'Loyal', the magazine of the German Reservists' Association, has published a
preview of the future structure of the German Army. Ironically (considering the author), reserve units are not yet depicted in this order of battle. Some of the described reforms had already been announced or predicted by the press, but others are fairly new pieces of information. Especially the upgrading of the airborne forces is a pleasant surprise.
It is clear that Germany and her partner, the Netherlands, follow the example of Britain here in raising more medium-type forces which would be able to reach NATO's eastern flank much more quickly than train-dependent armoured forces. At the same time, it's also apparent Poland is now taking over the role which (West) Germany used to fulfill in NATO until 1990, i.e. that of a heavy stumbling block until reinforcements can arrive.
This structure looks more sound than what I expected, but the new government's shelving of its predecessor's plan to re-integrate the joint medical service and joint support service into their erstwhile parent branches is a glaring mistake in my opinion. It's not the biggest issue in the world, the support forces are there, but them being administratively separate violates the principle "train as you fight". Ironically, the joint services are planned to undergo a considerable growth to aid the army in adopting its new structure.
All divisions will be reformed from purely administrative commands to field units, being re-equipped with organic support.
Notes:
- The future composite artillery battalion will be quity beefy, including both surface-to-surface and surface-to-air assets. Brigade artillery battalions will be equipped with gun artillery and short-range air defence systems, whereas division artillery battalions will focus on long-range rockets and missiles. The more far-reaching air defence systems will come from the Air Force.
- Similarly, the future composite reconnaissance battalion will fulfil the role of field reconnaissance in the case of a brigade battalion, and of military intelligence in the case of a division battalion.
- The German term Jäger traditionally denotes light infantry, a translation which I'd deem obsolete. With this reform and the newly-minted category of medium forces, the German Army completes a development long since in the making as the Jäger become more "heavy" and use their (increasingly more potent) vehicles in an offensive role rather than merely as means of transportation. In light of this, I use the terms 'armoured infantry' and 'mechanised infantry' to differentiate between Puma IFV- and Boxer IFV/APC-equipped units. (A similar differentiation is made between Dutch forces using the CV 90 IFV and those equipped with the Boxer APC).
- The German units within the Franco-German Brigade will grow in size and capacity to become deployable as a brigade themselves.
Here's the target structure; for multi-national units the lead nation's flag is placed first:
Corps-level forces [new]
- 610th Signals Batallion
- 1st Long-range Reconnaissance Company [new]
- Helicopter Command
- 10th Transport Helicopter Regiment
- 30th Transport Helicopter Regiment
- 36th Attack Helicopter Regiment
- 130th Amphibious Engineer Batallion ????
- XXXth Combat Service Support Battalion
1st Armoured Division
- XXXth Signals Battalion [new]
- XXXth Artillery Battalion [new]
- XXXth Reconnaissance Battalion [new]
- 803rd Armoured Engineer Battalion
- XXXth Combat Service Support Battalion [new]
- [further units assigned from the joint services]
- 9th Armoured Brigade
- Headquarters Company [new]
- Signals Company [new]
- 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion
- 93rd Tank Battalion
- 203rd Tank Battalion
- 33rd Armoured Infantry Battalion
- 92nd Armoured Infantry Battalion
- XXXth Armoured Artillery Battalion [new]
- 90th Armoured Engineer Battalion
- 141st Combat Service Support Battalion
- 43rd Armoured Infantry Brigade ??
- 43rd Headquarters Company ??
- 43rd Reconnaissance Company ??
- 414th Tank Battalion ????
- 44th Armoured Infantry Battalion ??
- 45th Armoured Infantry Battalion ??
- 11th Armoured Engineer Battalion ??
- 10th Reserve Battalion ??
- 43rd Maintenance Company ??
- 43rd Medical Company ??
- 21st Mechanised Infantry Brigade [new]
- Headquarters Company [new]
- Signals Company [new]
- 7th Reconnaissance Battalion [new]
- 1st Mechanised Infantry Battalion
- 91st Mechanised Infantry Battalion
- 413th Mechanised Infantry Battalion
- XXXth Artillery Battalion [new]
- 1st Engineer Battalion [new]
- 7th Combat Service Support Battalion
- 41st Mechanised Infantry Brigade [new]
- Headquarters Company [new]
- Signals Company [new]
- 6th Reconnaissance Battalion
- 401st Mechanised Infantry Battalion [new]
- 411th Mechanised Infantry Battalion [new]
- OPFOR Mechanised Infantry Battalion [new]
- XXXth Artillery Battalion [new]
- XXXth Engineer Battalion [new]
- 142nd Combat Service Support Battalion
10th Armoured Division
- XXXth Signals Battalion [new]
- XXXth Artillery Battalion [new]
- 230th Reconnaissance Battalion [new]
- 4th Armoured Engineer Battalion
- 8th Combat Service Support Battalion
- [further units assigned from the joint services]
- 12th Armoured Brigade
- Headquarters Company [new]
- Signals Company [new]
- 8th Reconnaissance Battalion
- 104th Tank Battalion
- 363rd Tank Battalion
- 112th Armoured Infantry Battalion
- 112nd Armoured Infantry Battalion
- XXXth Armoured Artillery Battalion [new]
- 8th Armoured Engineer Battalion [new]
- 4th Combat Service Support Battalion
- 37th Armoured Infantry Brigade
- Headquarters Company [new]
- Signals Company [new]
- 13th Reconnaissance Battalion
- 393rd Tank Battalion
- 212th Armoured Infantry Battalion
- 371st Armoured Infantry Battalion
- 391st Armoured Infantry Battalion
- 131st Armoured Artillery Battalion
- 701st Armoured Engineer Battalion
- 131st Combat Service Support Battalion
- German shares, Franco-German Brigade
- Headquarters Company [new]
- Signals Company [new]
- XXXth Reconnaissance Company [new]
- 291st Mechanised Infantry Battalion
- 292nd Mechanised Infantry Battalion
- XXXth Infantry Battalion [planned]
- 295th Artillery Battalion
- German shares, Franco-German Combat Service Support Battalion
- 550th Armoured Engineer Company
- 13th Infantry Brigade ??
- 13th Headquarters Company ??
- 42nd Reconnaissance Company ??
- 17th Mechanised Infantry Battalion ??
- 42th Mechanised Infantry Battalion ??
- XXXth Mechanised Infantry Battalion [pending approval] ??
- 41th Armoured Engineer Battalion ??
- 30th Reserve Battalion ??
- 13th Maintenance Company ??
- 13th Medical Company ??
Rapid Forces Division
- RFD Signals Battalion [new]
- RFD Reconnaissance Battalion [new]
- RFD Artillery Battalion [new]
- RFD Combat Service Support Battalion [new]
- [further units assigned from the joint services]
- 1st Airborne Infantry Brigade
- Staff Company (airborne) [new]
- Signals Company (airborne) [new]
- 260th Reconnaissance Company (airborne)
- XXXth Parachute Infantry Battalion [new]
- XXXth Parachute Infantry Battalion [new]
- XXXth Parachute Infantry Battalion [new]
- XXXth Combat Service Support Company (airborne) [new]
- XXXth Medical Company (airborne) [new]
- 11th Airmobile Infantry Brigade ??
- 11th Headquarters Company (airmobile) ??
- 11th Reconnaissance Company (airmobile) ??
- 11th Airmobile Infantry Battalion ??
- 12th Airmobile Infantry Battalion ??
- 13th Airmobile Infantry Battalion ??
- 20th Reserve Battalion ??
- 11th Engineer Company (airmobile) ??
- 11th Maintenance Company (airmobile) ??
- 11th Medical Company (airmobile) ??
- 23rd Mountain Infantry Brigade
- Staff Company [new]
- Signals Company [new]
- 231st Mountain Infantry Battalion
- 232nd Mountain Infantry Battalion
- 233rd Mountain Infantry Battalion
- 230th Pack Animal Company
- XXXth Engineer Company (mountain) [new]
- XXXth Combat Service Support Company (mountain) [new]
- XXXth Medical Company (mountain) [new]
- 31st Parachute Infantry Regiment (SOC) [new]
- Special Forces Command
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