Military history of the city of Oldenburg
The military history of the city of Oldenburg is an essential part of the history of the city of Oldenburg and the surrounding territory, which was also called "Oldenburg" for centuries: the county of Oldenburg (since around 1108), the Duchy of Oldenburg (since 1774), the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg ( 1815 to 1918) and the Free State of Oldenburg (1918 to 1946).
The military was and is an important part of life and economy for Oldenburg. It has shaped the cityscape. General Wolfgang Altenburg , General Inspector of the Bundeswehr from 1983 to 1986, stated: "Oldenburg and its surroundings have been one of the popular garrisons of the Bundeswehr for decades".
Middle Ages, Early Modern Times
In 1108 Oldenburg was first mentioned in a document under the name "Aldenburg" and the county of Oldenburg came into being.
The function of the Heidenwall , which was built in 1032 and was rediscovered in 2006, has not yet been clearly clarified . It is only likely that it was used to secure a ford of the Hunte. Here were the beginnings of Oldenburg. The castle , which was probably built in the 11th century, was converted into a fortress in the old Italian manner from around 1530 onwards.
1345 Oldenburg received by Count Konrad I , the Bremen Town right . A better city wall was built, with a very wide moat and five city gates ( Everstentor , Haarentor , Heiliggeisttor , Stautor and the Dammtor double gate ).
In 1576, Count Johann VII had the first armory built, in which the count's weapons and armor were deposited. The so-called civil guard was established by 1600 . In 1581 it already had a strength of 440 men and was organized in 44 teams, each with a Rottmeister .
The expansion of the fortress in the old Dutch manner began around 1615 . In the so-called Danish era , Oldenburg was expanded into a Danish royal fortress from 1700 , which retained its function until 1765.
After the elevation to the Duchy of Oldenburg , the city became a ducal garrison . The vigilante group was disbanded and in 1775 the ducal infantry corps was set up, which the garrison company joined. The approximately 50-strong corps was soon named after its commander, Capitain ( captain ) Cornelius Valentin von Knobel as a Knobelgarde . This part of the troops was part of the so-called Rheinbund contingent in 1808/09 . The Rheinbund contingent force in Oldenburg consisted of grenadiers , fusiliers and voltigeurs . They were grouped into a battalion of six companies .
German Confederation, North German Confederation, German Reich until 1919
After the experience of the occupation of Oldenburg by French troops during the Napoleonic period , Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig issued an order for a Grand Ducal Oldenburg infantry regiment on his return from exile in Russia in 1813, consisting of two battalions with four companies each, of which the I. Battalion was stationed in Oldenburg. In 1821 there was a union with contingents from Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck to form the Oldenburg-Hanseatic Brigade , which was unique in the armed forces because it was the only standing association made up of contingents from several federal states.
In the middle of the 19th century, the second armory was built on Ofener Strasse as an arsenal, which later housed the state library and which then became an administration building.
After Oldenburg joined the North German Confederation , the association was incorporated into the Prussian army in 1867 as Oldenburg Infantry Regiment No. 91 . From 1893 to 1896 the later President Paul von Hindenburg was regimental commander in Oldenburg. The association was dissolved in 1919 after heavy losses in the First World War . In Oldenburg, 91er Straße is named after the regiment.
In 1849, Grand Duke Paul Friedrich August issued an order for a cavalry regiment made up of four squadrons , which was stationed in Osternburg from 1859 . The association was incorporated into the Prussian army in 1867 as the Oldenburg Dragoon Regiment No. 19 . In 1919 it was dissolved. In 1935, the Osterburger Sandstrasse was renamed "Dragonerstrasse" in memory of the regiment.
From the establishment of the Oldenburg military until 1919, the Schlosswache , also known as the Hauptwache, was the most important military building in Oldenburg, whose guards were responsible for guarding the castle as the seat of government. The current building was erected in 1839. Until the middle of the 19th century, red-handed criminals who had been handed over to soldiers on guard in the city or who had been arrested by them were handed over to the main guard, where the city's police chief decided on their whereabouts. In addition, the officer in charge of the city watch was in the main station. From approx. 1919/20 until the beginning of the 1930s there was a city police station in the castle guard, but the guard duty was provided by the Oldenburg police and not the city police.
German Empire 1919 to 1945
Due to the terms of the Versailles Treaty , the Oldenburg garrison was also greatly reduced in 1919/20. The institutional successor to the 91st regiment was the 110th Infantry Regiment of the Provisional Reichswehr , which, however, was converted into the 16th Infantry Regiment (Reichswehr) in 1921 .
After general conscription was reintroduced in 1935, the Oldenburg garrison was massively expanded. So were in Kreyenbrück u. a. the Hindenburg barracks and the on-site hospital were built. In the town of Norden, which was created airbase , which the air force was used.
The IR 16 was part of the 22nd Infantry Division , which in World War II u. a. was used in Poland , the Soviet Union and the Balkans ( Greece , Yugoslavia ). Like the entire division, the regiment was taken prisoner of war in 1945 by Yugoslavia .
Since 1945
Occupation troops
At the beginning of May 1945, Oldenburg was taken by Canadian units of the 4th Canadian Armored Division , which had advanced from Normandy via Belgium and the Netherlands to northwestern Germany. The handover negotiations were conducted by the commander of the city police, Lieutenant Colonel of the Schutzpolizei Heinrich Köhnke, and Canadian troop leaders. Köhnke guaranteed that there would no longer be any units of the Wehrmacht in the city that would fight against Canadian units. Since the city of Oldenburg became part of the British zone of occupation in Germany immediately after the defeat of Germany in World War II , it received a British city commandant in 1945 , who received the villa at Gartenstrasse 5 , which had previously been inhabited by the head of the Weser-Ems district of the NSDAP, as his office.
The Canadian occupation forces were commanded by Major General Christopher Vokes and replaced by British units in 1946/47. The Royal Air Force immediately resumed operations at the air base . The British units were briefly replaced by the Danish military at the end of the 1940s . In 1954 the British withdrew; the air base was not handed over to the air force until 1958 .
armed forces
Mainly because of the good military infrastructure at the time, the city of Oldenburg became an important location for the Bundeswehr, founded in 1955 .
From the 1960s to the 1980s, Oldenburg was the second largest garrison town in the Federal Republic. It was the location of various army and air force formations and units, including the staff of the 11th Panzer Grenadier Division (Clausewitz-Kaserne Ohmstede), the staff of the 31st Panzer Grenadier Brigade , the 314 tank battalion, the 310 tank destroyer company, the 310 repair company, the 310 supply company (all Henning-von-Tresckow-Kaserne Bümmerstede), the artillery regiment 11, the telecommunications battalion 11 (all Hindenburg-Kaserne Kreyenbrück), the staff of the anti-aircraft missile regiment 14, the staff of the air force supply regiment 6 (all Donnerschwee barracks) as well as the fighter-bomber squadron 43 and 61 ( Air base ).
Due to military structure reforms and, consequently, a reduction of the German Federal Armed Forces only the Henning von Tresckow barracks in Bümmerstede troops location of the rod is since 1993 airborne brigade 31 and two companies of the airborne support battalion 272. Moreover, it is on the barracks a sanitary unit of the Central Medical the army and the Force Base Driver Training Center is stationed. As part of the realignment of the Bundeswehr , the brigade was disbanded in the second half of 2014 and restructured into a paratrooper regiment at the Seedorf site . The staff of the 1st Panzer Division from Hanover has been in the Hennig von Tresckow barracks since 2016 .
The Bundeswehr catering office is located on the site of the former Dragoons barracks (see above) in Easterburg .
Since 1984 there has been a formal sponsorship between the city of Oldenburg and the Bundeswehr. In 2003 the Society for Military and Garrison History Oldenburg was founded.
literature
- Udo Elerd (ed.): From the vigilante to the armed forces . On the history of the garrison and the military in the city of Oldenburg , Oldenburg (Isensee) 2006. ISBN 3-89995-353-3 .
- City of Oldenburg - City Archives Oldenburg (ed.): Oldenburg 1914-1918. A source volume on the everyday, social, military and mental history of the city of Oldenburg in the First World War , Oldenburg (Isensee) 2014. ISBN 978-3-7308-1080-4
- Wilhelm Gilly: Fortress and Garrison Oldenburg , Oldenburg (Holzberg) 1981. ISBN 3-87358-132-9
- Peter Galperin: In defense and arms. Military citizens, mercenaries and soldiers in Oldenburg and the Hanseatic cities , Stuttgart (Motorbuch-Verlag) 1983. ISBN 3-87943-963-X
- Louis von Weltzien : Military studies from Oldenburg's prehistory and history of the Oldenburg contingent , Oldenburg (Schulzesche Buchhandlung) 1858.
Individual evidence
- ^ Greetings from General a. D. Altenburg ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
- ↑ City of Oldenburg: The Heidenwall: The Beginnings of the City of Oldenburg ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
- ↑ City of Oldenburg: Herzoglicher Dienst ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
- ↑ geschichtsatlas.de
- ^ M. Roth, P. Tornow: Essays on the medical history of the city of Oldenburg. Isensee, Oldenburg 1999, p. 218, ISBN 3-89598-539-2 .
