Grafenwoehr Training Area (GTA) is a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

training base located near

Grafenwöhr Grafenwöhr (, Northern Bavarian: ''Groafawehr'') is a town in the district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab, in the region of the Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz) in eastern Bavaria, Germany. It is widely known for the United States Army milita ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. At 232 km², it is the largest US training facility in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The base is operated by 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command. Facilities include the Tower Barracks.

History

The training area was established in 1907, and used to train troops for the

III Royal Bavarian Corps The III Royal Bavarian Army Corps / III Bavarian AK (german: III. Königlich Bayerisches Armee-Korps) was a corps level command of the Royal Bavarian Army, part of the German Army, before and during World War I. As the German and Bavarian Armi ...

. Undergoing a major expansion from 96 to 230 square kilometers in 1938, the base was used by the ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

'' to practice ''

blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg ( , ; from 'lightning' + 'war') is a word used to describe a surprise attack using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with close air ...

'' tactics. During the course of the war a myriad of different units were trained in the area, including foreign volunteers of the Wehrmacht and ''

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

'', as well as four divisions of the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

's ''

National Republican Army The National Republican Army (Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano, or ENR) was the army of the Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or RSI) from 1943 to 1945 that fought on the side of Nazi Germany during World War II. The E ...

''. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the base was occupied by the

. On September 2, 1960, 16 American soldiers were killed and 26 injured when an 8-inch howitzer shell crashed into them during a morning roll call. The shell had been overloaded with charge and went miles beyond its target. From December 2018 to February 2019, Grafenwoehr Training Area housed more than 5,000 Soldiers of the Ironhorse Brigade which is the current Regionally Aligned Force in eastern Europe. As the current Regionally Aligned Force in Europe, one of the brigade's main mission is increasing interoperability with other

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

nations. Grafenwoehr Training Area allowed the entire brigade to re-consolidate all forces in preparation for redeployment back to Ft. Hood, Texas. Within the training area, Camp Aachen and Camp Algiers are located on the Grafenwoehr Training Area and provide housing support as well as an MWR, USO, and

AAFES The Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES, also referred to as The Exchange and The PX or The BX) is the retailer in U.S. Army and Air Force installations worldwide. The Exchange is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and its director/chief exe ...

shoppette facility. In addition, Grafenwoehr Training Area is home to the Joint Multinational Sim Center specifically located on the Camp Aachen portion of the training area.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1907 establishments in Germany Installations of the United States Army in Germany Military installations established in 1907 Military training areas in Germany