The I

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Corps was an

army corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

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 ...

. It formed after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and after the fall of the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

was disestablished. In January 1949, the government agreed to the establishment of an army corps. In the same year, the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...

was established. In 1955, after joining

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

to NATO, the 1st Army Corps was made responsible for the defense of a part of the

North German Plain The North German Plain or Northern Lowland () is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the north, Germany's ...

. The army corps was part of the

Northern Army Group The Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) was a NATO military formation comprising four Western European Army Corps, during the Cold War as part of NATO's forward defence in western Germany. The Army Group headquarters was established on 1 November 1952 ...

of NATO. From 1963 onwards, part of the army corps was actually stationed in Germany, namely in Seedorf. The corps's war assignment, as formulated by Commander,

(COMNORTHAG), would be to: *Assume responsibility for its corps sector and relieve 1st German Corps forces as soon as possible. *Fight the covering force battle in accordance with COMNORTHAG's concept of operations. *In the main defensive battle: (1) hold and destroy the forces of the enemy's leading armies conventionally as far east as possible, maintaining cohesion with 1 (GE) Corps; (2) in the event of a major penetration affecting 1 (NL) Corps sector, be prepared to hold the area between the roads A7 and B3 and to conduct a counterattack according to COMNORTHAG's concept of operations. *Maintain cohesion with LANDJUT and secure NORTHAG's left flank in the Forward Combat Zone.

Structure

After the Second World War until July 18, 1995 the

had one army corps (1st Army Corps) of three divisions (1st Division "7 December", 4th, and 5th) and army corps troops.

First Division "7 December" The First Division "7 December" () was a division of the Royal Netherlands Army, active from at least 1946 to 2004. It was sent to Indonesia in 1946 to restore "peace, order and security" after the proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945 ...

was withdrawn from the East Indies in 1949–1950 and spent the remainder of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

as part of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

's I (Netherlands) Corps as a deterrent against a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

attack on

. In 1985, it had its headquarters at

Schaarsbergen Arnhem ( ; ; Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of the rivers Nederrijn and Sint-Jansb ...

, and divisional troops included the 102nd Reconnaissance Battalion (maintained through the Dutch mobilisation system RIM) at

Hoogland Hoogland () is a village and former free-standing municipality in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. It is located north of the Amersfoort city centre. The village population is 10,587 people (2006). Since 1974, Hoogland has been a p ...

References

External links

Webpage on 1st Korps, 1985

Inventaris van het archief van de stafonderdelen van het 1e legerkorps en de daaronder ressorterende divisies, (1945-1947) 1949-1994 (gahetna.nl)
* {{cite web, last1=Alter, first1=Fritz, title=Gliederung und Stationierung der niederländischen Streitkräfte in Deutschland im Jahre 1989, url=http://www.relikte.com/_basis/docs/nlsd-1.pdf, format=PDF, website=Relikte.com, accessdate=15 July 2017, archive-date=22 March 2017, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322100041/http://www.relikte.com/_basis/docs/nlsd-1.pdf, url-status=dead Military units and formations of the Netherlands Corps

Structure

See also

References

External links