The 13th Light Brigade () is one of the three combat brigades of the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army (, KL) is the Ground warfare, land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised making the Dutch standing a ...

, the other ones being 11th Airmobile Brigade and 43rd Mechanised Brigade. The brigade is a fully motorised brigade, equipped with

Fennek The Fennek, named after the fennec (a species of small desert fox), or LGS Fennek, with LGS being short for in German (Light Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle), is a four-wheeled armed reconnaissance vehicle produced by the German company KND ...

Boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

and Bushmaster wheeled, armoured vehicles.

History

The brigade was formed as the 13th Motorized Brigade, and came from the 3rd Infantry Brigade. The 3rd Infantry Brigade was part of the First Division "7 December", which was formed on 1 September 1946. In 1950 the brigade was transformed into a mechanized infantry brigade, the 13th Mechanized brigade, which became part of the 4th Division and was stationed in North Germany. After the reforms of 1970 the brigade became again a part of the First Division. In the early 1990s the brigade became a fully mechanized brigade. In 2013, the brigade lost its mechanized infantry fighting vehicles and was equipped with wheeled equipment and therefore renamed 13th Light Brigade. In 2023 the brigade was integrated into the German Army's 10th Panzer Division. In September 2024 it was reported that the 13th Light Brigade will receive Boxer RCT30 infantry fighting vehicles.

Organization

As of March 2025 the 13 Light Brigade consists the following units: * 13 Lichte Brigade embleem embleem

13 Light Brigade (13 Lichte Brigade), in

Oirschot Oirschot (; ''Orskot'' in the local dialect) is a municipality and town in the province of North Brabant (Noord-Brabant) in the southern Netherlands. It is from Eindhoven and from Tilburg. The municipality had a population of in . Populat ...

** 13 Staff Company (13 Stafcompagnie), in Oirschot ** 17 Armored Infantry Battalion " Garderegiment Fuseliers Prinses Irene" (17 Pantserinfanteriebataljon "Garderegiment Fuseliers Prinses Irene"), in Oirschot *** A, B, C and D Company, with

armored fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can b ...

s ** 42 Armored Infantry Battalion " Regiment Limburgse Jagers" (42 Pantserinfanteriebataljon "Regiment Limburgse Jagers"), in Oirschot *** A, B, C and D Company, with Boxer armored fighting vehicles ** 30 Infantry Battalion (30 Infanteriebataljon) National Reserve Corps, in

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an importan ...

*** Alpha Company (Alfa-compagnie), in Vlissingen *** Bravo Company (Bravo-compagnie), in

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

*** Charlie Company (Charlie-compagnie), in Oirschot *** Delta Company (Delta-compagnie), in

Brunssum Brunssum (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. The municipality of Brunssum has residents as of . Brunssum was a center of coal mining until 197 ...

*** Echo Company (Echo-compagnie), in Vredepeel ** 41 Armored Engineer Battalion (41 Pantsergeniebataljon), in Oirschot *** Staff Company *** 411 and 412 Armored Engineer Company (411, 412 Pantsergeniecompagnie) *** Multi Role Engineer Company ** 42 Brigade Reconnaissance Squadron "

Regiment Huzaren van Boreel The Regiment Huzaren van Boreel is an armoured regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army, named for . It currently serves in the armoured Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Reconnaissance (ISTAR) role; the regiment provides armoured re ...

" (42 Brigade Verkenningseskadron "Regiment Huzaren van Boreel"), in Oirschot, with

reconnaissance vehicles ** 13 Medical Company (13 Geneeskundige Compagnie), in Oirschot ** 13 Maintenance Company (13 Herstelcompagnie), in Oirschot ** Robotics and Autonomous Systems Cell (Robotica en Autonome Systemen cel), in Oirschot. In the next few years, a third armoured infantry battailon will be raised, probably equipped with Boxer armoured vehicles, as well as 41 Field Artillery Battailon, equipped with

PzH2000 The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (), meaning "armoured howitzer 2000" and abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by KNDS Deutschland (formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW)) and Rheinmetall in the 1980s and 1990s for th ...

howitzers and

PULS Puls may refer to: * Puls (surname) * ''Puls'' (album), by Swedish pop group Gyllene Tider * Puls (band), a Danish music band specializing in club dance music * Puls (beer brand), a brand produced by Viru Brewery, Estonia * Puls (company), a c ...

rocket artillery, a reserve engineer company (413 Field Engineer Company (genieveldcompagnie)) and additional medical and supply elements.

Equipment

* 97

armoured reconnaissance vehicles * 117

armoured vehicle in various types. * 30 Bushmaster infantry mobility vehicles in various types. * 72 Mercedes-Benz G280 CDI terrain vehicles. * 6 Milrem THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles.

References

External links

{{Commonscat Brigades of the Netherlands Military units and formations established in 1949