Northern Army Group

The Northern Army Group ( NORTHAG - Army Group North ) was a federation of several Western European army corps, which should be assumed during the Cold War in case of defense of NATO. You could have been standing under a unified command.

History

The High Command (HQ) NORTHAG was set up on 1 November 1952 in Bad Oeynhausen and to Mönchengladbach 1954 - moved Rheindahlen. Mönchengladbach site HQ NORTHAG with three other command posts, the headquarters of the 2nd Allied Tactical Air Force ( ATAF ), the headquarters of the British Army of the Rhine ( BAOR ) and the headquarters of the Royal Air Force Germany ( RAFG ) was merged.

Badge

During the construction of the main building for the joint headquarters, the JHQ ( Joint Headquarters ), a Frankish ax ( Franziska ) was found. She was elected as the association badge for NORTHAG because it symbolizes the victory of a Western army against invaders from the east. The Franks defeated in 451 AD an army under the leadership of Attila at Chalons- sur -Marne and thus ended a conquest of Western Europe by the Huns.

Organization

In the NATO command structure, the HQ Allied Forces Central Europe NORTHAG the ( AFCENT ), which was subordinate to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe ( SHAPE) was under.

Commander of HQ NORTHAG was basically a British general, the same commander in chief of the British Army of the Rhine ( BAOR ). Chief of Staff was a German major general, Belgian and Dutch Major-Generals as deputies.

The HQ NORTHAG following national associations have been assigned:

  • The I Belgian Corps ( 1st Infantry Division, 16th Panzer Division ),
  • The British I. Corps (1st Armoured Division (United Kingdom), 3rd and 4th Panzer Division, 2nd Infantry Division )
  • I. the Netherlands Corps ( 1st, 4th and 5th Division from 1985 was also the 3rd Panzer Division (Bundeswehr) )
  • From 1957 onwards the German I. Corps ( 1st Armored Division (Bundeswehr) and 7th Armoured Division (Bundeswehr), 11th Panzer Grenadier Division (Bundeswehr), Airborne Brigade 27)
  • As a reserve the III. U.S. Corps ( 1st Cavalry Division, 2nd Armored Division, 5th Mechanized Division, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment) from the U.S., with an embedded device, in North Rhine -Westphalia, the Netherlands and Belgium

These associations were under their respective national command authorities. The entire leadership authority over the Corps should, only in the case of defense to NATO, and thus on the NORTHAG HQ, go on. The air support should be ensured by the 2.ATAF.

The HQ NORTHAG were subordinated to the following national elements in addition to the multi-national staff personnel, in time of peace:

  • The 13 Belgian telecommunications company ( 13 Cie T Tr)
  • The 28th British Signal Regiment ( NORTHAG )
  • The German Signal Battalion 840 ( NORTHAG )
  • A Dutch telecommunications company and the
  • NORTHAG - Telecommunication Company ( NORTHAG Air Support Squadron Radio ), which was composed of soldiers of all four nations.

Internally, the NORTHAG Signal Group was responsible for the communication between the headquarters and the associations. This was a multinational division that the imputed telecommunications organizations made ​​use of what each had to build a different type of connection (radio relay, cable, etc.).

In the defense case for the headquarters of the NORTHAG and the 2nd ATAF was laying in the JOC ( Joint Operation Centre), a bunker at St. Pieter Berg at Maastricht, is provided.

Operation range

In the plan of defense of NATO, against a potential threat from the Warsaw Pact, the NORTHAG the area between Hamburg and Kassel was (north-south ) and the German - Dutch or Belgian border to the (then) German-German border ( west-east in). The locations of the NORTHAG forces were accordingly, for the most part, in this area. To the north joined the command area of the Allied Forces Northern Europe ( AFNORTH ) and to the south the Central Army Group ( CENTAG ).

Resolution

On 24 June 1993, the headquarters of the NORTHAG and 2.ATAF were officially disbanded as part of a military ceremony. Last commander of NORTHAG was General Sir Charles Guthrie, KCB OBE LVO. Last Chief of Staff Major General Helmut Willmann, later commander of the Euro Corps.

Command Component Air Ramstein Francisca 7th Panzer Division (Bundeswehr) OBE (disambiguation)
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