British Army Returns From Germany
by Baron Halpenny, LincsMag Editor.
Date: 01 December 2011
Next year the Army will begin to bring home nearly 20,000 troops based in Germany.
Beginning in January 2012, around 1800 troops will be relocated to sites across the UK. In addition, Army units will move from Cyprus while others will move location within the UK earlier than planned. This includes troops moving into former RAF bases at Cottesmore and Kinloss.
In October 2010 the Ministry of Defence announced as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review its aim to return half of its personnel currently based in Germany to the UK by 2015 and the remainder by 2020.
It is of course money that is the key motivator for these current moves, despite whatever they may try to say to the contrary, for it is estimated the move will save the MoD £250 million a year – the additional cost of having the Army in Germany.
Bringing the forces currently based in Germany back to the UK will, it is claimed, contribute around £650 million per year to the UK economy, as wages are spent in the UK instead of in Germany, though this is never quite the case and the current cutbacks and redundancies seem to have been conveniently overlooked here.
The announcement also sets out how the Army is restructuring its regional Divisions and Brigades.
Defence Transformation project
The future basing decisions followed on from the SDSR and were announced in July 2011 as part of the MoD’s Defence Transformation project. The Army regiments moving location over the next few years are:
a) 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment (2 R ANGLIAN) to move from Cyprus to Cottesmore in Rutland in July 2012, rather than moving to Trenchard Barracks, Celle as originally planned. This allows the closure of Trenchard Barracks which will be handed back to the German authorities. It will see the move of some 620 service personnel and their families into Cottesmore.
b) 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (2 YORKS) will move from Cyprus to Elizabeth Barracks, Pirbright in July 2013, rather than moving to Münster station in Germany. This allows for the closure of Münster. This move will see around 620 service personnel and their families move into Pirbright.
c) 7 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) will also move from Bielefeld in Germany to Cottesmore. This enables the move of HQ British Forces Germany from Rheindahlen to Bielefeld, and the closure of Rheindahlen Military Complex from 2014/15. This move will see some 450 service personnel and their families in Cottesmore by Summer 2013.
d) 39 Engineer Regiment (Air Support) will move from Waterbeach near Cambridge to Kinloss, in the summer of 2012, and HQ 12 (Air Support) Engineer Group will move from Waterbeach to RAF Wittering in the summer of 2013, enabling the closure of Waterbeach Barracks by December 2013. 25 Engineer Regiment, also based at Waterbeach, will be disbanded as a PR11 savings measure by no later than 31 May 12.
Two of its squadrons (34 Field Squadron and 53 Field Squadron) will become part of 39 Engr Regt and move to Kinloss. This sees the move of some 930 service personnel and their families to Kinloss, and 44 service personnel and their families to Wittering.
e) 43 Close Support Squadron RLC will move from Gütersloh, Germany, to Abingdon, Oxfordshire to collocate with its parent Regiment (12 Logistic Support Regiment) by the end of January 2012. This will affect around 120 service personnel and their families. This move enables the closure of Rheindahlen Military Complex.
Sell Offs and Closure
These moves mean Waterbeach Barracks will be sold; Trenchard Barracks (Celle) and Münster station will be handed back to the German authorities, and will enable the closure of Rheindahlen Military Complex. Troop numbers in Cyprus will remain unchanged as 2 R ANGLIAN and 2 YORKS are being replaced by other infantry battalions.
Further reductions will result from a full basing estimate presently being conducted by the Army into its future force structures, or in other words more cutbacks.
The moves will see the Army take over Kinloss earlier than the intended date of 2014/2015 and will see the number of service personnel in Scotland maintained.
Regional Divisions and Brigades
The Army has also confirmed that it is restructuring its regional Divisions and Brigades. Under Project Avanti, the Army is replacing its three UK Divisional Headquarters in Edinburgh, Shrewsbury and Aldershot with a single Headquarters Support Command in Aldershot. The decision was taken as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review announced in October 2010.
The new HQ Support Command in Aldershot will begin operation in January 2012 when HQ 4th Division at Aldershot will disband. HQ 2nd Division at Edinburgh and HQ 5th Division at Shrewsbury will both disband by April 2012, although some tasks will continue until at least August 2012 when HQ Support Command should be fully operational.
Despite the closure of HQ 2nd Division at Edinburgh, the Army has said it will retain a General Officer Commanding (GOC) Scotland with the minimum of staff, which maintains the level of senior representation in Scotland to oversee the re-basing changes. In addition, the Army intends to relocate HQ 1st Division, currently based in Germany, to Scotland by 2020 which would take over the GOC Scotland role.
Replace RAF
General Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the General Staff, had this to say, “Following direction delivered in the 2010 SDSR and the 3 Month Exercise, the Army is making significant progress in meeting its obligations. The new basing arrangements being announced today allow the Army to reinforce vital links with local communities in the UK, as well as continuing to provide a high level of support to our soldiers and their families. This will include working closely with our counterparts in the RAF to maintain the links they have established as we replace them in some locations.
“The establishment of a UK Support Command via the restructuring of the Army’s regional footprint provides an excellent opportunity to deliver efficiencies whilst sustaining the Army’s support to the civil authorities, and maintaining current front line and operational commitments. This is but one step in a series of changes to manoeuvre the Army, as there will be more announcements of this sort to come.”
The interesting point here is the, "working closely with our counterparts in the RAF to maintain the links they have established as we replace them in some locations...". Replace them? And where are the RAF going?
Incoherent Strategic Defence and Security Review
Minister for the Armed Forces Nick Harvey has said just spin and that, "The strategic objective remains to deliver a coherent and affordable Defence capacity in 2020 and beyond." Yet HMS Westminster was sent to the Libya war zone with 190 crew aboard and armed with just four Sea Wolf missiles. The missiles are fired in pairs, giving the frigate only two rounds to respond to any attack.
Worrying also is the disclosure that British waters were left unguarded in October because last year’s defence cuts meant the Navy could not spare a vessel.
A Navy spokesman said: “The air threat off Benghazi was low. HMS Westminster could have been re-supplied if needed.” So if the enemy had launched a surprise attack firing several missiles, how were the Navy going to magically re-supply the warship in time?
As Retired Rear Admiral Chris Parry said: “This is yet another example of the incoherent Strategic Defence and Security Review. What if Westminster had been hit? They took a big risk.”
It would also have been a lot better to have brought our forces back from Afghanistan.
