III Corps (Bundeswehr)

III Corps
Active 6 April 1957 - 31 March 1994
Country Germany
Branch German Army
Part of Central Army Group
Headquarters Koblenz
Commanders
Last commander GenLt Klaus Reinhardt
Last chief of staff BrigGen Klaus Frühhaber

III Corps was a corps of the German Army (Bundeswehr Heer) active from 1957 to 1994.

The preparation of the staff of the corps took place from 16 March 1957 at Gneisenau-Kaserne, Koblenz; the corps was officially formed on 6 April 1957. Initially, the 2nd Panzergrenadier Division and 5th Panzer Division moved in 1957 from the II Corps to III Corps. The corps was integrated into defence planning from mid-1957, as part of NATO's Central Army Group, commanded by the commander of the U.S. Seventh Army. The area of operations was the FRG-DDR and German-Czechoslovak border in Hesse and Franconia. On 1 December 1958 the 7th Panzer Division was transferred from the III Corps to the I Corps. Among the first corps troops were Ordnance regiment 504 (formed May 16, 1957 in Diez, transferred January 1958 in Koblenz), and Corps Artillery Command 403 (based until 1 July 1957 at Munsterlager, from August 1957 in Koblenz). Under corps command were a rocket artillery battalion, a supply battalion, and a geophysical measurement train.

Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz was the first commander of the corps, as a Lieutenant General.

Corps sectors of military responsibility in NATO's central region in 1980.

In 1994 the corps headquarters was disbanded and re-designated the headquarters of the German Army Forces Command.

III Corps Deployments 1989
PgD - Panzergrenadier Division, PzD - Panzer Division

Initially from 1959 the corps' troops under Heeresstruktur II consisted of :

At the end of the Cold War in 1989, the corps commanded the 2nd Panzergrenadier, 5th Panzer, and 12th Panzer Divisions.[1]

Commanding Generals

Nr. Name Start of command End of command
13 Generalleutnant Klaus Reinhardt 1 July 1993 31 March 1994
12 Generalleutnant Peter Heinrich Carstens 1 October 1991 30 June 1993
11 Generalmajor Anton Steer 1 October 1990 30 September 1991
10 Generalleutnant Helge Hansen 1 October 1987 30 September 1990
9 Generalleutnant Karl Erich Diedrichs 1 April 1984 30 September 1987
8 Generalleutnant Hans-Joachim Mack 1 April 1983 31 March 1984
7 Generalleutnant Wolfgang Altenburg 1 October 1980 31 March 1983
6 Generalleutnant Paul-Georg Kleffel 1 April 1978 30 September 1980
5 Generalleutnant Franz Pöschl 1 October 1972 31 March 1978
4 Generalleutnant Gerd Niepold 1 October 1968 30 September 1972
3 Generalleutnant Albert Schnez 1 April 1965 30 September 1968
2 Generalleutnant Heinrich Gaedcke 1 January 1961 31 March 1965
1 Generalleutnant Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz 1 June 1957 31 December 1960

References

  1. ↑ Dragoner, p. 35

Further reading

, Coordinates: 50°21′28″N 7°34′54″E / 50.35778°N 7.58167°E / 50.35778; 7.58167

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