The Netherlands Armed Forces are the military services of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The core of the armed forces consists of the four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Royal Netherlands Army, the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. The service branches are supplemented by various joint support organisations. In addition, local conscript forces exist on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba (AruMil) and Curaçao (CurMil). These operate under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Netherlands Marine Corps. The armed forces are organisationally part of the Ministry of Defence.
Lieutenant General Stanisław Maczek was a Polish tank commander of World War II, whose division was instrumental in the Allied liberation of France, closing the Falaise pocket, resulting in the destruction of 14 German Wehrmacht and SS divisions. A veteran of World War I, the Polish–Ukrainian and Polish–Soviet Wars, Maczek was the commander of Poland's only major armoured formation during the September 1939 campaign, and later commanded a Polish armoured formation in France in 1940. He was the commander of the famous 1st Polish Armoured Division, and later of the I Polish Army Corps under Allied Command in 1942–45.
The Netherlands Marine Corps is the elite naval infantry corps of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The marines trace their origins back to the establishment of the Regiment de Marine on 10 December 1665, by the then grand pensionary of the Dutch Republic, Johan de Witt and famous Admiral Michiel de Ruyter.
The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
An EU Battlegroup is a military unit adhering to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) of the European Union (EU). Often based on contributions from a coalition of member states, each of the eighteen Battlegroups consists of a battalion-sized force reinforced with combat support elements. Two of the battlegroups were declared to be capable of being assembled for operational deployment at any one time.
The Royal Netherlands Army is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the Staatse Leger was raised making the Dutch standing army one of the oldest in the world. It fought in the Napoleonic Wars, World War II, the Indonesian War of Independence, and the Korean War and served with NATO on the Cold War frontiers in West-Germany from the 1950s to the 1990s.
The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee is the national gendarmerie force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, performing military and civilian police duties. It is also one of the two national police forces in the Netherlands, alongside the National Police, and is one of the four branches of the Netherlands Armed Forces.
The Nordic Battlegroup (NBG) is one of eighteen European Union battlegroups. It consists of around 2,500 soldiers including officers, with manpower contributed from the seven participating Northern European countries, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The military strategic command of the force is done in cooperation with any of the suitable five Operation Headquarters framework nations at the time for deployment. Denmark opted out of the Common Security and Defence Policy of the EU, hence all battlegroups. Norway has negotiated an opt-in to participate, even though it is not an EU member state. Sweden, Finland and Norway have planned to form a joint battlegroup.
HNLMS De Ruyter is a De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate of the Royal Netherlands Navy. She was laid down in 2000, launched in 2002, and commissioned in 2004, the third ship of her class to enter service. The frigate is named after Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter (1607–1676).
The Balkan Battlegroup is an EU Battlegroup led by Greece. Originally referred to as HELBROC, it consists of military units from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus, Ukraine, and Serbia. During its third and fourth standby period in the second half of 2011 and 2014, the Balkan Battlegroup was joined by Ukraine, while Serbia signed its participation in 2016.
The 1st Panzer Division(German: "1. Panzerdivision", short: "1. PzDiv") is an armoured division of the German Army. Its headquarter is based in Oldenburg. In the course of the last reorganisation of the Bundeswehr it became the backbone of Germany's newly formed intervention forces with a manpower of 35,000 soldiers. The division is equipped and trained for high intensity combat operations against militarily organized enemies as well as peacekeeping missions. The majority of all German troops assigned to EU-Battlegroups and Nato Response Forces will come from this division. It also represents Germany's permanent contribution to the binational I. German/Dutch Corps.
The 11 Air Assault Brigade is the rapid light infantry brigade of the Royal Netherlands Army, focused on conducting air assault operations. Troops of the brigade are qualified to wear the maroon beret upon completion of the demanding training course, those qualified as military parachutists wear the appropriate parachutist wings. The brigade was handed the name '7 December' when the First Division 7 December was disbanded in 2004.
The British Battlegroup or UK Battlegroup is an EU Battlegroup, consisting entirely of British armed forces. It was on standby from 1 January, until 30 June 2005, and from 1 July, until 31 December 2008.
The 13th Light Brigade is one of the three combat brigades of the Royal Netherlands Army, the other ones being 11th Airmobile Brigade and 43rd Mechanised Brigade. The brigade is a fully motorised brigade, equipped with Fennek, Boxer and Bushmaster wheeled, armoured vehicles.
The Korps Commandotroepen (KCT) is the elite special forces unit of the Royal Netherlands Army. The KCT traces its origins to the Second World War with the founding of No. 2 (Dutch) Troop, and the founding of the Korps Speciale Troepen during the Indonesian War of Independence. At present, the unit is tasked with conducting the full spectrum of special operations, its principal tasks being direct action, special reconnaissance, military assistance and counter-terrorism.
The Visegrád Battlegroup or V4 EU Battlegroup is an EU Battlegroup led by Poland, in which the other fellow Visegrád Group countries – the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary participate. It was on standby from 1 January until 30 June 2016 and from 1 July until 31 December 2019. It is scheduled to go on standby in the first half of 2023.
EUBG 2014 II or EUBG 2014-2 is an EU Battlegroup consisting of around 3,000 troops from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, the Netherlands and North Macedonia. It was on standby from 1 July until 31 December 2014.
The UK–Dutch Battlegroup or UK/NL EUBG 2010 is an EU Battlegroup led by the United Kingdom, in which the Netherlands also participate. It was on standby during the first half of 2010, simultaneously with Battlegroup I-2010.
The Weimar Battlegroup is a multinational EU Battlegroup under Polish leadership, in which Germany and France also participate as members of the Weimar Triangle. It was on standby in the first half of 2013.
This article outlines the defence forces of the European Union (EU), which implement the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in CSDP missions. There are two categories of EU multinational forces: ones that have been established intergovernmentally and made available to the CSDP through article 42.3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), such as the Eurocorps; and the EU Battlegroups, established at the EU level.
Germany 
Netherlands 
Finland 
Austria (since 2010)
Lithuania (since 2010)
European Union