The Army Forces Command () in Falckenstein Barracks in

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

was one of the two leadership pillars of the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

, together with the German Army Office, before it was merged into the Army Command (''Kommando Heer''). Since 1994, Army Forces Command, as a higher command authority, has directed the majority of military units within the Army. However, army troops on operations abroad are commanded by the Bundeswehr Operations Command of the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

based at

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. At its merger in 2012 Army Forces Command had about 83,500 soldiers in its subordinate organisations. Army Forces Command was last led by Lt. Gen. Carl-Hubertus von Butler and reports to the

German General Staff The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the Imperial German Army, German Army, responsible for the continuous stu ...

Badge

The Army Forces Command badge is similar to the badge of the former III Corps, although it lacks the Roman numeral. It portrays the symbol of German sovereignty, the federal eagle. Its colour scheme is based on that of the German Federation: black, red and gold. The badge is worn by military personnel on the staff of the Command on the left sleeve of their service dress. The braided black and gold piping represents its status above the Army's divisions, which have silver instead of gold braid.

Tasks

The primary functions of the Command were: * Full military command of all subordinate formations and staffs * Allocation of troops to operations and training * Planning and managing the training and exercise activity of the Army * In exceptional cases, command of smaller operations (normally the task of the Bundeswehr Operations Command)

History

Until the 1990s, the

was led on operations by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. The change in the security situation in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

resulting from the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

required a national German command to be formed. Following the disbandment of III Corps, Army Forces Command was formed in the same location in Koblenz on 31 March 1994 from elements of the former corps staff and placed under command of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Klaus Reinhardt. From 2001, with the Army's division reporting directly to Army Forces Command, the

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

level of command was dropped. In 2002, the Bundeswehr Operations Command in

was established and, from then on, German troops on international operations are commanded from there. Before that, Army Forces Command led a number of operations, beginning in 1995, such as IFOR, SFOR, AFOR and

Kosovo Force The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO-led international NATO peacekeeping, peacekeeping force and military of Kosovo. KFOR is the third security responder, after the Kosovo Police and the EU Rule of Law (European ...

(KFOR) in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

and the

International Security Assistance Force The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386, Resolution 1386 ac ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Commanders

Army Forces Command was led by a

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

. The general in charge of Army Forces Command from 16 March 2009 was Lieutenant General Carl-Hubertus von Butler. He succeeded Lieutenant General Wolfgang Otto. Reporting to the commander were his deputy (a major general) and his chief of staff (a brigadier general). The staff of Army Command consisted of some 400 soldiers and 50 civilians. The fourth post at general level in the time of Drew and Korte was the post of the General of National and Territorial Tasks (GNTA).

Staff Organisation

*''G1'': personnel and administration *''G2'': Army intelligence, arms control, meteorology and geo *''G3'': command, planning, operational readiness, training and exercise planning *''G4'': logistics / materiel / maintenance *''G5'': civil-military cooperation (CIMIC) *''G6'': communications / IT / command support *''Surgeon-General'': head of Army medical services, planning and advice on medical support *''PIZ'': The Press and Information Centre; informing the public and organizing military bands *''Troops Psychology'': advice to the commander on psychological issues *''Legal advice'': legal advice to the commander *''Controlling/centralised tasks'': monitoring expenditure and the budget, optimization Army Forces Command also has links to the US Army Command (JHC Heidelberg), the French Army, the Dutch Army, the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, as well as the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

, and

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

Forces under Command

From 2010, Army Forces Command has the following formations under command as part of "Army 2010" (''Heer 2010'') or the New Army" (''Neues Heer''): * Army Forces Command in

** Franco-German Brigade at Müllheim (German element) ** Intervention Forces Division / 1st Armoured Division at

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

*** Panzerlehrbrigade 9 at

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

*** 21st (Lipperland) Armoured Brigade at Augustdorf ** Special Operations Division at Stadtallendorf *** 26th (Saarland) Airborne Brigade at

Saarlouis Saarlouis (; , ; formerly Sarre-Libre and Saarlautern) is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis (district), Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis is located on the river Saar (river), Saar. ...

*** 31st (Oldenburg) Airborne Brigade at Oldenburg *** Special Forces Command (brigade-level) at Calw ** DLO

Airmobile Operations Division at Veitshöchheim *** 1st Airmobile Brigade at

Fritzlar Fritzlar () is a small town (pop. 15,000) in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. The town has a medieval center ringed by a wall with numerous watch towers. high ...

*** Army Combat Support Brigade (''Heerestruppenbrigade'') at Bruchsal ** 10th Armoured Division ( Sigmaringen) *** 23rd Mountain Infantry Brigade "

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

" at Bad Reichenhall *** 12th Armoured Brigade " Upper Palatinate" at

Amberg Amberg () is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate about halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. History The town was first mentioned in 1034 with the name Ammenberg. It became an important trading c ...

** 13th Mechanized Infantry Division (

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

) *** 37th Mechanized Infantry Brigade "

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

" at Frankenberg/Sa. *** 41st Mechanized Infantry Brigade " West Pomerania" at Torgelow In addition the following central depots also answer to the Army Command: * Herongen Army Central Depot *

Pirmasens Pirmasens (; (also ''Bermesens'' or ''Bärmasens'')) is an independent town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It was famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called ''Landkreis Pirmasens ...

Army Central Depot * Central Mobilisation Base at Brück :Multinational formations Army Forces Command also provided forces for EU Battlegroups, for the NATO Response Force and for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

when asked. In addition to the Franco-German Brigade, Army Command provides permanent German elements on the staffs and supporting units as well as other troops for: *

Eurocorps Eurocorps (, ), located in the French city of Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), is a multinational corps headquarters. Founded by France and Germany in 1992, it is today composed of personnel from six framework nations and five associated nations. The fram ...

( Straßburg) ** German elements of the staff ** Franco-German Brigade ** 10th Armoured Division when required * 1 (German/Netherlands) Corps (

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

) ** German elements in two permanent battalions and one staff company * Multinational Corps Northeast (

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...