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.
Nr. | Name | Start of command | End of command |
---|---|---|---|
14 | Generalmajor Jürgen Reichardt | 1989 | 1994 |
13 | Generalmajor Kurt Barthel | 1985 | 1989 |
12 | Generalmajor Wolfgang Odendahl | 1982 | 1985 |
11 | Generalmajor Gerhard Wachter | 1980 | 1982 |
10 | Generalmajor Gert Kohlmann | 1974 | 1980 |
9 | Generalmajor Rüdiger von Reichert | 1971 | 1974 |
8 | Brigadegeneral Joachim-Frithjof Lindner | 1970 | 1971 |
7 | Generalmajor Helmut Schönefeld | 1968 | 1970 |
6 | Generalmajor Helmut Grashey | 1966 | 1968 |
5 | Generalmajor Johannes Härtel | 1964 | 1966 |
4 | Generalmajor Friedrich Alfred Übelhack | 1959 | 1964 |
3 | Generalmajor Hellmuth Laegeler | 1957 | 1959 |
2 | Generalmajor Kurt Spitzer | 1956 | 1957 |
1 | Brigadegeneral Hans Höffner | 1956 | 1956 |
Operation Epsom, also known as the First Battle of the Odon, was a British Second World War offensive that took place between 26 and 30 June 1944, during the Battle of Normandy. The offensive was intended to outflank and seize the German-occupied city of Caen, an important Allied objective, in the early stages of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of north-west Europe.
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr together with the Marine and the Luftwaffe. As of 31 December 2018, the German Army had a strength of 61,946 soldiers.
The 10th Panzer Division was a formation of the German Army during World War II. It was formed in Prague in March 1939, and served in the Army Group North reserve during the invasion of Poland of the same year. The division participated in the Battle of France in 1940, including the Siege of Calais, and in Operation Barbarossa attached to Army Group Center in 1941.
The Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring was an elite German Luftwaffe armoured division. The HG saw action in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and on the Eastern Front. The division began as a battalion-sized police unit in 1933. Over time it grew into a regiment, brigade, division, and finally was combined with the Parachute-Panzer Division 2 Hermann Göring in 1944 to form a Panzer corps under the by then Reichsmarschall. It surrendered to the Soviet Army near Dresden on May 8, 1945.
The 9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen" was a Waffen-SS armoured division of Nazi Germany during World War II. It participated in battles on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. The division was activated in December 1942. Many of the men of the division were young German conscripts, with a cadre of NCOs and staff from the SS Division Leibstandarte and other Waffen SS divisions. Hohenstaufen took part in the relief of German forces in the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket, the Normandy battles, Operation Market Garden, the Ardennes Offensive and Operation Spring Awakening. The division surrendered to the United States Army on 5 May 1945, at Steyr.
The XXXIX Panzer Corps was a German panzer corps which saw action on the Western and Eastern Fronts during World War II.
II Field Force, Vietnam was a United States Army Corps-level command during the Vietnam War.
This is the order of battle of German and Allied forces during the Battle of the Bulge — specifically, at a point near the end of the battle, which lasted from 16 December 1944 until 25 January 1945.
The 13th Panzergrenadier Division was a mechanized division of the German Army. Its staff was based at Leipzig. The division was a unit of the German Army's stabilization forces and specialized on conflicts of low intensity and homeland defense. The division was Germany's permanent contribution to Multinational Corps North East.
The Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) was a NATO military formation comprising four Western European Army Corps, during the Cold War as part of NATO's forward defence in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The 1st Corps of the Belgian Army, also known as 1 BE Corps, was a Belgian army corps active during World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.
The 5th Armoured Division was a West German armored formation. It was part of the III Corps of the Bundeswehr, which also incorporated in 1985 the 2nd Panzergrenadier Division and 12th Panzer Division. III Corps was part of NATO's Central Army Group (CENTAG), along with the Bundeswehr's II Corps and the American V and VII Corps. Headquarters in 1985 was at Diez/Lahn, with subordinate brigades at Wetzlar, Neustadt/Marburg and Koblenz.
III Corps was a corps of the German Army active from 1957 to 1994.
The 2nd Panzergrenadier Division was a West German mechanized infantry formation. It was part of the III Corps of the Bundeswehr, which also incorporated in 1985 the 5th Panzer Division and 12th Panzer Division. III Corps was part of NATO's Central Army Group (CENTAG), along with the Bundeswehr's II Corps and the American V and VII Corps. In the wake of military restructuring brought about by the end of the Cold War, the 2nd Panzergrenadier Division was disbanded in 1994.
The 12th Panzer Division was a West German armoured formation. It was part of the III Corps of the Bundeswehr, which also incorporated in 1985 the 5th Panzer Division and 2nd Panzergrenadier Division. III Corps was part of NATO's Central Army Group (CENTAG), along with the Bundeswehr's II Corps and the American V and VII Corps. In the wake of military restructuring brought about by the end of the Cold War, the 12th Panzer Division was disbanded in 1994.
The 11th Panzergrenadier Division was a West German mechanized infantry formation. It was part of the I Corps of the Bundeswehr. I Corps was part of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG), along with the I Belgian Corps, I British Corps, and the I Netherlands Corps. In the wake of military restructuring brought about by the end of the Cold War, the 11th Panzergrenadier Division was disbanded in 1994.
The 6th Panzergrenadier Division was a West German mechanized infantry formation. It was part of the I Corps of the Bundeswehr during peacetime, but fell under Allied Land Forces Schleswig-Holstein and Jutland Command in case of war. In the wake of military restructuring brought about by the end of the Cold War, the 6th Panzergrenadier Division was disbanded in 1994, although a military readiness command incorporated the division's name until 1997.
The 1st Mountain Division was a West German mountain infantry formation. It was part of the II Corps of the Bundeswehr. In the wake of military restructuring brought about by the end of the Cold War, the 1st Mountain Division was disbanded in 2001.
The Central Army Group (CENTAG) was a NATO military formation comprising four Army Corps from two NATO member nations comprising troops from Canada, West Germany and the United States. During the Cold War, CENTAG was NATO's forward defence in the southern half of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The northern half of the FRG was defended by the four Army Corps of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG). During wartime, CENTAG would command four frontline corps. Air support was provided by Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force.
The 37th Panzergrenadier Brigade "Free State of Saxony" is a mechanised infantry brigade of the German Army. The brigade is headquartered at Frankenberg, Saxony.
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
Coordinates: 49°00′21″N12°06′51″E / 49.005871°N 12.114093°E
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.