the staff or the staff company pars pro toto was occasionally used instead as the brigade's "badge". It showed the parachute known from the first association badge on a blue background with a red border, as well as a tail star . The comet probably goes back to the (traditional) label "Blue Comet" of the former members of the airborne storm regiment of the paratroopers of the Wehrmacht . A similar comet in the troop registration led the 4th Paratrooper Division of the Wehrmacht in the later course of the war . In an alternate (possibly earlier?) Version of the staff's internal union badge, the comet was not included.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Shown are the internal association badges, for which a wearing permit was officially granted until around the mid-1980s. Inactive units (equipment units, partially active, cadre units) are shown in italics .
  2. ↑ Major units of the 1st Airborne Division : "First" Brigade: Luftlandebrigade 25 (= white board). "Second" Brigade: Airborne Brigade 26 (= red board). "Third" Brigade: Airborne Brigade 27 / Airborne Brigade 31 (= yellow board).
  3. ↑ Large units of the Special Operations Division : “First” “Brigade” (as a brigade equivalent): Special forces command (= white board). "Second" Brigade: Airborne Brigade 26 (= red board). "Third" Brigade: Airborne Brigade 31 (= yellow board).

literature

  • 1st Airborne Division (Ed.): Paratroopers . The history of the 1st Airborne Division 1956-1994. 2nd edition. Ubstadt-Weiher, Enforcer Pülz, 1995, ISBN 3-939700-30-4 (413 pages, first edition: Barett-Verlag, Solingen 1995, Hempel estate, Bundeswehrsozialwerk eV).
  • Sören Sünkler: The special units of the Bundeswehr . 1st edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-613-02592-2 (199 pages).
  • Sören Sünkler: LLBrig. 26, Sept.-Oct. 2008 . In: Interest Group for Defense Technology & Authorities (Ed.): K-ISOM. Command- International Special Operations Magazine . No. 1 . SJ Publ., 2008, ISSN  1866-9360 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g location database of the Bundeswehr in the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the training grounds used by the Bundeswehr abroad. In: Website of the Military History Research Office . Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr , Military History Research Office , accessed on February 17, 2020 (For technical reasons, direct links to individual search queries or search results are not possible. Please use the “search form” to research information on the individual departments).
  2. ↑ a b c d Department MA 3 : BArch BH 9-26 / Luftlandebrigade 26 –Saarland–. In: Research application invenio . President of the Federal Archives , 2004, accessed on February 17, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Section MA 3 : BArch BH 8-9 / 1. Airborne Division. In: Research application invenio . President of the Federal Archives , 1996, accessed on March 12, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f O. W. Dragoner (Ed.): Die Bundeswehr 1989 . Organization and equipment of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany at the end of the Cold War. 4th edition. 2.1 - Army. Army Office. I. Corps. II Corps. III. Corps, February 2012 (167 p., Relektiven.com [PDF; 747 kB ; accessed on February 21, 2020] First edition: 2009, overview of the series at Relict.com).
  5. ^ Uwe Walter: The structures and associations of the German army . 1st edition. Part 1., I. Corps: (1956-1995). Edition AVRA, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-946467-32-8 , pp. 104 (260 pp.).
  6. ^ Scans of some press articles in the Saarbrücker Zeitung
  7. ↑ Put fruit in your bottom and paddle on it. In: stern. June 21, 2006, accessed February 12, 2016 .
  8. ^ Judgment in the "dried fruit" trial. In: RP Online. June 11, 2008, accessed February 12, 2016 .
  9. ↑ With the swimming trunks into the last battle . In: Saarbrücker Zeitung . September 18, 2012, p. B1 .
  10. ↑ LLBrig 26: Seedorfer Fallschirmjäger from April 2015 on a new assignment. www.deutschesheer.de, April 1, 2015, accessed April 1, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Personnel changes in top military and civilian positions ( Memento from December 14, 2014; PDF; 32 kB)

Coordinates: 49 ° 18 '48 "  N , 6 ° 44' 3.3"  E