The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) is a

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

High Readiness Force (Land) Headquarters ready for deployment worldwide.

History

The ARRC was created on 1 October 1992 in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

based on the former I (British) Corps (I (BR) Corps). It was originally created as the rapid reaction corps sized land force of the Reaction Forces Concept that emerged after the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, with a mission to redeploy and reinforce within Allied Command Europe (ACE) and to conduct Petersberg missions out of NATO territory. The first commander, appointed in 1992 was General Sir

Jeremy Mackenzie General Sir Jeremy John George Mackenzie, (born 11 February 1941) is a retired senior British Army officer who served as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 1994 to 1998. Early life Mackenzie was born on 11 February 1941 in Nairobi, K ...

. From 1994 the ARRC was based in the

Rheindahlen Military Complex JHQ (Joint Headquarters) Rheindahlen was a military base in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany active from 1954 to 2013. It functioned as the main headquarters for British forces in Germany and for the NATO Northern Army Group. La ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It commanded the Land Forces of NATO's first ever deployment as part of the

Implementation Force The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename ''Operation Joint Endeavour''. Background NATO ...

operation in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

in 1995/6 and was again deployed as the headquarters commanding Land Forces during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

in 1999. In 1997 assigned forces included the 7th Panzer Division; 2nd Greek Mechanised Division; 1st Turkish Mechanised Division (9th Armoured and 28th Mechanised Brigades, plus a third brigade, as assigned); 1st Armored Division; plus other formations, including the 1st and 3rd Divisions, British Army. Since 2002 however the headquarters has been re-roled (with five other corps HQs of other NATO nations) as a High Readiness Force (Land) HQ (HRF(L)) with a broader mission. The formation HQ is under Operational Command of

Supreme Allied Commander, Europe The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is ...

(SACEUR). The ARRC has a national Force Pool of Combat, Combat Support and Combat Service Support units with which to train and execute its mission. However, in reality COMARRC commands no forces until he receives an Activation Order from SACEUR. On receipt of ACTORD, forces from troop contributing nations, generated through the NATO Force Generation process are passed into his Operational Command for the duration of the operational deployment. ARRC took command of the International Security Assistance Force in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

on 4 May 2006 and then relocated from Rheindahlen to

Imjin Barracks Imjin Barracks is a military installation situated near Innsworth in Gloucestershire that is home to NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC). The Barracks were named after the Battle of the Imjin River because of the connection with the Glo ...

, outside

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

in England, in 2010 before deploying to support the

ISAF ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

Joint Command Headquarters in Afghanistan in 2011. ARRC is also regionally aligned with the European region as part of defence engagement.

Structure 2021

In September 2021 the structure of HQ ARRC was as follows: * Commander (UK), * Deputy Commander (Italy), * Chief of Staff (UK), ** Engineers and Civil Military Integration (UK), ** Training and Security Force Assistance (UK), ** Joint Fires and Influence Branch (UK), ** Operations Division (USA), ** Personnel and Logistics (UK), ** Command Information Systems (UK), ** ARRC Enabling Command (Spain). * 1st Signal Brigade, at

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

* 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade, in

South Cerney South Cerney is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, 3 miles south of Cirencester and close to the border with Wiltshire. It had a population of 3,074 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 3,464 at the ...

The deployable headquarters infrastructure and communications for HQ ARRC is provided by the 1st Signal Brigade under the

Army 2020 Army 2020, was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review. Background The British Government gave an indication of its proposals for the future structure of the Army in ea ...

concept. In October 2019, the Italian

Division "Acqui" The Division "Acqui" it, Divisione "Acqui" is one of three active divisions of the Italian Army. The division is the army's high readiness command for out-of-area operations. The Acqui is based in Capua in the Province of Caserta and assigned to ...

, the

Danish Division The Danish Division ( da, Danske Division), short DDIV, is the only remaining military land division in Denmark. It was created on 1 January 1997 as the successor of Jutland Division. It is one of the now-two Divisions of Multinational Corps No ...

, the

1st Canadian Division The 1st Canadian Division (French: ''1re Division du Canada'' ) is a joint operational command and control formation based at CFB Kingston, and falls under Canadian Joint Operations Command. It is a high-readiness unit, able to move on very short ...

, the

3rd (United Kingdom) Division The 3rd (United Kingdom) Division is a regular army division of the British Army. It was created in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, for service in the Peninsular War, and was known as the ...

, and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division were assigned to form part of the ARRC if the corps were to be deployed. In 2021, the United Kingdom's 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade was transferred under direct control of HQ ARRC. The United Kingdom's 1st Signal Brigade joined by October 2021.

Troop contributing countries

As of 1 September 2017, the ARRC is composed of service members from 23 NATO troop contributing countries: *Albania *Belgium *Canada *Croatia *Czech Republic *Denmark *Estonia *France *Germany *Greece *Italy *Latvia *Lithuania *Norway *Poland *Portugal *Romania *Spain *Sweden *Netherlands *Turkey *United Kingdom (HQ ARRC's framework country) *United States of America

Recent Commanders

Recent commanders have included: *1992–1994: Lieutenant General

*1994–1997: Lieutenant General Michael Walker *1997–2000: Lieutenant General Mike Jackson *2000–2002: Lieutenant General

Christopher Drewry Lieutenant General Sir Christopher Francis Drewry, is a retired senior officer of the British Army who served as commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps from 2000 to 2002. Military career Drewry was commissioned into the Welsh Guards in ...

*2002–2005: Lieutenant General

Richard Dannatt General Francis Richard Dannatt, Baron Dannatt, (born 23 December 1950) is a retired senior British Army officer and member of the House of Lords. He was Chief of the General Staff (head of the Army) from 2006 to 2009. Dannatt was commissioned ...

*2005–2007: Lieutenant General David Richards *2007–2011: Lieutenant General

Richard Shirreff General Sir Alexander Richard David Shirreff, (born 21 October 1955) is a retired senior British Army officer and author. From March 2011 to March 2014 he served as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe. Early and personal life Shirreff was b ...

*2011–2013: Lieutenant General James Bucknall *2013–2016: Lieutenant General

Timothy Evans Timothy John Evans (20 November 1924 – 9 March 1950) was a Welshman who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife (Beryl) and infant daughter (Geraldine) at their residence in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950, Evans was tried, and was c ...

*2016–2019: Lieutenant General

Tim Radford Tim Radford (born 1940) is a British–New Zealand freelance journalist, born in New Zealand in 1940 and educated at Sacred Heart College, Auckland. At 16, he joined ''The New Zealand Herald'' as a reporter. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1 ...

*2019–2021: Lieutenant General Sir Edward Smyth-Osbourne *2021–Present: Lieutenant-General

Nick Borton Lieutenant General Nicholas Robert Macrae Borton, is a senior British Army officer, who currently serves as commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. Military career Educated at Canford School and the University of Stirling, Borton was comm ...

References

External links

Official HQ ARRC SiteHQ ARRC British Army website
{{DEFAULTSORT:ARRC British field corps Military units and formations of NATO Military units and formations established in 1992