 |  | ||||||
New SSI's for a New German Army Part II By Thomas F. Neumann
When the Army was reorganized during the great restructuring of the German armed forces in the mid-1990s, it follows the example of the Air Force and the Navy, and divided itself into three major commands: This major command, which has its headquarter in Koblenz, was formed out of the disbanded III Corps and set in charge for all corps, divisions and separate combat brigades. The SSI of this organization is a yellow shield, bordered by a yellow rope, which bears a black eagle with his beak, tongue and legs in red. Heraldically this SSI is the seal of the Federal Republic of Germany. This major command, which has its headquarters in Cologne (Köln), was originally established during the formation of the old (Cold War) German Army in the mid of the 1950s and was then in charge for all affairs concerning personel and materiel, training and testing. Now its responsibilities were reduced to personnel and training affairs. The SSI of this organization is a red shield, bordered by a white rope, which bears two crossed swords with black and white blades, and yellow handparts. The heraldry for this SSIs is severely limited - the swords represents the military. (Note: The SSI of this major command was approved almost 30 years before the German reunification, but I include it to this article for completion.) This major command, which has its headquarters in Münchengladbach, takes over the responsibilities for materiel and testing affairs from the Army Office and was also set in charge for three medical brigades and three logistic brigades. The SSI of this organization is the same as that of the Army Office, with the exception that the shield is blue instead of red. Heraldically, the swords represents the military and the blue of the shield represent the colors of the three branches, which dominates this major command: Medium blue for the
LEFT: "Eurokorps" (Eurocorps or European Corps) This corps, which has its headquarter in Strassburg/France, is composed of units from the armed forces of six or more European nations and belongs to the West European Union, which is an European-self defense force, similar to NATO. The SSI of this unit is a blue shield, which bears a gray landmass and a ring of yellow stars, superimposed by a sword with a white blade and yellow handparts. Heraldically the blue background and the ring of yellow stars represents the flag of the European Union, and the gray landmass represent the European continent; the corps belongs to both elements. The sword represent strengh and defense, and the military nature of the corps. This corps, which has its headquarters in Müenster, was formed by the merging of the I (German) Corps and the I (Netherland) Corps, and is composed of a binational headquarter and the 1st (German) Armor Division in Germany, and a binational command support group and the 1st (Netherland) Mechanized Division in the Netherlands. The SSI of this unit is an OD shield, bordered yellow, which bears a sword, with a white blade and a yellow handpart, held by two gloves. The handparts of these gloves are white and their cuffs are horizontally divided into three stripes, with the colors red, white and blue from top to bottom on the left cuff, and the colors black, red and yellow from top to bottom on the right cuff. Below the sword and the gloves, and written in white letters, is the motto: "COMMUNITATE VALEMUS" (United Strength). Heraldically, the OD color of the shield the represents the military nature of the corps and the sword represents both the combat power of the corps and the sovereingty of the two nations that comprises the corps. The two gloves represents also the two participatng nations and the colors of the cuffs are the colors of their national flags. Part III will feature several new SSI's that soon will be approved for the German Army, hopefully approval dates. | |||||||
©2007 ASMIC All Rights Reserved | |||||||
