Baumholder Training Area

Association badge, Baumholder Training Area Command

The Baumholder military training area is a military training area in Rhineland-Palatinate . The training area is administered by the Bundeswehr . Soldiers from the German Armed Forces, the USA and other NATO members practice on more than 35 firing ranges and firing positions for infantry, armored forces and artillery . The use of on- board cannons , on-board machine guns , hand-held anti-tank weapons , anti-tank guided missiles , handguns , artillery , mortars , unmanned aerial vehicles and air-to-ground firing is planned.

location

The military training area (TrÜbPl) is located south of the Hunsrück between the rivers Nahe , which runs past it to the northwest, and Glan on the edge of the North Palatinate Mountains and the West Palatinate . It is named after the Westrichstadt Baumholder in the west of the site . The next bigger city is Idar-Oberstein in the northwest. There is also the artillery school of the Bundeswehr, whose units use the TrÜbPl for their training. The practice area measures up to twelve kilometers from north to south and up to 15 kilometers from west to east.

history

Memorial plaque for the town of Grünbach at the point where the town existed

The military training area was for the XII. Army corps of the Wehrmacht , whose general command was based in Wiesbaden . The plant began in 1937.

For the 11,600 hectare square, communities and hamlets with 3970 inhabitants were cleared and devastated . They were Aulenbach , Ausweiler , Breungenborn , Ehlenbach , Erzweiler , Frohnhausen , Grünbach , Ilgesheim , Kefersheim , Mambächel , Oberjeckenbach , Ronnenberg , Wickenhof , Wieselbach and Zaubach . The former residents hold annual meetings. Infantry regiments 105 and 70 held the first exercises in April 1937.

During the Second World War , prisoners of war members of the Red Army , who had been brought to Baumholder from the main camp 326 VI K in North Rhine-Westphalia, were deployed in work details at the military training area. In the late summer of 1941 there were around 450. From December 17, 1943, the battalions of Penal Division 999 were only set up at the Baumholder military training area. In the autumn of 1944 the buildings of the military training area were bombed. Barracks and farm buildings as well as the theater were damaged.

In 1945 the United States Army took the training area. She handed him over to the French Army in August 1945 , which led him until 1960. The 2nd US Armored Division used the site from 1951/1952. From 1956 after the establishment of the Bundeswehr, German soldiers practiced again on the military training area. She took it over in 1960. Until December 31, 1993, the military training area belonged to the Baumholder manor district , which had existed until then, and was then dissolved.

Since 2002 the US Army has increasingly relocated its exercises to the Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels training areas in Upper Palatinate , which are under its own control. Parts of the US troops stationed in the area were regularly used in the Iraq war and most of them returned to Baumholder.

In 2003 a new usage concept was developed and the number of shooting ranges has been reduced since then. The facility has 26 shooting ranges, six blasting sites, hand grenade launch sites, an ABC training lane, a pioneer training area and other military facilities. 5400 hectares are open space and 6200 hectares are forest areas. With Baumholder Army Airfield belonging to the US Army , the military training area has its own airfield.

Due to the structure of the airspace, the TrÜbPl Baumholder is currently the only one in Germany that allows tactical air-to-ground missions by the Air Force with practice and combat ammunition from medium and high altitudes.

Military shipments of the units practicing on the TrÜbPl take place regularly at Baumholder station .

Flora and fauna

104 species of birds live on the military training area, including black storks , woodlarks and great gray shrike . More than 80 butterflies have been identified, including the round-eyed black butterfly , the purple-gold fire butterfly and the blue ant . There are also populations of lynx and wild cats . Butterflies such as grass peas and mosses such as Bryum alpinum grow on the site . Of 721 fern and flowering plants, 27 are on the German Red List of Threatened Species .

natural reserve

Cooled lava flow on the area of the military training area

The military training area is largely located within two protected areas that also encompass other areas: in the FFH area Baumholder and Prussian Mountains (identifier DE-6310-301) and in the EU bird protection area Baumholder (DE-6310-401). This means that the area is part of the European Natura 2000 network of protected areas .

To the north of the L 169 , which ran through the military training area, there was a quarry. During blasts, a cooled lava flow was discovered , which can rarely be admired in this well-preserved form in Germany. There are also numerous agate finds on the entire site .

Since these natural monuments are located within the military training area, they may not be visited without permission.

In the search for an area for a national park in Rhineland-Palatinate, the area of the military training area was considered due to its biodiversity, but the idea was later rejected.

literature

Fritz Kunz: 70 years of Baumholder military training area. From the rural cultural landscape to the military service landscape. A journey through time through 70 years of site maintenance, seen through the eyes of a farmer, who was privileged to experience 36 years as a site supervisor. Geiger, Horb am Neckar 2008, ISBN 978-3-86595-252-3 .