52 Armoured Infantry Brigade
1
52
Pantserinfanteriebrigade (52 Painfbrig)
Unit |
Main
Equipment |
Location |
Peace
Strength |
War
Strength |
Staff
and Staff Company
52 Armoured Infantry Brigade [a] |
|
Arnhem |
2/2/1 (5)
|
32/34/148/2
(216) |
44
Armoured Infantry Battalion [b] |
YP-408 |
Zuidlaren |
36/108/490
(634) |
41/117/661/2
(821) |
15
Armoured Infantry Battalion [c] |
YP-408 |
– |
– |
41/117/661/2
(821) |
52 Armoured
Antitank Company [d] |
YPR-765 PRAT |
– |
– |
9/26/135
(170) |
52 Tank Battalion
[e] |
Centurion
Mk 5/2 |
– |
– |
36/96/433/2
(567) |
51 Armoured
Engineer Company [f] |
|
– |
– |
9/25/183
(217) |
51 Field
Artillery Battalion [g] |
M109A2/A3 |
– |
– |
31/91/438/2
(562) |
52
Brigade Supply Company [h] |
|
– |
– |
8/29/230
(267) |
52
Brigade Repair Company [i] |
|
– |
– |
8/46/176
(230) |
52
Brigade Medical Company [j] |
|
– |
– |
19/21/144/2
(186) |
52
Armoured Infantry Brigade Peace Strength: 2/2/1
(5) |
52
Armoured Infantry Brigade
War Strength: 234/602/3209/12
(4057) |
Notes
a. |
Filled
out by mobilisable personnel
that had fulfilled their active-duty period in Staff and Staff
Company, 11
Armoured Infantry Brigade up to six and a half years prior to
mobilisation.2 |
b. |
Wartime organisation;
under command of 42 Armoured
Infantry Brigade in peacetime. |
c. |
RIM
battalion, filled by
mobilisable companies and platoons that had fulfilled their active-duty
period in 13
Armoured Infantry Battalion between four and
twenty
months prior to mobilisation.2
6 |
d. |
RIM company, filled by
mobilisable platoons that had fulfilled their active-duty period
in 11
Armoured Antitank Company between four and twenty
months prior to mobilisation.2
6 |
e |
52 Tank
Battalion was to transition from Centurion Mk 5/2 to
Leopard 1V as a whole in May 1987, concurrently adopting
a new organisation type which would
add a fourth tank squadron to the battalion's war strength (the old battalion
organisation is described in detail here). This
is per the planning of July 1985; given
the persistence of the problems with the Leopard 1 upgrading programme
and the delays these had already caused it is quite possible
that further delays occurred. The last
Leopard 1V was delivered on 16 December 1987, however.3
Once the transition was completed the battalion would be
filled
under the RIM system by 101 Tank
Battalion.2
6 D
Squadron, not falling under the
RIM system, would be filled by the
personnel of A Squadron for ten months after their fourteen to
sixteen-month RIM
period in that
unit had expired.4
Before the
transition to Leopard 1V the battalion was filled out with mobilisable
personnel from 57 Tank
Battalion (RIM)
after
their fourteen to sixteen-month RIM period in that unit had expired, up
to eight and a half years prior to mobilisation.5 |
f. |
RIM
company, filled by
mobilisable platoons that had fulfilled their active-duty period
in 11
Armoured Engineer Company between four and twenty
months prior to mobilisation.2
6 |
g. |
RIM battalion, filled by
mobilisable batteries that had fulfilled their active-duty
period in 42 Field
Artillery Battalion between four and twenty
months prior to mobilisation.2
6 |
h. |
GRIM
company, largely
filled by mobilisable platoons that had fulfilled their active-duty
period in 11
Brigade Supply Company between four and twenty
months prior to mobilisation.2
6 |
i. |
GRIM
company, largely
filled by mobilisable platoons that had fulfilled their active-duty
period in 11
Brigade Repair Company between four and twenty
months prior to mobilisation.2
6 |
j. |
RIM
company, filled by
mobilisable platoons that had fulfilled their active-duty period
in 11
Brigade Medical Company between four and twenty
months prior to mobilisation.2
6 |
Combat
Formations
Following
the Royal Army's tactical
doctrine and established modus operandi the brigade would not fight in
the organic
order of battle displayed above but form combined-arms battle groups,
as illustrated in Unit Organisation and Equipment, Mixed Battalions and Company Teams.
_________________________________________________
1. |
|
For the
brigade's role in 1 (NL) Corps covering force between 1979 and 1985,
see 41Armoured Brigade, Operational Role: The
Corps Covering Force. |
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. |
|
SSA-MvD, CLAS/BLS
7486,
Memorandum Realisatie Legerplan 149-4E d.d. 10 juli 1985. According
to the initial planning of 1982, 52 Tank Battalion was to transition
between March and September 1985, with D Squadron to be added
in
March 1986. SSA-MvD, CLAS/BLS
7486,
Planningsmemorandum Instroming Leopard 1V, Leopard 2 (etc.) d.d. 29
december 1982.
The last Leopard 1V delivered: Smit, Leopard 1, 95-96. For a
detailed analysis of the problems with the Leopard 1 upgrading
programme and their consequences, see NL-HaNA 2.13.182, inv.
nr. 682, Aantekening DMKL "Het wapensysteem Leopard
1V" d.d. 28 augustus 1986, 6-8; HTK 1989-1990,
kamerstuknr.
21610 ondernr. 2 (Rapport
Leopardtanks Algemene
Rekenkamer), 52-61, 68-71;
Smit, Leopard 1,
95-100. |
4. |
|
NIMH
205A/10, Aflossing
van mobilisabele eenheden en
-aanvullingen d.d. 17 juni 1985, Bijlage
A1. Previous
to that A Squadron, 52 Tank Battalion would have fulfilled their
active-duty period as A Squadron, 101 Tank Battalion. Ibid. The
ten-month cycle of D Squadron: Selles,
Personele
vulling, 457. |
5. |
|
The
battalion was last filled with mobilisable personnel from 57 Tank
Battalion (RIM) in 1982, when that battalion was still equipped with
Centurion Mk 5/2. This personnel had previously fulfilled
their
active-duty period in 101 Tank Battalion, also equipped with
Centurion Mk 5/2 at the time. NIMH 205A/10, Aflossing van mobilisabele
eenheden en
-aanvullingen d.d. 27 mei 1980, Bijlage 1
en 3.
|
6. |
|
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. |
|