Armed Forces of Luxembourg

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LuxembourgLuxembourg Armed Forces of Luxembourg
Lëtzebuerger Arméi
guide
Commander in Chief : Grand Duke Henri
Defense Minister: François Bausch
Military Commander: Brigadier General Alain Duschène
Military leadership: General Staff
Headquarters: Luxembourg
Military strength
Active soldiers: 1100 (including approx. 50 military musicians) + 75 recruits and 2 civilians
Conscription: No
Resilient population: 90,279 men aged 17 to 49

88,638 women aged 17 to 49 (as of 2005)

Eligibility for military service: Age 17 and over
household
Military budget: € 266 million (2016)
Share of gross domestic product : 0.48% (2016)
history
Founding: January 8, 1817
Factual foundation: February 16, 1881

The armed forces of Luxembourg ( Luxemburgish Lëtzebuerger Arméi ) are the armed forces of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg . They have a 1,100-strong, exclusively lightly armed volunteer army . The Luxembourg Army is divided into an infantry battalion and two reconnaissance companies. With one of these two companies , Luxembourg participates in the Eurocorps .

Although a battalion is usually led by a battalion commander , usually with the rank of lieutenant colonel , less often that of a major , the Luxembourg commander has held the rank of general since February 1, 2013, despite the low number of troops .

Overview

The Luxembourg armed forces are integrated into NATO and organized and trained within the framework of their constitutional mandate. Military service is voluntary; However, his completion facilitates access to a career in the civil service (e.g. police , customs, prison system). Despite low capacities, Luxembourg participates in international peace missions in the Balkans (NATO mission KFOR in Kosovo , EUFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina or EU mission in Macedonia ) and the ISAF mission in Afghanistan with twelve soldiers. Luxembourg is also involved in the UN missions in Lebanon, Sudan and the Congo.

To support France in solidarity after the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, Luxembourg announced in 2015 that it would double its armed forces in Mali, from one to two soldiers. This has caused international ridicule.

The organization of the Luxembourg Army goes back to the law of June 29, 1967. Luxembourg does not have its own navy or air force , but works closely with its neighboring country Belgium in terms of security policy . The Luxembourg Armed Forces have ordered an Airbus A400M military transport aircraft; However, this is to be stationed in Brussels - because it would not be worthwhile to set up a military area at the Luxembourg airport - and maintained by NATO member Belgium. In addition, the entire project is facing a possible total failure. At the moment three transport pilots are integrated in the “15ième Wing” of the Belgian Air Force near Melsbroek, a total of six pilots have been trained. The A400M transport aircraft is due to be delivered in May 2020 and costs 196 million euros. The planned lifespan is 35 years and an additional 12 million euros are expended each year, so that the project will cost around 620 million euros. The aircraft will be stationed in Melsbroek (Belgium) and be available for both civil and military use.

Tail unit of an AWACS Boeing with Luxembourg registration

The reconnaissance aircraft of the NATO -type E-3A Sentry ( AWACS ) registered in Luxembourg because Luxembourg would also participate in the project of the defense alliance, but could provide no staff.

The defense budget in 2004 was around 208 million euros or 0.8 percent of the gross domestic product .

Luxembourg's former army chief Michel Gretsch emphasized on May 2, 2014 that one should not overestimate the military importance of Luxembourg. He stated on one occasion that Luxembourg was considered part of the Saarland from the US perspective. Luxemburg had to ascribe this to herself: “Here we only ever benefited from NATO. We were seen as parasites. "

Requirements for recruitment

In order to be able to enlist in the Luxembourg Army, one must meet the following requirements:

  • Have Luxembourg nationality or that of another EU member state and have been resident in Luxembourg for at least three years.
  • Be between 18 and 26 years old.
  • Have no illnesses or disabilities that are incompatible with military service.
  • Have the necessary intellectual, moral and physical skills.

history

militia

The first Luxembourg army was created in the form of a militia on January 8, 1817 by order of William I , King of the Netherlands and first Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The militia with a strength of around 3,000 men had to serve in the Dutch army until 1840 . The first year of the five-year conscription consisted of year-round active service, whereas the conscript was only mobilized for three months in the following four years.

During the Belgian Revolution (1830-1839) conscription was not applied.

Federal contingent (1841–1867)

The federal contingent as part of the Federal Army of the German Confederation existed at the time when Luxembourg was part of the German Confederation . After the Prussian victory in the German War of 1866, the German Confederation dissolved and France tried to annex Luxembourg. This sparked the Luxembourg crisis , which ended in 1867 with the 2nd London Treaty and in which Luxembourg was declared forever neutral and the German Federal Fortress of Luxembourg was razed .

Jägerkorps (1867–1881)

On September 10, 1867, by decree of the Grand Duke, a hunter corps ( Corps de Chasseurs Luxembourgeois ) was founded, which had a strength of 1,568 men. In 1881 the militia was dissolved.

Gendarmerie and Volunteer Corps (1881–1940)

The Luxembourg corps of gendarmes and volunteers, around 1910.

The Corps des Gendarmes et Volontaires was founded on February 16, 1881 , which is considered to be the birth of today's Luxembourg army. It initially comprised a company of gendarmes (125 men) and a company of volunteers (250 men) as well as nine officers . Although Luxembourg was officially neutral during the First World War , many Luxembourgers served as volunteers in the French army . In 1940 the army consisted of 13 officers, 255 gendarmes and 425 volunteers.

Situation in World War II

During the invasion on May 10, 1940 , the German troops did not encounter any significant resistance because the volunteer company had remained in the barracks . Due to the enormous military superiority of the enemy, it would have done nothing anyway.

During the war were 11,160 Luxembourg forcibly recruited ( Zwangsrekrutéierten international law for military service in the) army committed. Of these, 3,510 withdrew from military service, 2,848 were killed and 96 remained missing .

Many young Luxembourgers joined the Luxembourg, French and Belgian underground movements. The actions were mainly limited to psychological warfare and less to armed resistance. The main merit of the movements, which should not be underestimated, was the moral support of the population, for example by distributing leaflets or wall paintings, but also by hiding conscientious objectors and other persecuted people.

Luxembourg troops in exile at drill, England 1943

In addition, there were many Luxembourgers who were brought out of the country with the help of smugglers and were able to make their way to England. Since Luxembourg did not have its own armed forces with which to fight the Germans, the Luxembourg volunteers mainly joined the Belgian Piron Brigade . On March 31, 1944, a peloton was created especially for Luxembourgers . The 350 Luxembourgers who served and fought in the brigade in British uniforms took part in the liberation of Luxembourg.

The later Grand Duke Jean also took part in the liberation as a soldier . After studying at the Canadian University of Laval ( Québec ), he joined the British regiment of the Irish Guards on November 29, 1942 and was an active soldier involved in the liberation of the continent. On June 11, 1944, he landed in Normandy and took part in the Battle of Caen and the liberation of Brussels . On September 10, 1944, the day of the liberation of Luxembourg City , Jean was posted to Luxembourg, where he was enthusiastically received by the population that afternoon. Shortly before the end of the war, he served in a unit that liberated Arnhem and fought in the Battle of the Bulge .

post war period

The Conscription was introduced in Luxembourg Grand Duke's decision on 30 November 1944th In the post-war period the army comprised around 2,500 soldiers, while in the event of war a theoretical strength of 25,000 men should be available. It consisted of a infantry division with five infantry battalions , an artillery battalion with 24 guns and the Grand Ducal Guard . Luxembourg was a founding member of NATO .

Between 1950 and 1953, Luxembourg took part in the Korean War with 85 volunteers . The first contingent of volunteers to Korea under Joseph Wagener was adopted on October 2, 1950 by the Luxembourg Prince Félix as part of a solemn ceremony in the barracks courtyard of the Heilig-Geist-Plateau. Rodolphe (Rudy) Lutty was the commander of the second Luxembourg contingent (42 men). So far, the Korean War was the only war in which the Luxembourg Army took an active part after the Second World War. In Dongducheon there is a war memorial in honor of the Belgian and Luxembourg soldiers in the Korean War. A total of 97 people from this Belgian-Luxembourg contingent died, five were missing and 350 were wounded. In August and September 1952, two members of the second Luxembourg contingent, Caporal Roger Stutz († August 22, 1952) and Sergeant Robert Mores († September 26, 1952), were killed. A total of 17 Luxembourg soldiers were injured in the Korean War.

Until 1955, Luxembourg soldiers were stationed as an allied occupation force in and near Bitburg in western Germany . In 1967, compulsory military service was abolished and replaced by a volunteer army , which continues to this day.

equipment

Steyr AUG A1.

weapons

vehicles

Another device

  • PR4G radio
  • Tactical Battlefield Management Systems: T-BMS, Commander of Thales
  • Remotely Operated Thermal Observation Sight- ROTOS by Thales

satellite

On 31 January 2018, the Luxembourg satellite GovSat1 was a launch vehicle Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in the Orbit shot. GovSat1 serves both military (reconnaissance or enemy surveillance) and civil purposes and was financed from public and private funds as part of a public-private partnership . The Luxembourg Ministry of Defense plans to deploy another satellite (earth observation satellite) for 170 million euros by 2020, which is in low earth orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometers and is to monitor the Sahel region in Africa and the Mediterranean in particular .

photos

Military museum

The military museum in Diekirch has u. a. a Jagdpanzer 38 (t) , an M4 Sherman , an M114 155 howitzer with far more heavy weapons than the active armed forces. Another main battle tank and several 88 caliber anti-aircraft guns are located as monuments to the Ardennes offensive near Ulflingen / Troisvierges , Wiltz and Ettelbrück .

All of these weapons are no longer functional Allied legacies from World War II and are only used as exhibits or memorials.

literature

  • Pierre Chrisnach: History of the armed power of the Luxembourg country, from the earliest times to the organization of the "volunteer company". Obermosel-Zeitung: Esslen Dr., Grevenmacher 1912
  • Peter M. Quadflieg: "Forced Soldiers" and "Ons Jongen". Eupen-Malmedy and Luxembourg as recruiting areas for the German Wehrmacht in World War II. Shaker, Aachen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8322-7078-0 .
  • John Derneden: Crashes and emergency landings of Allied and German aircraft in Luxembourg. Vol. 1 and 2, GREG, Ettelbruck 2004, 2005, ISBN 2-87996-974-3 , ISBN 2-87996-820-8 .
  • Willy Bourg and André Muller "Ons Arméi": the Luxembourg compulsory army 1944–1967. W. Bourg,: A. Muller, Luxembourg 1993-2000. 3 vol.
  • Cathy Richard, Tom Alesch: Ons Arméi, CAN, Dudelange 2003, 1 DVD vidéo (37 min.), PAL & s.-w., + 1 CD audio (37 min.)
  • Willy Bourg and André Muller: "Ice Guard": the history of the Grand Ducal Guard (1945–1966) as part of the Luxembourg volunteer army. W. Bourg, A. Muller, Luxembourg 1990.
  • Jacques Unfortunately: L'armée luxembourgeoise d'après-guerre: structures, fonctions, fonctionnement. Ed. Saint-Paul, Luxembourg 1990. [2nd edition 1993: ISBN 2-87963-188-2 ]
  • Paul Cerf: Le Luxembourg et son armée: le service militaire obligatoire au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg de 1945 à 1967. RTL Édition, Luxembourg 1984, ISBN 2-87951-044-9
  • Jacques Dollar et Robert Kayser: Histoire de la "Luxembourg battery". Imprimerie Centrale, Luxembourg 1982.
  • Fränk Grotz: Tour of duty: Lëtzebuerger am Koreakrich. Luxembourg, Lucil Film, 2010, 1 DVD vidéo (85 min.), PAL.
  • Armand Blau: War in the land of the morning calm: the Luxembourg deployment in Korea. Ed. Saint-Paul, Luxembourg 1993, ISBN 2-87963-179-3 .

Web links

Commons : Armed Forces of Luxembourg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b SIPRI Military Expenditure Database. (xlsx) (No longer available online.) Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, archived from the original on September 2, 2017 ; accessed on April 24, 2017 (English). 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sipri.org
  2. ↑ Juncker: Lone Fighter for NATO ( Memento from February 19, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  3. ^ Luxembourg is arming , Luxemburger Wort of April 16, 2018.
  4. ↑ Military operation in Mali. Twitterers mock Luxembourg. Military operation in Mali: Twitterers mock Luxembourg. In: wort.lu. December 11, 2015, accessed January 7, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Uwe: Luxprivat: IS and Daesh tremble before Luxembourg! In: luxprivat.lu. December 11, 2015, accessed January 7, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Dj Digitale Medien .: "Military presence doubled": Luxembourg makes a fool of itself with a swank announcement. In: heute.at. December 10, 2015, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Luisa Meid: Luxembourg against Terror: To laugh. In: web.de. December 10, 2015, accessed January 7, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Matthias Gebauer: A400M military aviator: Bundeswehr fears total failure. In: Spiegel Online . May 9, 2016, accessed January 7, 2017 .
  9. ^ Luxembourg is arming , Luxemburger Wort of April 16, 2018.
  10. ↑ AWACS - The Eye of the Air. In: The world. October 5, 2001, accessed on October 3, 2013 : “The owner of the Awacs fleet is NATO, it is licensed for the state of Luxembourg: because no organization is allowed to register with the international aviation authority and Luxembourg, which has no armed forces wanted to participate in the Awacs project, the small state took over the costs of registration and taxes. And so the Luxembourg lion now adorns the tail fin of the NATO Awacs. "
  11. ↑ Not a hot lead to Härebierg ( Memento from May 13, 2014 in the web archive archive.today )
  12. ↑ No hot lead to Härebierg ( Memento from May 13, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) No hot lead to Härebierg
  13. ^ Norbert Haase: From "Ons Jongen", "Malgré - nous" and others - The fate of foreign conscripts in World War II . PDF, lecture at the University of Strasbourg on August 27, 2011.
  14. ↑ a b Claude Karger: I didn't say anything to the family , website: journal.lu from June 23, 2015.
  15. ↑ a b The horrors of the forgotten war , website: cgfp.lu.
  16. ↑ GovSat1 starts in the second attempt: lifted off! , Luxemburger Wort of January 31, 2018.
  17. ^ Luxembourg is arming , Luxemburger Wort of April 16, 2018.