IV Corps (Bundeswehr)

IV. Corps XXX
corps
active	April 16, 1991 to March 31, 2002
Country	Germany
Armed forces	armed forces
Armed forces	army
Type	Corps (until 1994 also territorial command )
Last seat of the staff	Geltow near Potsdam
guide
Last commanding general	Lieutenant General Friedrich Riechmann
Last chief of staff	Brigadier General Bernd Hogrefe

The IV. Corps was the last purely nationally led corps of the German Army and existed between 1991 and 2002. The corps mainly led the troops from the federal states that joined the Federal Republic in 1990. After the dissolution, the staff of the corps was used to set up the command and control command of the Bundeswehr . The headquarters of the staff was Geltow near Potsdam (Wildpark-West barracks, from July 15, 1992 Henning-von-Tresckow barracks ).

Association badge

The association badge is the same as the association badge of all corps except for corps number IV . It shows the federal eagle as the German sovereign symbol . The color scheme is based on that of the flag of Germany . The badge was worn by the soldiers of the corps troops and the staff of the corps on the left sleeve of the service suit. The braided black / yellow (black / gold) edge testifies to the position as a corps.

See also : List of Association Badges of the Bundeswehr

history

Prehistory until 1991 as Army Command East

In order to incorporate parts of the land forces of the National People's Army , an East Army Command was re-established in Potsdam on October 4, 1990 using the Land Forces Command of the NVA. The Army Command East initially led the troops formerly directly subordinate to the Land Forces Command. In the DDR - III military districts ( Leipzig ) and V ( Neubrandenburg ) combined forces should first into two divisions (the later 13th and 14th Panzer Grenadier Division ) and the Military District Command VII and VIII are converted and were not under first the Army Command East , but the Bundeswehr Command East .

Corps / Territorial Command East

Association badge Territorialkommando Ost

In preparation for the leadership of the East German army troops, the Army Command East was reclassified to the " Corps / Territorial Command East" on April 16, 1991 . The merger of the territorial commands of the territorial army with the corps of the field army integrated into the NATO command structure was envisaged in Army Structure V for the corps in West Germany as well . Ultimately, however, this merger was only carried out in East Germany . Formally, it was ensured that, as agreed, until the GSSD withdrew from the East German garrisons (the withdrawal lasted until 1994), no NATO troops were stationed in East Germany, because formally the "Corps / Territorial Command East" was a command authority of the territorial army operating in the peace structure and in the case of defense was led by national commanders and has not been integrated into the NATO command structure for the time being. In the two-plus-four treaty , Article 5, Article (1), the following is formulated:

"Until the completion of the withdrawal of the Soviet armed forces from the area of ​​today's German Democratic Republic and Berlin in accordance with Article 4 of this treaty, only German territorial defense units that are not integrated into the alliance structures will be stationed in this area as armed forces of united Germany, to which German armed forces are assigned on the rest of German territory. Without prejudice to the provision in paragraph 2 of this article, armed forces of other states shall not be stationed in this area or carry out any other military activities there during this period. [...] "

On June 30, 1991, the Bundeswehr Command East was dissolved. The "Corps / Territorial Command East", which was subordinate to the Army Inspector, took over the command of the subordinate Army division and the military area commands. This made the East German land forces part of the all-German army. It was subject to:

• Division / Military Area Command VII
• Division / Military Area Command VIII

Initially, the main task of the "Corps / Territorial Command East" was to integrate these subordinate units into the all-German army. On April 1, 1993, with the newly established Medical Battalion 806 in Hamburg , a West German unit was subordinated for the first time. On September 30, 1994 - one month after the last units of the GSSD had withdrawn from the Federal Republic - the "Corps / Territorial Command East" was subordinated to the newly established Army Command . This was the first time that East German troops were integrated into the German field army, thus initiating the integration into the NATO command structure .

As IV Corps from 1995

1990: The uniforms were converted to the West German model

As early as 1995, Army Structure V was readjusted (Army Structure V (N)). On January 1, 1995, the "Corps / Territorial Command East" was defused. Tasks of territorial defense of the "Corps / Territorialkommando Ost" were assigned to the merged Military Area Command VII / 13th Panzer Grenadier Division and to Military Area Command VIII / 14th Panzer Grenadier Division.

From the corps of the "Corps / Territorial Command East", the IV. Corps of the Field Army was created after the territorial units were surrendered . The other three national corps ( I. , II. , III. ) Were converted into multinational corps or task forces. The IV Corps, however, remained a purely German corps. However, the corps was linked through partnerships with troops in neighboring countries to the east. Joint military exercises between German and Polish units took place as early as 1994. Around 45,000 soldiers and around 6,400 vehicles were subordinate to the corps. In 1994 the corps included:

• Army NCO School IV in Delitzsch (list April 24, 1991)
• Command Support Brigade 4 in Stahnsdorf
  • Staff and telecommunication forces
  • Topography battery
  • Music corps
• Logistics brigade 4 in Strausberg
  • Repair troops, supply / transport troops and depots
• Medical Brigade 4 in Perleberg
  • including medical emergency company
• Army Aviation Regiment 36 in Fritzlar
  • 60 anti-tank helicopters

The corps was also responsible for the following:

• Army Aviation Liaison and Reconnaissance Squadron 400 in Cottbus
• Anti-aircraft missile regiment 610 in Rendsburg
• Fernspähkompanie 300 in Fritzlar
• Front message teaching company 300 in Diez

On February 3, 1995, the units of the NATO corps were assigned. In the New Army structure for new tasks , the medical forces of the corps were subordinated to the Army Support Command as a medical brigade . After the defusion from 1995 onwards, the corps was essentially divided into:

• Field Message Company (not active)
• Command Support Brigade
  • Staff and telecommunications regiment
  • Communication Battalion
  • Telecommunications Regiment Electronic Combat
  • Topography battery
  • Army Music Corps
• 13th Panzer Grenadier Division / Military Area Command VII ( Leipzig )
• 14th Panzer Grenadier Division / Military District Command VII ( Neubrandenburg )

The merger of the divisions and WBK initially lasted until 2001.

On April 3, 1997, the Air Mechanized Brigade 1 ( KRK ) was reorganized in Fritzlar and its 3300 men were subordinated to the corps. The IV. Corps was relieved of troop leadership on July 1, 2001 and the staff was finally decommissioned on March 31, 2002. After the dissolution, the staff of the corps was used to set up the command and control command of the Bundeswehr . The formerly subordinate troops were decommissioned or subordinated in bulk to the divisions (13th and 14th Panzer Grenadier Division) now directly subordinate to the Army Command .

Calls

During its ten-year existence, the corps has been involved in various missions:

• Summer 1992: Forest fire disasters in Saxony , Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , around 1,700 soldiers
• Summer 1992: Emergency aid in agriculture. Drought period
• Summer 1993 and 1994: Fighting forest fires in Brandenburg.
• Spring 1994: Flood control in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt , around 1,100 soldiers
• Summer 1997: Oder flood
• Summer 2002: Elbe floods
• SFOR Bosnia
• KFOR Kosovo
• ISAF Afghanistan

Commanding generals

At a festive event on the Day of German Unity , Federal Defense Minister Dr. Gerhard Stoltenberg (center) from the former GDR Minister for Disarmament and Defense , Rainer Eppelmann (l), took over the command of the armed forces of the acceding part of the country. On the right the commander of the Bundeswehr Command East, Lieutenant General Jörg Schönbohm .

No.	Surname	Beginning of the appointment	End of appointment
6th	Lieutenant General Friedrich Riechmann	January 2001	June 2001
5	Lieutenant General Rainer Schuwirth	April 1999	June 2001
4th	Lieutenant General Hans-Peter von Kirchbach	April 1998	March 1999
3	Lieutenant General Joachim Spiering	October 1, 1994	March 1998
From January 1995 IV Corps
2	Lieutenant General Werner von Scheven	April 1991	September 30, 1994
From April 1991 Territorial Command East. Until March 1991 Bundeswehr Command East
1	Lieutenant General Jörg Schönbohm	3rd October 1990	April 1991

Web links

• Corps and Territorial Command East / IV. Corps. BArch BH 7-4. In: invenio. Federal Archives, 2004, accessed on July 14, 2018 . 
• Matthias Fuchs: The dissolution of the NVA and its partial integration into the Bundeswehr . Ed .: Seminar for Political Science, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität. Bonn 2001 ( matthias-fuchs.de ).

Coordinates: 52 ° 23 ′ 11 ″  N , 12 ° 58 ′ 16 ″  E