| 4th Panzergrenadier Division | |
|---|---|
4th Panzergrenadier Division insignia | |
| Active | ? July 1956 - 31 March 1994 |
| Country | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Role | Mechanized infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Part of | German II Corps |
The 4th Panzergrenadier Division (4. Panzergrenadierdivision) was a West German mechanized infantry formation. It was part of the II Corps of the Bundeswehr, which also incorporated in 1979 the 1st Mountain Division and 1st Airborne Division, and the 10th Panzer Division. [1] II Corps was part of NATO's Central Army Group (CENTAG), along with the Bundeswehr's III Corps and the American V and VII Corps. In the wake of military restructuring brought about by the end of the Cold War, the 4th Panzergrenadier Division was disbanded in 1994 with some of its forces being used to form the Airmobile Forces Command /4th Division.
West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 and German reunification on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border. After 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and split into five states, which then joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states, became known simply as "Germany". This period is referred to as the Bonn Republic by historians, alluding to the interwar Weimar Republic and the post-reunification Berlin Republic.
Mechanized infantry are infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat.
The Bundeswehr is the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities. The States of Germany are not allowed to maintain armed forces of their own, since the German Constitution states that matters of defense fall into the sole responsibility of the federal government.
The division was constituted from federal border police troops in July 1956 as the 4th Grenadier Division as part of the II Corps (then called "Army Staff II") of the Bundeswehr. At that time, it commanded the "A4" and "B4" battle-groups. In 1958 it received a third battle-group, "C4". The battle-groups later became the 12th Panzer, 11th Panzergrenadier, and 10th Panzergrenadier Brigades. From 1958 to 1959, the 30th Panzer Brigade was part of the division before it was subordinated to the 10th Panzergrenadier (later Panzer) Division. As part of an army reorganization in 1959, the division was renamed the 4th Panzergrenadier Division. Division headquarters was quartered at Regensburg.
Regensburg is a city in south-east Germany, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the fourth-largest city in the State of Bavaria after Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg. The city is the political, economic and cultural centre and capital of the Upper Palatinate.
In 1970, the division was renamed the 4th Jäger (light infantry) Division. The division once again became the 4th Panzergrenadier Division in 1980. Following the end of the Cold War, elements of the 4th Panzergrenadier and 1st Airborne Divisions were combined and designated Airmobile Forces Command /4th Division.
