The Franco-German Brigade is a special military brigade of the Eurocorps, founded in 1989, jointly consisting of units from both the French Army and the German Army.

History

The Brigade was formed in 1987 following a summit between President Mitterrand of France and Chancellor Kohl of Germany. The Brigade became operational on 2 October 1989, under the command of General Jean-Pierre Sengeisen. Currently, the FGB is stationed at Müllheim, Metz, Donaueschingen, Illkirch-Graffenstaden, Sarrebourg, and Stetten am Kalten Markt as part of the Eurocorps. In February 2009 it was announced that a German battalion of the force was to be moved to Illkirch near Strasbourg, the first time a German unit had been stationed in France since the German occupation of World War II. On 31 October 2013, France announced that in 2014 it would inactivate the 110th Infantry Regiment based in Donaueschingen and thus withdraw around 1000 men from Germany. This would leave the brigade with 4000 men, but would put an end to each country having a major presence in the other, France would be left with ~500 troops in Germany and vice versa. Since 2016, French units are part of 1st Division and German units are part of 10th Panzer Division.

Organisation

The Franco-German brigade can be described as a mechanised formation; its combat units are an armoured reconnaissance regiment, three infantry battalions, and an artillery regiment. The logistical support unit and the brigade's HQ have mixed complements drawn from both countries.