Limburg Provincial
Military
Command/Garrison Command
Provinciaal
Militair Commando/Garnizoenscommando Limburg (PMC/GC LB)
Part
I | Part II |
Part III
Unit |
Location |
Peace
Strength |
War
Strength |
Staff
and Support Company
Limburg Provincial
Military Command/Garrison
Command |
Maastricht |
6/17/2/24 (49)
|
45/35/93/20 (193) |
435
Mobile Security Infantry Company [a] |
Breda |
9/41/266
(316) |
8/27/209
(244) |
361
Heavy Security Infantry Company [b] |
– |
– |
6/18/123
(147) |
362
Heavy Security Infantry Company [c] |
– |
– |
6/18/123
(147) |
364
Light Security Infantry Company
[d]
|
– |
– |
5/16/109
(130) |
381
Security Infantry Company [e]
|
– |
– |
6/21/139
(166) |
16
Company Staff, National Reserve Corps [f] [g] |
– |
– |
2/4/17
(23) |
51 Company
Staff, National Reserve Corps
[f] |
– |
– |
2/4/17
(23) |
425
(Weert) Platoon, National Reserve Corps |
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
426
(Ysselsteyn) Platoon, National Reserve Corps |
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
427
(Beek) Platoon, National Reserve Corps
|
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
428 (Beek)
Platoon, National
Reserve Corps |
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
429
(Maastricht) Platoon, National Reserve Corps |
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
430
(Roermond) Platoon, National Reserve Corps |
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
431
(Venlo) Platoon, National
Reserve Corps
|
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
432 (Maastricht)
Platoon, National
Reserve Corps
|
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
446
(Beek) Platoon, National
Reserve Corps
|
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
518
(Wanssum) Platoon, National
Reserve Corps
|
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
519
(Maastricht) Platoon, National
Reserve Corps
|
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
520
(Wanssum) Platoon, National
Reserve Corps
|
– |
– |
1/4/29
(34) |
893
Military Constabulary Platoon (for HQ AFCENT)
[h] |
– |
– |
1/4/28
(33) |
894 Military
Constabulary Platoon (for HQ AFCENT)
[h] |
– |
– |
1/4/28
(33) |
456 Burial
Platoon [i] |
– |
– |
1/2/16
(19) |
Notes
a. |
Wartime
organisation; under command of North
Brabant Provincial
Military
Command/Garrison Command in peacetime. On NATO Simple Alert
under
operational control of Commander, Northern
Army Group
(COMNORTHAG). The company spent six months per
year in
Büren
(GE), securing Special Ammunition Storage
(SAS) Stöckerbusch
where US nuclear warheads were stored.
Their wartime role
would probably be similar to that of the mobile security infantry
companies of
1 (NL)
Corps Artillery.1 |
b. |
Filled
by mobilisable personnel that had fulfilled their active-duty period in
A Company, 48
Armoured Infantry Battalion up to eight and a
half years prior to mobilisation.2 |
c. |
Filled
by mobilisable personnel that had fulfilled their active-duty period in
B
Company, 48
Armoured Infantry Battalion up to eight and a half
years prior to mobilisation.2 |
d. |
Filled
by mobilisable personnel from 436
Mobile Security Infantry Company (GRIM) after their fourteen
to sixteen-month RIM period in that unit had expired, up to eight and a
half years prior to mobilisation.2
7 |
e. |
Filled
by mobilisable personnel that had fulfilled their active-duty period in
435 Mobile Security Infantry Company up to eight and a half years prior
to mobilisation.2 |
f. |
A National
Reserve (NATRES)
company staff would take three or more NATRES
platoons under command. Other platoons would operate under the
command of a security infantry company, or directly under
the Provincial Military Commander/Garrison Commander.3 |
g. |
On mobilisation with
three NATRES platoons under command of COMNORTHAG for security
duties at the Joint Operations Centre (JOC) of NORTHAG/TWOATAF in
the Cannerberg hill, Maastricht (wartime location). Also under
command would be
three of
the provisional security platoons listed under Part
III, which would be tasked with similar duties. In
the second half of the 1980s the company commander
would further receive a (conscript) Stinger platoon for this
mission, equipped
with
FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air defence systems.4 |
h. |
Filled
by mobilisable personnel from 202
Military Constabulary Squadron (GRIM) after their fourteen to
sixteen-month RIM period in that unit had expired, up to eight and a
half years prior to mobilisation.2 After mobilisation
under command of Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Central Europe
(CINCENT) as part of the International Military Police of
Headquarters Allied
Forces Central Europe (AFCENT). This headquarters
had its wartime location in a hill in the Eifel.5
7 |
i. |
Filled
by personnel from the general pool of mobilisable reserves
(vrij-indeelbaar bestand) that had fulfilled their active-duty period
in relevant functions up to eight and a half years prior to
mobilisation.2 |
Part
I | Part II | Part III
Unit |
Location |
Peace
Strength |
War
Strength |
Barracks
Command Beek Mobilisation Complex |
Beek
(LB) |
-/-/-/3
(3) |
-/1/-/4
(5) |
Barracks
Command Weert Mobilisation Complex |
Weert |
-/-/-/3
(3) |
-/1/-/3
(4) |
Barracks
Command Ysselsteyn Mobilisation Complex |
Ysselsteyn |
-/-/-/6
(6) |
-/1/-/6
(7) |
Barracks
Command Vrijthof 25
|
Maastricht |
-/-/-/1
(1) |
-/-/-/1
(1) |
Barracks
Command Tongerseweg 336 |
Maastricht |
1/3/-/3
(7) |
1/3/-/3
(7) |
Barracks
Command Ernst Casimir Barracks |
Roermond |
4/14/6/19
(43) |
4/12/8/19
(43) |
Barracks
Command Frederik Hendrik Barracks |
Venlo |
1/6/6/26
(39) |
1/5/7/25
(38) |
Barracks
Command Van Horne Barracks |
Weert |
-/7/29/30
(66) |
-/6/8/30
(44) |
Part
I | Part II | Part III
Unit |
Location |
Peace
Strength |
War
Strength |
58
Security Company
Staff (Professional Personnel in Training) [a] |
Breda |
~ 2/4/17
(23) |
– |
59
Security Company
Staff (Professional Personnel in Training)
[a] |
Breda |
~ 2/4/17
(23) |
– |
294 Security
Platoon (Professional Personnel in
Training) [a] |
Breda/Weert |
~
1/4/29
(34) |
– |
295 Security
Platoon (Professional Personnel in
Training) [a] |
Breda/Weert |
~
1/4/29
(34) |
– |
296
Security Platoon (Professional
Personnel in Training) [a]
|
Breda/Weert |
~
1/4/29
(34) |
– |
297 Security
Platoon (Professional Personnel in
Training) [a]
|
Breda/Weert |
~
1/4/29
(34) |
– |
298
Security Platoon (Professional
Personnel in Training) [a]
|
Breda/Weert |
~
1/4/29
(34) |
– |
299
Security Platoon (Professional
Personnel in Training) [a]
|
Breda/Weert |
~
1/4/29
(34) |
– |
Limburg
Provincial
Military Command/Garrison Command Peace Strength:
12/47/43/115 (217) |
Limburg
Provincial
Military Command/Garrison Command War Strength:
101/230/1273/111 (1715) |
Note
a. |
These
were provisional units, to be formed in
the warning phase
preceding actual mobilisation (likely: NATO Military Vigilance), from pupils of
the Royal
Military School (Koninklijke Militaire School, KMS)
in
Weert, the Special
Officer Training Centre (Opleidingscentrum
Officieren
Speciale Diensten,
OCOSD)
in Breda and the Royal
Military Academy (Koninklijke
Militaire Academie, KMA), also in Breda. Unit strength and
organisation were probably
similar to that of NATRES units, as their role
was more or less the same. In
Limburg the platoons would secure the NATO Information and
Communications System (NICS), located in a bunker in Maastricht, as
well as the 'Missiehuis" in Cadier en Keer where NATO's European
traffic control centre would be situated in wartime. Three platoons
would operate under the command of 16 Company Staff NATRES (see Part
I, note g). The provisional
security units would be disbanded once
the mobilisable security companies
were available, after which their
personnel would be reassigned through the regular personnel replacement
system.6 |
_________________________________________________
1. |
|
The
company was deployed to the Belgian Kwartier Cortemarck
Barracks in Büren during three two-month periods a year, each
period being followed by a two-month period in Breda during which a
unit of 13 (BE) Artillery Group would take over at SAS
Stöckerbusch. In
1985 the company was the only Royal Army unit
permanently assigned to facility security duties in peacetime; more
than
half of each two-month deployment consisted of a demanding
regime of standing guard, patrolling and being on call. Oosterboer,
op. cit., 177-180. Bevaart
et al., Vijftig
jaar, 119-120. Bremer, op. cit., 28-30. SAS Stöckerbusch
was
supervised by 27th (US) Ordnance Company, subordinate
to 59th (US) Ordnance Brigade, headquartered in
Pirmasens (GE),
which brigade was responsible for the US Army's nuclear
weapons in Europe. Hoffenaar,
Van Hoof en De Moor, Vuur
in beweging,
159-160. Website
U.S. Army in Germany, 59th Ordnance Brigade. It is
said that SAS Stöckerbusch stored W31 nuclear warheads for MIM-14
Nike Hercules surface-to-air missile
systems (see for instance website
Zone Interdite, USAr Büren), but
this is not certain. Oosterboer, op. cit., 177. |
2. |
|
NIMH
205A/10, Aflossing van mobilisabele eenheden en -aanvullingen d.d. 27
mei 1980. Ibid., d.d. 11 november 1983. Ibid., d.d. 17 juni 1985. |
3. |
|
VS 7-265, 13. Hoffenaar en
Schoenmakers, November
Romeo, 112-113. |
4. |
|
Hoffenaar en
Schoenmakers, op. cit., 138-139. Stinger platoon:
this was
not a standard organisation type in the Royal Army, the Stingers being
incorporated in the armoured anti-aircraft artillery batteries.
The platoon designation suggests a complement of nine Stinger systems.
JOC NORTHAG/TWOATAF had its peacetime location in
Mönchengladbach-Rheindalen (see NATO Command, Northern
Army Group). |
5. |
|
Wartime
location Headquarters AFCENT: Felius, Einde Oefening,
210. In
peacetime it was located in Brunssum. Ibid. |
6. |
|
HTK
1983-1984, kamerstuknr. 18169 ondernr. 2
(Defensienota 1984-1993), 103. Hoffenaar en
Schoenmakers, loc. cit. Bevaart, Kort maar Krachtig,
88-89. Anonymus, KMS,
OCOSD en NATRES,
27. Platoon and
group commanders would be chosen from OCOSD pupils, as these were
sub-officers and reserve officers; their mobilisation role was part of
their training as of 1985. The platoons would be filled out by KMS
pupils (sub-officers in training), the company staffs
would be formed with KMA pupils (officers in training). Unit strength and
organisation probably similar to NATRES: in
1983-1984 NATRES had adopted the platoon organisation of the
territorial security infantry companies,
which indicates a
wish
for a standard unit type for this role. Hoffenaar en Schoenmakers, op.
cit., 119-120, 143. The aforementioned anonymous article notes that
all provisional security platoons would be placed under
command of NATRES company staffs, which seems incorrect given the
apparent presence of provisional company staffs.
Disbandment:
NL-HaNA 2.13.182 inv. nr. 546, Planningsmemorandum verdere uitbreiding
NATRES d.d. 10 juni 1983, Bijlage A d.d. 12 maart 1981. The official order of
battle shows these units as peacetime units (as I
have
done above), probably on the assumption that mobilisation would be
timely, in advance of hostilities. They were
scheduled to be disbanded on Telegram A, which
was not part of
the mobilisation telegram
sequence. Telegram A would also disband the Hohne
and Langemannshof Barrack Commands, the Military
Constabulary Detachments at the Netherlands embassies in East Berlin,
Warsaw and Moscow, and the UN Infantry Company in
Lebanon, so we may assume it signalled the breakout of war. NIMH 430, inv. nr. 54
(Slagorde KL stand 1 juli 1985). As actual
personnel strengths are unknown these units are not included in the
total peacetime
strength above. |
7. |
|
RIM was
the Dutch acronym for Direct Influx into Mobilisable Units (Rechtstreekse
Instroming in Mobilisabele Eenheden). GRIM was a variant of
this system, meaning "Largely RIM" (Grotendeels
Rechtstreekse Instroming in Mobilisabele Eenheden).
For a survey of the
Royal Army's unit filling and reserve system see Gijsbers, Blik
in de smidse, 2222-2231;
Selles,
Personele
vulling;
Berghuijs, Opleiding,
14-23. In English: Isby and Kamps, Armies,
341-343; Sorrell, Je
Maintiendrai, 94-96; Van
Vuren, The
Royal Netherlands Army Today, Military Review April 1982, 23-28. |
|