Die Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) | News & Discussions

[Fenrir]

U34 in Poland.

 

[Fenrir]

233 Mountain Infantry Battalion.

 

[Louiq XIV]

I like the pictures with horses. That is a good reminder that despite all the high-tech stuff we have we sometime need some simple straight and low tech solutions.

 

[Vergennes]

Officers of the élite Prussian Gardes du Corps, wishing to provoke war, ostentatiously sharpen their swords on the steps of the French embassy in Berlin in the autumn of 1805.

 

[dexter]

German Panzergrenadier battalion 122 deploy to Lithuania as part of a force organized by NATO.

 

[Aurorawar]

German Gebirgsjäger

 

[Nilgiri]

German Gebirgsjäger

Hell hath no fury like a Grenade launcher

 

[Aurorawar]

 

[JustHappened]

German/Polish border this morning,0745 hr, heading East

 

[Georg]

somehow funny that in this Forum no one talks about the German Kampfschwimmer (combat swimmer)... here are so many in love with special forces units and no one drops a word about the most hardcore forces unit in the world.

The history of german special operation forces is even older than the british SAS, there were already combat frogman in ww1. Befor ww2 Germany had the special forces operation unit called Brandenburger... at the start of ww2 this unit had 600men... By May 1940 75% of the 600soldiers already earned the Iron Cross, it was the highest decorated unit in the whole Wehrmacht... The first modern combat swimmer unit was founded in 1942 called Kuesten-Jaegerabteilung Brandenburg...
Today the Kampfschwimmer company is part of the KSM (Komando Spezialkräfte Marine / comando special forces Navy) it is a very small unit of only 130men but their training get them to the most extrem possible.

The requirement is so hard that in some years not a single soldier pass the 4 week introductory training and the dropoutnumber is around 90%.

To get premission to join the 4 week introductory training the soldiers have to fullfill the minimum requirments..that are..

• Applicants must be German citizens in the sense of the article 116 of the Grundgesetz (Constitution).
• They must be at least 17 years old and less than 25 years old.
• Realschulabschluss or Abitur, with favorable exam passes.
• 1000m swim in less than 24 minutes
• 5000m run in less than 22 minutes
• 30m distance swim underwater with a turn, without equipment
• Stay underwater without breathing for at least 60 seconds
• Sport test with at least 20 points; at least 3 points for each exercise
• Must be an active duty soldier who has served at least 6 months. After training, one must enlist for four years.
• Diving fitness is examined by the Schifffahrtsmedizinisches Institut (naval medical institute) of the navy.
• Parachute jump fitness is examined by the same institute.

The 4 week introduction training
First there are four weeks of introductory training. In this time the applicants are pushed hard physically and psychologically by fixed exercises. All exercises have the goal to take away the fear of water and to make the applicant feel safe in the water. One of the exercises is called gefesseltes Schwimmen (the bound swimming). The applicant is placed on the starting block in the full combat suit, with his hands tied behind his back and his feet tied together, and then pushed in the swimming pool. He must stay for 30 seconds alone clearly; afterwards a safety diver pulls him back up.
In the so-called "hate week" the trainees are deprived of sleep. Between the night exercises, there are night runs. Meanwhile, the normal routine of the day continues: swimming, diving, and push-ups.
They also have to train to exit and enter a submarine through a torpedo tube. At the final examination they have to swim about 30 km(~19miles takes about 17hours in water) with full equipment (over 30kg) in the Baltic Sea to reach the beach after being discharged at the sea.
After the introduction training the real training starts, it takes some 3.5years befor the soldiers get the officel operation ready marking... training includes diving, parachute jumping, special shooting training, medical training, long range reccon, driver licens for almost everything (ship trucks cars), german commando course, combat survival course, mountain combat training, Explosive helper of the Navy in the diving operation and added to this special training for NCO and Officers.

Operational details are secret... only random facts about are known about their active usse.
they took part during ODS in 1991 (officle they just guarded german ships in the region)
they were active in Solmaia in 1993
they took part at operation sharp guard
they were active in Kosovo
they were active in Lebanon
they were active during operation Atlanta

During a maneuver in the early 1970´s in Italy, the US Navy Seal´s first time meet german Kampfschwimmer, they were extremly impressed by the underwater skills of the Kampfschwimmer and visit the Kampfschwimmer Unit in Germany soon after, which lead in 1972 to a personal exchange program between the US Navy Seals and the German Kampfschwimmer, since that time there is always a German Officer in the US Navy Seals trining program as a trainer and Navy Seal soldiers are send to German to participate Kampfschwimmer Training. Since that date there is a close relationship between the SEALS and the Kampfschwimmer

The Kampfschimmer mission statment
Learn to suffer without complaint/ Lerne leiden, ohne zu klagen

 

[Georg]

 

[Königstiger]

60 second playlist of modern equipment of the German Army

 

[Malik Alashter]

German advisors training Kurdish Peshmerga how to use Panzerfaust 3
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Didn't help the Kurds in Kirkuk they run like rabbits for their life then they cried like kids.... You can't stand against the Iraqis when they are serious

German advisors training Kurdish Peshmerga how to use Panzerfaust 3
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Didn't help the Kurds in Kirkuk they run like rabbits for their life then they cried like kids.... You can't stand against the Iraqis when they are serious

 

[Jäger]

KSK wearing the new Multitarn uniform and armed with the new G95 rifles (HK416A7)

 

[Jäger]

EGB operators in Mazar-I-Sharif Afghanistan