Heer - German Army
Germany's army command consiste in 2008 of a Germany/Netherlands headquarters corps, a Germany/United States headquarters corps, six divisions (two armored infantry, two mechanized infantry, one air-mobile, and one special operations), one support command (forming), one SIGINT/ELINT brigade, and two logistics brigades.
In early 1995, the German Army (Bundeswehr), headquartered in Koblenz, had a personnel strength of appropriately 255,000, including 123,000 conscripts. It was composed of two principal elements, the field army and the much smaller territorial army. Territorial army units were slated to be merged with the field army by the end of 1995. The field army in 1994 consisted of three corps and eight divisions (four armored divisions, three armored infantry divisions, and one mountain division).
A radical reshaping of the army was completed by the end of 1994, in which the Bundeswehr was adapted to the diminishing threat in Central Europe, the recasting of NATO's force structure, and Germany's 1990 commitments to reduce its force level and armaments. These commitments were embodied in the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, or, as it is more commonly known, the Two-Plus-Four Treaty signed in September 1990 and the CFE Treaty signed that November. According to these commitments, manpower had to be reduced so that all services could meet the CFE ceiling of 370,000 by December 1994, with a sublimit of 345,000 for the army and air force. Naval forces also had to be cut, although they were not included in the CFE Treaty except for land-based marines (of which Germany has none) and naval air units.
The treaty obligations were met successfully, and in early 1995 the Bundeswehr amounted to about 255,000 soldiers, of whom about 123,000 were conscripts. The army consists of three corps, under the overall direction of the Army Forces Command. The headquarters of I Corps is in Münster, that of II Corps in Ulm, and that of IV Corps in Potsdam. Only IV Corps is solely German. The other two are joint corps: I Corps is German-Dutch; II Corps is German-United States. Under the corps commands are seven divisions in place of the previous twelve, and twenty-four combat brigades instead of the previous forty-eight. Six of the divisions are committed to NATO's main defense force, but the two divisions of IV Corps in the east remain under German national command. Under the operational command of II Corps is the Eurocorps, scheduled to be operational in late 1995 with 50,000 troops. Lastly, there is the Air-Mobile Forces Command, which commands crisis-reaction forces.
The army's twenty-four combat brigades included sixteen mechanized brigades, three airborne brigades, one mountain brigade, and the German component of the Franco-German Brigade. Only six brigades are maintained at full strength--two airborne brigades, three mechanized brigades, and the mountain brigade. Some of these ready brigades are committed to the NATO Rapid Reaction Force. All of the active units are staffed with a high proportion of regulars. The remaining brigades are staffed at about a 60 percent level in peacetime, mainly with conscripts. In each brigade, one armored battalion and one infantry battalion are filled out by drawing cadres from staffed units when expanded to full strength. Tanks and other armored vehicles of the cadre units are stored, as are 25 percent of the vehicles of active battalions.
According to Ministry of Defense plans, the Bundeswehr was to become even smaller in the second half of the 1990s. By the year 2000, the army is to consist of about 233,000 personnel, of which 37,000 will be assigned to rapid-reaction units. The army will eliminate one division headquarters and two brigade headquarters. To meet NATO obligations, the 14th Division headquarters in Neubrandenburg will assume the mission of the 6th Division, which is to be disbanded. This move will integrate a division in the new Länder into the NATO military structure for the first time.
With the absorption of equipment from the NVA in 1990, the Bundeswehr had more than 7,000 main battle tanks, most of them highly regarded German-built Leopards plus nearly 2,300 Soviet models. It had 3,250 armored infantry fighting vehicles, of which about two-thirds were German Marder A1/A2 models and the remainder Soviet BMPs. The Bundeswehr's inventory listed 11,000 armored personnel carriers, including a large number of Soviet vehicles inherited from the NVA.
As of 1995, Germany had kept little of the weaponry of the former NVA, giving away many spare parts, destroying huge caches of weapons and ammunition, and selling surplus equipment. East German tanks had been shipped to Finland, and warships had been sold to Paraguay and Indonesia.
In line with its CFE commitments, Germany reduced its inventory of main battle tanks to 2,855, its armored infantry fighting vehicles to 2,443 units, and its artillery to 2,090 pieces (see table 23, Appendix). This represented the highest rate of disarmament among the CFE signatories, with the exception of Russia.
In accordance with several international commitments, no nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons are in the German arms inventory. Under the Two-Plus-Four Treaty, Germany reaffirmed its renunciation of the manufacture, possession, and control of such weapons. A number of German weapons systems are nuclear-capable, but nuclear warheads and bombs remain under the control of the United States. Some Tornado aircraft have been fitted to accept nuclear bombs.
The Federal Government is committed to general conscription, which remains the best form of military service. It determines the development of the Bundeswehr and the way in which it perceives its role while maintaining a strong bond between the armed forces and society. Alternative civilian service remained as a substitute for military service. Given the great social importance of civilian service (for example in the realm of support for persons with disabilities) and its role in youth policy, it undoubtedly merits retention, not least as an important field enabling young men to acquire key knowledge and skills.
General compulsory military service for men and women is rejected. The performance and duration of civilian service will continue to be based on the rules governing military service. The Government will look into the question of whether the system of compulsory military service and the call-up system can be further improved in terms of their fairness, with a view to providing a secure planning basis for all parties involved in civilian service.
Bundeswehr planning was continued on the basis of task-based funding, with a balance being struck between operational and capital expenditure. The implementation of the Bundeswehr stationing concept was continued. Within the overarching aim of guaranteeing the operational capability of the Bundeswehr, armaments planning seeks to preserve appropriate core industrial capabilities. Enhanced cooperation with business, privatisation measures and public-private partnerships are suitable means by which additional capital and know-how from the private sector can be made available to the Bundeswehr. The decisive criteria must be that the Bundeswehr makes efficiency gains and is relieved of responsibilities that lie outside its core tasks.
The German Army is transforming into a Neues Heer, or "New Army." Its transformation is a continuous, farsighted adjustment of its security, social, technological and, above all, mental dimensions. This process is not only ongoing in the army, but also in the entire German armed forces and those of allies. The conceptual framework for transforming the German armed forces and Bundeswehr was defined in the "Defense Policy Guidelines," dated 21 May 2003; the "Directive for the Further Development of the Bundeswehr," dated 1 October 2003; and the "Overall Bundeswehr Concept," dated 9 August 2004. In the course of preparing these documents, the "Directive for the Further Development of the German Army" was refined and issued on 5 July 2004, defining the model Neues Heer personnel and equipment. By 2010, the German Army personnel strength was to be reduced by some 30,000 billets to the target of about 104,000 soldiers.
As will the other German armed services, the German Army was divided into three categories of forces: reaction, stabilization and support. The core of the Neues Heer organization is five division headquarters with a total of 12 reaction or stabilization brigades.
- One division is purely reaction forces. German Army reaction forces contribute to combat and peace enforcement operations with minimum friendly losses. These forces will be capable of fighting in network-centric multinational operations in high-intensity scenarios as well as perform rescue and evacuation operations at the lower end of the spectrum. German Army reaction forces will be mechanized for largescale and mobile combat operations and characterized by high mobility and robustness. These reaction forces will be supported by precision fires and effects from standoff distances.
- Two divisions will consist of purely stabilization forces. These forces must operate successfully against both a predominantly military adversary and asymmetrical insurgency forces, ensuring minimum losses in both cases. Stabilization forces must be able to control limited areas of operations in a situation with escalating danger and fight in combined arms operations at the battalion level for a limited time. In addition, stabilization forces must be able to function in stability and support operations (SASO). To achieve these capabilities, stabilization forces will be supported by graduated precision fires and effects from standoff distances.
- The other two of the five divisions in the Neues Heer, the Division Spezielle Operationen (DSO), or Special Operations Division, and the Division Luftbewegliche Operationen (DLO), or Air-Mobility Division, will have a mixture of reaction and stabilization forces.
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