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The Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) was a NATO military formation comprising five Army Corps from five NATO member nations. During the Cold War NORTHAG was NATO's forward defence in the Northern half of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The Southern half of the Federal Republic of Germany was to be defended by the four Army Corps of NATO's Central Army Group (CENTAG). During wartime NORTHAG would command four frontline corps (I Dutch, I German, I British, I Belgian) and one reserve corps (III US). Air support was provided by Second Allied Tactical Air Force.
In 1966, France had withdrawn from the NATO Military Command Structure, but still wished to take part in the defence of Western Europe. A series of secret agreements made between NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the French Chief of the Defence Staff detailed how French forces would reintegrate into the NATO Command Structure in case of war. [1] The first and most important was the Lemnitzer-Ailleret Agreements, made between General Lyman Lemnitzer and French CDS General Charles Ailleret in August 1966. [2]
There were two additional French formations, the III Corps, and Rapid Action Force (FAR) associated with the Army Group. From 1983 to 1984, Isby and Kamps write that planning was underway to possibly use III Corps and FAR formations in NORTHAG "although they would, like all French forces, remain under national operational command." [3]
What can be gathered publicly about the wartime structure of NORTHAG in the autumn of 1989 at the end of the Cold War follows below. It is not drawn from one single source, and may be inconsistent and/or incomplete.
The German Northern Territorial Command (Territorialkommando Nord), headquartered in Mönchengladbach, was a corps-sized command responsible for NORTHAG's Rear Combat Zone, which extended from the Belgian and Dutch border to approximately the middle of Northern West Germany. The Command's tasks were to ensure an uninterrupted flow of war materiel to allied forces fighting in the Combat Zone and to provide hospital care for wounded troops.
During the transition to war, the support units of the British Army of the Rhine would have formed the British Rear Combat Zone headquartered in Düsseldorf, which would have supplied the fighting forces and guarded the lines of communication within West Germany. Further West in Belgium was the British Communications Zone, which was headquartered in Emblem, outside Antwerp and tasked with receiving reinforcements and supplies from Great Britain and to co-ordinate their onward movement to 1 (BR) Corps. [4]
The following infantry battalions, based in the United Kingdom, were tasked with Rear Area Security in BAOR's Communications Zone and Rear Combat Zone:[ citation needed ]
note 1: units in italics were based in the outside of BAOR's area of operation and would join BAOR upon mobilization.
The 1 British Corps was a combat formation of the British Army of the Rhine. The area 1 BR Corps had to defend lay between Hanover to the north and Kassel to the south and extended from the Inner German Border to the Upper Weser Valley, all located on the North German Plain. In case of war, the Corps first line of defence would have been a screening force of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, 16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers and 664 Squadron Army Air Corps, which would have become an ad hoc brigade formation under command of BAOR's Brigadier Royal Armoured Corps. Behind the screening force 1st Armoured and 4th Armoured Division would form up. 3rd Armoured Division was to the rear of the two forward deployed division as reserve. 2nd Infantry Division was to defend the Corps Rear Area and prepare a last line of defence along the Western bank of the Weser river.
Units in italics were based in the UK and would join parent organization upon mobilization
note 1: December 1989.
1st Armoured Division was the corps' Northern forward deployed division.
2nd Infantry Division was based in the North East of the United Kingdom and was planned to have joined I British Corps in Germany within 72 hours of mobilization. The division was tasked with defending the Corps Rear Area and prepare a last line of defense along the Western bank of the Weser River. Therefore, the 29th Engineer Brigade was added to the division and was tasked with route maintenance and preparation of defensive positions on the western bank of the Weser River in the Upper Weser Valley.
3rd Armoured Division was the corps' reserve formation.
note 2: units in italics were based in the UK and would join 1st Armoured Division upon mobilization.
4th Armoured Division was the Corps' Southern forward deployed division. As the division's area of operation was hilly and woody, 19th Infantry Brigade was added to it.
note 2: units in italics were based in the UK and would join 4th Armoured Division upon mobilization.
Headquarters, 5th Infantry Division
The Army Air Corps (AAC) is the aviation arm of the British Army, first formed in 1942 during the Second World War by grouping the various airborne units of the British Army. Today, there are eight regiments of the AAC, as well as two independent flights and two independent squadrons deployed in support of British Army operations around the world. Regiments and flights are located in the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Canada. Some AAC squadrons provide the air assault elements of 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, through Joint Aviation Command.
Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War.
This is the complete order of battle of Allied and German forces involved during Operation Market Garden.
The Comando Truppe Alpine or COMTA commands the Mountain Troops of the Italian Army, called Alpini and various support and training units. It is the successor to the 4º Corpo d'Armata Alpino of the Cold War. The Alpini are light Infantry units specializing in Mountain Combat. The subordinate units of the COMTA distinguished themselves during combat in World War I and World War II.
Canadian Forces Europe was the Canadian Forces military formation in Europe during the Cold War. The CF assisted other NATO allies in watching the military activities of Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union.
Allied Forces Baltic Approaches (BALTAP) was a Principal Subordinate Command (PSC) of the NATO Military Command Structure, with responsibility for the Baltic Sea area. It was in existence from 1962 to 2002 and consisted of the Danish Armed Forces, units of the West German Bundeswehr and allied wartime reinforcements.
The First Division "7 December" was a division of the Royal Netherlands Army, active from at least 1946 to 2004. It was sent to Indonesia in 1946 to restore "peace, order and security" after the proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945.
The Berlin Infantry Brigade was a British Army brigade-sized garrison based in West Berlin during the Cold War. After the end of World War II, under the conditions of the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, the Allied forces occupied West Berlin. This occupation lasted throughout the Cold War. The French Army also had units in Berlin, called the French Forces in Berlin and the US Army's unit in Berlin was the Berlin Brigade.
The 3rd Armoured Division was formed on 2 July 1956 in Hamburg and was one of the first major formations of the new German Army or Bundeswehr after the Second World War. The 3rd Armoured Division was stationed on the North German Plain between the rivers Elbe and Weser. Its last headquarters location was Buxtehude. It was part of the I Corps alongside the 1st Panzer, 7th Panzer, and 11th Panzergrenadier Divisions.
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.
Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force was a NATO military formation under Allied Air Forces Central Europe tasked with providing air support to NATO's Central Army Group (CENTAG) in the southern portion of West Germany. 4 ATAF commanded all flying units based within its sector and all reinforcements flying into its sector, as well as ground-based radar systems and stations, air defense units and the airfields in its sector.
After World War II the Italian Army had two units named "Centauro": from 1952 to 1986 the Armored Division "Centauro" and from 1986 to 2002 the Armored Brigade "Centauro". Both units were successor to the World War II era 131st Armored Division "Centauro". The units' name came from the mythological race of half human-half horse creatures named Centaurs.
The page contains the current structure of the British Army. The British Army is currently being reorganised to the Future Soldier structure.
The following lists German active and reserve units within the structure of the German Army. Reserve units do not possess any heavy equipment and their personnel is intended as replacements for losses sustained by regular units.
The following is a hierarchical outline for the Canadian Armed Forces at the end of the Cold War. It is intended to convey the connections and relationships between units and formations.
The following is a hierarchical outline for the Danish armed forces at the end of the Cold War. It is intended to convey the connections and relationships between units and formations. In wartime all Danish military units would have come under the joint West German/Danish NATO command Allied Forces Baltic Approaches (BALTAP). BALTAP was a principal subordinate command under the Allied Forces Northern Europe Command (AFNORTH). The commander-in-chief of (BALTAP) was always a Danish Lieutenant General or Vice Admiral, who had the designation Commander Allied Forces Baltic Approaches (COMBALTAP). In peacetime BALTAP had only a few communication units allocated and all other units remained under national command of West Germany's Bundeswehr and Denmark's Forsvaret.
The following is a hierarchical outline for the British Armed Forces at the end of the Cold War. It is intended to convey the connections and relationships between units and formations.
The following is a hierarchical outline for the structure of the British Army in 1989. The most authoritative source for this type of information available is Ministry of Defence, Master Order of Battle, and United Kingdom Land Forces, HQ UKLF, UKLF ORBAT Review Action Plan, HQ UKLF, 1990.
This article lists the structure of the Royal Danish Army in 1989 and in May 2020:
Future Soldier is a reform of the British Army resulting from the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March 2021. The aim of the reform is to create a more lethal, agile and expeditionary force, able to fight and win wars and to operate in the grey-zone between peace and war. Future Soldier was published on 25 November 2021 and deals with the organizational changes of the British Army, with changes to personnel and equipment were set out in the Defence in a Competitive Age paper published on 22 March 2021.
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