1st Panzer Division (Bundeswehr)

1st Panzer Division
1st Panzer Division
1. Panzerdivision
	1st Armoured Division insignia
Active	1956–present
Country	Germany; Netherlands
Branch	Army
Type	Panzer
Size	18,000 soldiers (+3,000 Dutch soldiers from 2019)
Part of	German Army
Garrison/HQ	Oldenburg (Oldenburg)
Nickname(s)	The first one; Die Erste
Motto(s)	Roughly: Go! Let's tackle it! ; Man drup - man to! (Low German)
Anniversaries	July 1st 1956
Engagements	Kosovo War; War in Afghanistan
Commanders
Current; commander	Generalmajor Heico Hübner
Notable; commanders	General Henning von Ondarza, COMAFCENT 1991–1994 ; General Helge Hansen, COMAFCENT 1994–1996; General Wolf-Dieter Langheld, COMJFC-B 2010–2012

52°22′11.31″N 9°46′11.77″E / 52.3698083°N 9.7699361°E / 52.3698083; 9.7699361

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.

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

History

This division was formed on 1 July 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 US 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]

Organization

1st Panzer Division (1. Panzerdivision), in Oldenburg^[7]
- Staff and Signal Company 1st Panzer Division, in Oldenburg
- 9th Panzerlehr Brigade (Panzerlehrbrigade 9), in Munster
- 21st Panzer Brigade (Panzerbrigade 21), in Augustdorf
- 41st Panzergrenadier Brigade (Panzergrenadierbrigade 41), in Neubrandenburg
- 43rd Mechanized Brigade (43 Gemechaniseerde Brigade), in Havelte
- 1st Operations Support Battalion (Unterstützungsbataillon Einsatz 1), in Oldenburg (Reserve unit)
- 325th Artillery Demonstration Battalion (Artillerielehrbataillon 325), in Munster
- Signal Battalion 610 (Fernmeldebataillon 610), in Prenzlau (Operationally assigned to NATO's Multinational Corps Northeast)
- 901st Heavy Engineer Battalion (Schweres Pionierbataillon 901), in Havelberg (Reserve unit)