Airborne Brigade 31

Airborne Brigade 31 "Oldenburg" - LLBrig 31 - X
Association badge
active	March 31, 1993 to  March 31, 2015
Country	Germany
Armed forces	armed forces
Armed forces	army
Type	Airborne Brigade
Location	Oldenburg (Oldb)
motto	Ready for use - anytime - worldwide

The Luftlandebrigade 31 "Oldenburg" ( LLBrig 31 ) was a 3600 man strong large formation of the German army with staff in Oldenburg . It was subordinate to the Rapid Forces Division (DSK) and classified as part of the Army's stabilization forces. All units were stationed in Lower Saxony , most of them in Seedorf . The brigade was decommissioned on March 31, 2015. The brigade was absorbed into the 31st Parachute Regiment of Airborne Brigade 1 .

history

Army structure 5

Airborne Brigade 31 was created in Army Structure 5 (N) on April 1, 1993 from the merger of the former Airborne Brigade 27 from Lippstadt and the former Panzergrenadierbrigade 31 from Oldenburg. The battalions at that time merged on March 26, 1993 as follows:

• Paratrooper battalion 271 from Iserlohn and Panzergrenadierbataillon 313 from Varel to the parachute battalion 313 in the Friesland barracks Varel,
• Paratrooper battalion 273 from Iserlohn and tank battalion 314 from Oldenburg to paratrooper battalion 314 in the Henning von Tresckow barracks in Oldenburg.
• Parachute anti-tank battalion 272 from Wildeshausen initially remained unchanged in the Wittekind barracks as the second battalion of the brigade.

The paratrooper battalion 314 was disbanded in September 2002 and instead the parachute battalion 373 of the Jägerbrigade 37 was subordinated to the Airborne Brigade 31.

From 1994 to 2002 the brigade was part of the Multinational Division Central (MND-C) of NATO .

According to the army structure 5

Structure of the brigade

In the course of the restructuring “ New Army for New Tasks ”, the Parachute Armored Defense Battalion 272 was reclassified to Airborne Support Battalion 272 . In this, parts of the immediate brigade units - LL medical service (one company) and LL supply (two companies), with their own staff and supply company and a training company (from 2006) - were combined.

By 2007 the Doberlug-Kirchhain , Varel and Wildeshausen locations were closed and a large part of the Airborne Brigade 31 “Oldenburg” relocated to Seedorf. The barracks, in which a mechanized brigade of the Dutch army was previously stationed, was renovated for this purpose.

Headquarters and headquarters company of LLBrig 31, as well as the 1st and 2nd companies of Airborne Support Battalion 272 were combined in the Henning von Tresckow barracks in Oldenburg. The main reason for this was the building of the parachute equipment / air handling train, which was built in the years 1999-2000, which offers extensive possibilities and means for the repair, maintenance (including cleaning, packing) and storage of parachutes and similar equipment of Airborne Brigade 31 and other jumping formations (e.g. B. the German SEK / M ), z. B. by a drying tower, bot. The existing parachute jump facility for simulating a jump with an automatic parachute from an airplane had a lasting positive effect on the decision to continue using the Oldenburg location for parts of the brigade. It was rumored that the electoral district member of Oldenburg, who was extremely influential in matters of defense, Thomas Kossendey (at that time deputy chairman of the defense committee of the German Bundestag and now parliamentary state secretary in the BMVg ) had exerted massive influence on this.

In February 2011, parts of the brigade were involved in Operation Pegasus in the evacuation of Western civilians from Libya .

The Airborne Brigade 31 was finally divided into:

• Headquarters / headquarters company Airborne Brigade 31, Oldenburg
  • Airborne Reconnaissance Company 310, Seedorf
  • Airborne Pioneer Company 270, Seedorf
  • Paratrooper Battalion 313 . Seedorf
  • Paratrooper Battalion 373, Seedorf
  • Airborne Support Battalion 272, Oldenburg (2 companies), Seedorf (2 companies)

Most recently, the brigade's job was to lead specialized forces in rescue, evacuation and protection operations. In addition, she was able to deploy emergency units for quick initial operations within 72 hours. Furthermore, she was able to lead specialized forces in operations at depth.

resolution

As part of the new location concept , Airborne Brigade 31 was disbanded on September 18, 2014 as part of a festive roll call on the Oldenburg Palace Square. The dissolution and restructuring of the 31st Paratrooper Regiment of Airborne Brigade 1 at the Seedorf site will begin on October 1st .

Commanders

The following commanders led the brigade:

No.	Surname	Beginning of the appointment	End of appointment
9	Brigadier General Gert Gawellek	April 30, 2013	18th September 2014
8th	Brigadier General Reinhardt Zudrop	November 11, 2010	April 30, 2013
7th	Brigadier General Frank Leidenberger	June 1, 2008	November 11, 2010
6th	Brigadier General Dieter Warnecke	2005	June 1, 2008
5	Brigadier General Rainer Hartbrod	October 24, 2003	2005
4th	Colonel Hans Günter Engel	September 12, 2002	September 2003
3	Brigadier General Carl-Hubertus von Butler	September 24, 1999	September 12, 2002
2	Brigadier General Bernd Müller	March 28, 1994	September 24, 1999
1	Colonel Volker Loew	March 26, 1993	March 28, 1994

Association badge

Woven , first association badge for the service suit

The blazon of the association badge for the uniform of the members of Airborne Brigade 31 initially read:

Gold bordered , in blue an open silver parachute with an attached arrowhead pointing downwards .

The Luftlandebrigade 31 initially continued as the "successor association" of the Luftlandebrigade 27 their association badge. 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 31 was given a yellow border as the “third” brigade of the division.

Woven , later association badge for the service suit

After the special operations division was established, the division and its brigades received redesigned association badges. The blazon of the association badge of Airborne Brigade 31 read:

Gold bordered , 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 as symbols around the world by special forces - for example also on the beret badge of the special forces command . Airborne Brigade 31 was again considered the "third" brigade. Therefore, her association badge again received a yellow border.

Internal association badge of the staff / staff company

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 and from the internal association badge of the headquarters company of the Airborne Brigade 27, the Lippische Rose as in the Lippstadt city coat of arms and in the internal association badge of the staff of the Luftlandebrigade 27, as well as two golden Oldenburg crosses that were derived from the association badge of the second " Predecessor brigade “ Panzergrenadierbrigade 31 were taken from. The yellow board was also taken from the association badge.

See also : List of Association Badges of the Bundeswehr

Motto and greeting

The brigade motto was "Ready for action - anytime - worldwide". The brigade greeted with "good luck".

Remarks

1. ↑ 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).
2. ↑ 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

• Sören Sünkler: The special units of the Bundeswehr . 1st edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02592-9 (199 pages).

Web links

• The 11th Panzer Grenadier Division of the Bundeswehr. In: Relics in Lower Saxony & Bremen . Manfred Tegge, accessed on March 1, 2020 . 
• Paratrooper Battalion 273rd Jochen Lauter, 2019, accessed on February 29, 2020 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} 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} Hendrik Bauer: With one laughing and one crying eye. www.deutschesheer.de, September 26, 2014, accessed on September 30, 2014 .  
3. ↑ Section MA 3 : BArch BH 9-45 / Luftlandebrigade 31. In: Research application invenio . President of the Federal Archives , 2013, accessed on February 17, 2020 . 
4. ^ Barracks getting ready for new staff , accessed April 12, 2014
5. ↑ Barbara Woltmann Member of the Bundestag visits the Commander of Airborne Brigade 31 , accessed on April 12, 2014
6. ^ Section MA 3 : BArch BH 9-31 / Panzergrenadierbrigade 31. In: Research application invenio . President of the Federal Archives , 2004, accessed on February 17, 2020 . 

Coordinates: 53 ° 5 '32.2 "  N , 8 ° 13' 14.3"  E