391th Panzer Grenadier Battalion

Panzergrenadierbataillon 391 - PzGrenBtl 391 - II
Internal association badge
Lineup	April 1, 1991
Country	Germany
Armed forces	armed forces
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	Panzergrenadiers
Strength	824
Insinuation	Panzer Grenadier Brigade 37
Location	bad Salzungen
march	Fridericus Rex Grenadier March
Awards	Flag ribbon Thuringia (2009)
Web presence	PzGrenBtl 391
commander
commander	Lieutenant Colonel Rouven Habel

The Panzergrenadierbataillon 391 ( PzGrenBtl 391 ) is a battalion of the Panzergrenadierbrigade 37 Free State of Saxony and is stationed in the Werra Valley barracks in the spa town of Bad Salzungen in the state of Thuringia .

Mission and structure

The battalion, which has more than 800 soldiers, is qualified to lead a task force in all types of operations and combat activities and in special land operations, as an independently operating combat group or as part of a large group. The battalion is partially air-transportable and is qualified to lead operations for conflict prevention and crisis management in stabilization operations as part of a large unit, a task force or as an independently operating task force for warfare in the context of multinational operations as well as in alliance and national defense. On behalf of the Bundeswehr , the battalion is intended to protect Germany and its citizens, rescue and evacuation, support allies, international conflict prevention and crisis management, and aid in the event of disasters. In addition to the battalion headquarters, the battalion is divided into five companies:

• 1. / PzGrenBtl 391: supply company
• 2. / PzGrenBtl 391: Operation company
• 3. / PzGrenBtl 391: Operation company
• 4. / PzGrenBtl 391: Operation company
• 5. / PzGrenBtl 391: Training and support company (operational support company / basic training company)

As part of the restructuring of the Army (Army 2010), a new structure took place. The former 5./391 (tank mortar company) with the M113 tank mortar was discontinued in 2004 without replacement. Furthermore, the former 6th company (training company) was reorganized as the 5th company to carry out basic training . The Marder armored personnel carriers will be gradually decommissioned and replaced by the new Puma armored personnel carrier.

coat of arms

The coat of arms as an association badge consists of the Thuringian lion with eight stars as a connection to the state of Thuringia. The Werra is shown as a blue ribbon and symbolizes the separation and reunification of the FRG and GDR. The crossed rifles with the green background indicate that they belong to the infantry and at the same time to the northern Rhön. A stylized brine fountain was adopted as a connection to the garrison town of Bad Salzungen.

history

On April 1, 1991, the battalion in Bad Salzungen / Thuringia was set up under the command of the then Homeland Security Brigade 39 Thuringia . Initially equipped with the BMP-1 as an armored personnel carrier, the first Werrawechsel battalion exercise followed in July 1991 . From April 1992 the conversion to the Marder armored personnel carrier and from 1995 with the Army Structure 5 (N) - New Army for new tasks - the reclassification to a KRK battalion began. Some highlights were the visit of the Chief of the General Staff of the Belgian Army Lieutenant General Joseph Charlier and the General Inspector of the German Armed Forces General Klaus Naumann in April 1994, the training area in Shilo / Canada in October 1994 , the first of further CMTC (Combat Maneuver Training Center) rounds in the maneuver training center in Hohenfels in January 1996 with the 393 tank battalion as the first formations from the new federal states and the visit to the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College on May 7, 1996. The battalion mastered the first disaster operation during the flood of the Oder in 1997 .

On August 14, 2001, with the dissolution of Panzerbrigade 39 , the battalion changed to Jägerbrigade 37 Free State of Saxony . In July 2002, during the foreign deployment of the 5th contingent, Einsatzbataillon 1, KFOR, the visit of the then Federal Minister of Defense Rudolf Scharping followed . In August 2002, the rest of the battalion was completely deployed when the Elbe flooded . The battalion experienced a tragic fall when a female recruit died during basic training.

Towards the end of 2003 the grenadier battalion moved to Wildflecken and served there from January 2004 to July 2004 as a support organization for the training of the contingents of the 13th Panzer Grenadier Division . The concept of centralized training was tested for all foreign assignments with a basic and specialist part depending on the country of assignment.

In April 2004 the decision to dissolve the battalion was made, which was withdrawn in August 2004. During this period the troop strength was reduced from 1000 to 300. From 2005, the battalion was reclassified according to the structure Heer 2010 and reached its current structure in 2014 ( Heer 2011 ).

On June 23, 2009, two members of the battalion died in an accident during a firefight near Kunduz (Afghanistan).

During the Elbe flood in 2013 , the battalion was deployed in June 2013 as the lead unit for the Dresden area.

From June to November 2014, the battalion was commissioned to train Georgian soldiers as part of the mandate for NATO's Resolute Support mission. Before a meeting with Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, the Georgian Defense Minister, Irakli Alassania , paid a thank you visit to the battalion on October 29, 2014.

Allegations of abuse

At the end of 2013, allegations of abuse became public, according to which a volunteer doing basic military service was allegedly abused by several comrades and his superiors. It was then investigated for coercion and on suspicion of criminal offenses against the physical integrity.

Raid

In early 2014, two guards were attacked by three men. One of the soldiers was disarmed and threatened with his own partially loaded service weapon. After the second soldier fired several warning shots, the attackers dropped the pistol and fled.

Assignments abroad

from ... to	Task force	country
April 1997 – October 1997	Reserve association SFOR	Bosnia Herzegovina
June 1998 – December 1998	1st SFOR contingent	Bosnia Herzegovina
June 2000 – December 2000	5. SFOR follow-up contingent	Bosnia Herzegovina
May 2002 – November 2002	5th Operation Contingent, Operation Battalion 1 (TF Prizren) KFOR	Kosovo
November 2003 – May 2004	8. Operation contingent, Operation Company 2 SFOR	Bosnia Herzegovina
July 2006 – September 2006	Parts of the Btl. In the 11th contingent, operational unit PRT Feyzabad ISAF	Afghanistan
March 2009 – March 2010	19./20/21. German ISAF contingent in the Provincial Reconstruction Team Kunduz	Afghanistan
July 2012 – February 2013	29./30. German contingent ISAF	Afghanistan
September 2015 – January 2016	Provision of several soldiers to the training mission in Iraq	Iraq
January 2017-January 2018	8th / 9th / 10th German contingent RS in Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz	Afghanistan

Awards

As part of 10 years of Panzergrenadierbataillon 391 , the battalion received the flag of the Free State of Thuringia on May 30, 2001. On January 22, 2010 Sergeant Daniel Seibert , member of the B platoon of the 2nd company of the PzGrenBtl 391 of the QRF Association , was one of the first soldiers to receive the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery for a heroic mission in Afghanistan on June 4, 2009.

Commanders

from ... to	commander
0September 1, 1991 - September 30, 1992	Lieutenant Colonel caps
0October 1, 1992 - August 18, 1994	Lieutenant Colonel Pazderski
August 18, 1994 - December 11, 1998	Lieutenant Colonel Shield
December 11, 1998 - June 29, 2001	Lieutenant Colonel Steel
June 29, 2001 - June 20, 2003	Lieutenant Colonel Tegtmeier
June 20, 2003 - 0June 3, 2005	Lieutenant Colonel Bayer
0June 3, 2005 - August 16, 2007	Lieutenant Colonel Lanziger
August 16, 2007 - May 21, 2010	Lieutenant Colonel Killmann
May 21, 2010 - October 18, 2013	Lieutenant Colonel Mayer
October 18, 2013 - September 25, 2015	Lieutenant Colonel Büscher
September 25, 2015 - 0June 7, 2018	Lieutenant Colonel Ortloff
since 0June 7, 2018	Lieutenant Colonel Habel

Individual evidence

1. ^ Vita Kdr PzGrenBtl 391. In: deutschesheer.de. January 3, 2014, accessed September 3, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Order on deutschesheer.de
3. ↑ by the Federal Minister of Defense on the occasion of the funeral service in the Evangelical City Church of Bad Salzungen on bmvg.de
4. ↑ deutsches heer.de
5. ↑ Bundeswehr soldier is said to have been severely mistreated on sueddeutsche.de
6. ↑ Soldiers are said to have mistreated subordinates for weeks on spiegel.de
7. ↑ Bundeswehrsoldat comfortable with staples fired on welt.de
8. ↑ Jürgen Dahlkamp, ​​Matthias Gebauer, Hubert Gude, Jörg Schmitt: My comrade, the enemy . In: Der Spiegel . No. 51 , 2013, p. 40 f . ( online - December 16, 2013 ).
9. ↑ Bundeswehr on the attack: We haven't covered anything up
10. ↑ Assault on soldier in Thuringian barracks shows security gaps Thuringian General
11. ^ Indictment of attacking soldiers ( memento from December 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) mdr.de
12. ↑ Communication from the BMVg on the award on January 22, 2010

Coordinates: 50 ° 48 ′ 13.7 ″  N , 10 ° 15 ′ 23.9 ″  E