1st Panzer Division (Bundeswehr)

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.

Not to be confused with 1st Panzer Division (Wehrmacht).

1. Panzerdivision
1. PzDiv
1st Armoured Division insignia
Active1956–present
Country Germany
BranchArmy
TypeDivision
RoleConventional warfare, peacekeeping
Size18,000 soldiers (+3,000 dutch soldiers from 2019)
Part ofGerman Army
Garrison/HQOldenburg (Oldenburg)
Nickname(s)The first one
Die Erste
Motto(s)Roughly: Go! Let's tackle it!
Man drup - man to! (Low German)
AnniversariesJuly 1st 1956
EngagementsKosovo War
War in Afghanistan
Commanders
Current
commander		Generalmajor Juergen-Joachim von Sandrart
Notable
commanders		General Henning von Ondarza, COMAFCENT 1991–1994
General Helge Hansen, COMAFCENT 1994–1996
General Wolf-Dieter Langheld, COMJFC-B 2010–2012

The 43rd Mechanized Brigade of the Royal Netherlands Army is integrated into the 1st Panzer Division since 2019.

History

This division was formed on July 1, 1956, the day of the official inauguration of the Bundeswehr. It was the first fully operational unit of the new German Army. At first referred to as 1st Grenadier Division, it was reorganized in the 1980s and made fully armoured in 1981. During this period it was part of I Corps of the Bundeswehr Heer, in turn part of NATO's Northern Army Group, Allied Forces Central Europe.

1st Panzer Division has deployed to the Balkans, Afghanistan and to several peacekeeping operations. Troops of this division were also deployed to the support of civilian agencies during large natural disasters such as the Hamburg Floods of 1962, disastrous wild fires in Northern Germany in the 1970s and the 2002 Floods in Eastern Germany.

The division cultivates a partnership with the United States Army 28th Infantry Division.

In April 2019 the division headquarters took the role of exercise High Command (HICON) for Exercise "Allied Spirit X" at Hohenfels Training Area in Bavaria.[1] The exercise lead is routinely rotated among coalition/NATO partners. The exercise primarily involved the 21st Panzer Brigade, the Lithuanian Iron Wolf Brigade, and their subordinate units; 5,630 participants from 15 nations took part. The division already had Dutch, British and Polish officers within its ranks. The Army's 2nd Battalion, 34th Armored Regiment, took part in the exercise.[2][3] Six engineering advisor teams from 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade provided hands-on experience and testing of secure communications between NATO allies and partners.[4][5][6]

Structure May 2020
Main article: Structure of the German Army
Organization of the 1st Panzer Division.

Geographic Distribution
1 Panzer Division
1 Ops Sup. (R)
901 Eng. (R)
*
3 Recon
33 PzGren.
91 Jäger
130 Engineer
141 Supply
7 Recon
203 Panzer
212 PzGren.
1 Jäger
921 Jäger (R)
1 Engineer
7 Supply
6 Recon
401 PzGren.
411 PzGren.
908 PzGren. (R)
142 Supply
413 Jäger
803 Engineer
414 Panzer
Locations of 1st Panzer Division units:
Units: Panzer, Panzergrenadier, Jäger (Rifles), Reconnaissance, Artillery, Engineer, Supply
*92 Panzergrenadier, 93 Panzer, 325 Artillery

References
  1. Sgt. Christopher Stewart (April 8, 2019) Germany's 1st Armored Division Spearheads Allied Spirit X
  2. Spc. Yon Henderson (April 17, 2019) Exercise brings American firepower to European partners
  3. Sgt. Thomas Mort (April 23, 2019); 2-34 Intel team proves invaluable during Allied Spirit X
  4. Capt. Jay Beeman, 5th Battalion, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade (April 30, 2019) Combat advisor teams sharpen skills in multinational exercise
  5. [A RIC-U might be used by a coalition partner to encrypt their individual networks, when interoperating with a US Army voice network.]
  6. Sgt. Sean Harding (25 February 2020) 3rd SFAB and Kurdish Peshmerga work side by side to defeat threats; Peshmerga refers to the Iraqi Kurkish Army.
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