Step back in time with us as we uncover the rigorous training of Bundeswehr NCOs and why their schools vanished! Discover wild stories, epic drills, and some eyebrow-raising army politics. Would bringing back the old methods fix today's NCO shortage? Dive in and let’s debate! Subscribe for more deep dives and tell us in the comments what fact or story surprised you most! #history #military #Germany #education #debate
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@zeitgeschichteinbildundton
0:21 - Overview of Bundeswehr NCO Roles
1:15 - Historical Changes and Dissolution
3:08 - Current Challenges and Proposal
5:27 - Origins of Army NCO Training
8:27 - Barracks History and Early Years
10:02 - Structure of Early NCO Training
13:51 - Phases of NCO Training and Evolution
18:38 - Consequences and Future Suggestions
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@zeitgeschichteinbildundton
0:21 - Overview of Bundeswehr NCO Roles
1:15 - Historical Changes and Dissolution
3:08 - Current Challenges and Proposal
5:27 - Origins of Army NCO Training
8:27 - Barracks History and Early Years
10:02 - Structure of Early NCO Training
13:51 - Phases of NCO Training and Evolution
18:38 - Consequences and Future Suggestions
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NewsTranscript
00:20What today is done by Army Sergeants of the Bundeswehr from A7 onwards was, 50 years ago,
00:28the daily bread of non-commissioned officers at A5, especially by those who had been trained
00:35at one of the two Army NCO schools. Because after 21 months in branch schools or training battalions,
00:44they were practically the creme de la creme of the Army's A5 non-commissioned officers.
00:50They were far ahead of those who had been trained as NCOs within the troops,
00:55both in theory and practice. Only older staff sergeants, members of the so-called OAS,
01:04the organization of Old Stufse, could keep up with them. Back then, the A5 NCOs were not any less
01:12smart than today's A7 Feldweebel. On the contrary, back then everything was still done manually,
01:19whether at the aiming circle, in the fire control section, at the gun, or in the tank,
01:25and all done in your head without computers, GPS, or lasers, just to mention a few things.
01:32But when the quality of the NCOs trained at the HUS became increasingly noticeable in the troops,
01:41they were disbanded again after only eight years of existence. The one in Sonthofen in 72,
01:49and a year later, the one in Aachen. This was thanks to the mediocre defense minister Helmut Schmidt
01:56and his advisors, General Wolfgraf von Baudichen, who had become increasingly left-leaning and retired
02:05in 1968, and Professor Thomas Elvine, who had always been on the left. Among other things,
02:14the commission named after him even wanted to abolish the position of attention,
02:20since it was considered, quote, a repressive element in the cooperative relationship
02:25between superiors and subordinates. And although I believe that even among the younger generation,
02:33you would find enough volunteers who could be recruited for highly qualified training.
02:39There is no longer such an overall concept for the training of young non-commissioned officers.
02:45However, the Bundeswehr is now supposed to grow, and more and more non-commissioned officers are
02:52needed. The Bundeswehr, which has already shrunk to 185,000 soldiers, is currently lacking around
02:5924,250 non-commissioned officers, and this cannot be remedied by sugarcoating or by pouring in more
03:07and more money. Therefore, I want to explore whether it would make sense now to reintroduce
03:13non-commissioned officer schools, to set them up in the old way, where applicants who have chosen the
03:19profession of soldier and the career of non-commissioned officer would receive a completely
03:25different kind of training than what exists today. Because non-commissioned officers, together with
03:32the soldiers they lead and officers up to the battalion commander, have always been the ones to
03:37decide the outcome of the battle. While you could dismiss 50 percent of the generals and admirals
03:43tomorrow morning without anyone noticing. In any case, the General Oberst Beck Barracks in
03:49Sandhofen, known as GOB, and the Army Non-Commissioned Officer School in Delitz, Saxony,
03:57are already available as two properties, where the training could take place, and you would only
04:03need to rely on the tried and tested training content, which of course are still highly relevant
04:09today, adapted to the new threat situation. This would also increase the attractiveness of serving
04:16as a temporary service or career non-commissioned officer in the Army, in addition to the qualification
04:24already offered that can be used in civilian life. In my opinion, this also includes offering the
04:31opportunity to earn the abateur for those serving at least 12 years. It's hard to understand why young
04:38officers are kept away from the troops for years during their important first years of service,
04:44sometimes for up to a year before they start from the 67th month. That is, after five years and seven
04:51months, they attend a platoon leader course, but the non-commissioned officer corps is still basically
04:57treated the same as it was in 1956. In any case, I would like to present to you a training
05:04path for
05:05aspiring non-commissioned officers that already existed until 1972 and produced top non-commissioned
05:13officers. They mastered everything that a sergeant does today, although with the current generation
05:19of sergeants, some can't even march in step anymore. A disgrace for a quasi-professional Army.
05:27The property in Sandhofen, which is still used by the Bundeswehr today, bears the name of Colonel General
05:34Ludwig Beck, one of the main participants in the coup attempt of the 20th of July 1944, who died by
05:42suicide on the same day. After the Second World War, it was known as H.U.S. Thurm, and served
05:49as the
05:49first central training facility of the Bundeswehr for prospective non-commissioned officers in the Army.
05:55This idea was not exactly new, because the first non-commissioned officer school was opened in 1824,
06:03with the first Prussian non-commissioned officer school division in Potsdam,
06:07in the building that now houses the Justice Center. Over the years, six more were added.
06:14In 1877, eight preparatory non-commissioned officer schools were established for boys aged 14 and older.
06:24But unlike the non-commissioned officer schools, where military training was the main focus,
06:30the preparatory schools primarily promoted the general intellectual and moral foundations
06:36and physical fitness needed for a future career as a soldier.
06:42Since the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles prohibited the establishment of non-commissioned
06:46officer schools and preparatory schools, the first schools were only created with the
06:51reintroduction of conscription in 1935, but then in large numbers. However, among them were also
06:59several high-ranking German post-war generals. Colonel-General of the National People's Army,
07:05Fritz Strelitz, was a graduate of the Unterwitzier Unterwenzier-Forschule in Deggendorf.
07:11The Bundeswehr's Surgeon General, Dr. Horst Hennig, UVS Marienberg, and the UVS Dresden graduate,
07:19General Dr. Gunther Kiesling, who from 1982 to 1983 was Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of NATO,
07:28when the first 154 volunteers with an initially planned service period of four years on the first two.
07:37October 1964 began their service at the newly opened Army Non-Commissioned Officer School 1
07:43in Santofen in the Olgoy. Until then, the training of the Army's prospective non-commissioned
07:50officers had taken place. At the respective branch schools or directly in non-commissioned
07:55officer training companies in the divisions. But in addition to the, one must say, dramatic
08:00shortage of junior non-commissioned officers, already at that time, there were about 32,000
08:05junior NCOs missing in the troops. Among senior and junior NCOs, the glaring difference in junior NCO
08:13training had also become increasingly visible to the military leadership. Because with the shortage of
08:20junior NCOs, especially in the combat units, people often turned a blind eye during NCO training within
08:27the brigades, which did not necessarily improve the quality of the junior NCO Corps. So it was high time
08:34to finally introduce standardized training for aspiring junior NCOs. The barracks, which from 1956 was called
08:43Colonel-General Beck Barracks, was opened in 1934 as one of three so-called Ordensbergen, and until 1945 it served
08:51as an elite boarding school for the Adolf Hitler schools, which were Nazi-oriented and part of the
08:57Hitler Youth. As a training center for the Nazi Youth? Here too, among the former students, you find two prominent
09:06post-war West Germans. The co-editor of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Theo Sommer, who, by the way, also
09:13belonged to Helmut Schmidt's left-wing advisory circle, and the versatile actor Hadi Kruger, who made a name
09:20for himself with impressive stories of resistance, which, however, were never verifiable or were denied by the
09:27protagonists mentioned by the co-editors. But when the young volunteers began their service in 1964 in this
09:35Bundeswehr barracks, which was only referred to as a castle, there was probably no one who saw anything
09:42more in this barracks than just a normal Bundeswehr barracks, since at that time there were no eccentric
09:48West German historians of either gender who would have been interested in such buildings erected during
09:54the era from 33 to 45, who would have introduced the term evil buildings into the world for such structures.
10:02For the 18 to 19-year-old junior NCO cadets, as they were now registered for the next 21 months
10:09of their
10:10military service by the Army's main personnel office. The weekend excursions to Oberstdorf, just 14
10:18kilometers to the south, and frequented by female tourists looking for company, were definitely more
10:24important than deep reflections, that a different spirit had prevailed in their barracks 20 years ago.
10:32After the war, the French Army took over the barracks. Then, from February 47 until 52,
10:40the U.S. Army operated the central training facility for its 38-man special police force,
10:47the U.S. Constabulary. And from May 51 to February 52, there was also a basic training center here,
10:56a training center of the U.S. Air Force. Then, from 1956 until its relocation to Hanover in 2009,
11:04the Bundeswehr Military Police School had its military home here. Furthermore, until its move in 78 to
11:12Warendorf in Westphalia, the Bundeswehr Sports School was here, and, of course, the Army Non-Commissioned
11:18Officer School 1, or HUS 1 for short, which opened in October 64. It had two teaching groups,
11:26Groups A and B. The latter was responsible, among other things, for Course B, a kind of preliminary
11:32course for sergeants. Teaching Group A consisted of three companies, as they are called in Army schools.
11:39Each platoon, every second of the first inspections, had four groups and was led by a first lieutenant or
11:46captain, assisted by a deputy with the rank of sergeant. There were also four group leaders,
11:52non-commissioned or staff non-commissioned officers, and one corporal per group serving as assistant
11:57instructor. They wore the school's sleeve insignia on their uniforms, as well as the HUS-1 cuff title,
12:04while the students only wore the armband. The training to become a non-commissioned officer at
12:09HUS, I took place in four phases. First, Course A. This lasted six months, during which an extended and
12:18in-depth basic training was conducted. And regardless of which branch of service you had committed to
12:24later, during these six months, the entire spectrum of infantry training was covered. The field training
12:32took place at the local training area with the meaningful name Hill 996 with the number representing
12:40the elevation in meters. For the non-commissioned officer students, most of whom came from the
12:46lowlands, this elevation was always a challenge, especially when climbing it in a skirmish line or
12:52skirmish group while wearing the NBC protective mask. Theoretical and practical weapons and shooting
12:59training also took place with all infantry weapons, G3MP, UZI, P1 light anti-tank rocket,
13:07handheld flamethrower cartridge, hand grenade, stun incendiary hand grenade, and rifle grenade.
13:14Infantry combat training also included the motto, life in the field, a one-week bivouac.
13:20With accommodation in two-man tents, so-called Dachshund garages, or in shelters at the Bodelsberg military
13:28training area near Kempton. Lessons on leadership and law were partly conducted by Bundeswehr legal
13:35officers. Furthermore, all Unterwitziger students had to take the BildungsprĂĽfung too, and specialized
13:43teachers taught English. In addition to intensive drill training, there was comprehensive physical
13:49training, including swimming. Finally, all Unterwitziger students obtained the Bundeswehr Class C
13:56driver's license on Mayan five-ton trucks and went on a one-week educational trip. After this six-month,
14:04broadly-based military training, there was a one-day inspection as part of a mountain march,
14:10followed by promotion to Gefreiter. After that, the transfer for specialized basic training and full
14:18training took place to a unit chosen in part by the Unterwitziger student, almost always training
14:25battalions, where the Gefreiter received his first unit insignia for the uniform, here as an example,
14:32that of the tank destroyer training battalion in Munster. In the training battalion, the four-to-six-month
14:39full training specific to the branch took place in a company, where the Unterwitziger student, now a
14:46Gefreiter, was taught basic skills for his future assignment as a tank commander on the gun or missile
14:53tank destroyer. In addition to the shooting and combat training with the tank destroyer in the field,
15:00infantry training according to ZDV 3-11 was further refined, as well as drill and weapons training.
15:09Starting in 1968, a two-month preparatory course was introduced in the battalions for soldiers eligible
15:17for the Unterwitziger course. This was followed as the third training phase by the three-month Unterwitziger
15:25course at a branch school of the respective branch. During this course, the Gefreiter was trained
15:32as an Unterwitziger candidate, meanwhile wearing the so-called hope stripe as a joke, both as an operator
15:40and user of his weapons and equipment, and as an instructor and squad leader in his future unit.
15:48After successfully completing the Unterwitziger course, the Unterwitziger student would either return
15:54to his company as a squad leader for three to four months or serve as an instructor in a training
16:01section of the troop school for his branch. For the Unterwitziger students who did not pass the U course,
16:08their status as fixed-term soldiers ended and they were downgraded to the status of conscripts with 18
16:15months of service. For all others, after 16 months of service, they were promoted to Unterwitziger.
16:23After another two months as a squad leader or instructor, so after a total of 18 months of
16:30service, they then went back to the fourth section to HUS 1 in Sandhofen to complete the three-month
16:37course B, the final methodological and didactic part in the training of an Unterwitziger student.
16:45Unterwitziger student
16:46Many from course A met again, but qualified Unterwitzigers also joined. Staff sergeants were
16:56also added who had not previously been trained at the HUS. During this course, the focus was on being
17:03prepared as a future junior leader, instructor, and educator. Therefore, during this course, the student was
17:11required to give numerous teaching demonstrations from all areas of training. This applied to all
17:18typical military training subjects as well as, in particular, to sports, where everyone had to
17:24complete either the sports instructor or assistant sports instructor certificate, as well as obtain
17:29authorization to award the German sports badge and at least the basic certificate from the DLRG and the
17:36Bavarian Water Rescue Service. During this course, a 14-day basic commando training was also conducted.
17:45Below Mount Grunten, at the Winkel camp near Sandhofen, there was a lot of marching and shooting,
17:51but also hand-to-hand combat training with and without weapons. After completing this fourth phase,
17:57by which time 21 months had passed, we said farewell to HUS-1 in Sandhofen. Now the NCO trainee took
18:08off his
18:08cuff titles and, as an excellently trained NCO, was transferred to a troop unit that would become his future
18:17military home. As everyone can understand, the 21 months of continuous training to become an NCO,
18:25without the later civilian-style 41-hour work week that was also supported by the always-obedient
18:33generals, was in no way comparable to today's NCO training, and also not with the training in regular
18:40units 50 years ago. However, that was one of the consequences, that due to their training advantage
18:47in all areas, the NCOs coming from the two army NCO schools were often viewed with suspicion in the
18:56battalions, even though there was no advantage in promotion, salary, and so on. But it was precisely the
19:04self-confidence paired with their top-notch training. This NCO was, to those responsible at the time, who questioned
19:12everything, especially the traditional line to earlier German armies. Such a horror that the
19:19schools were dissolved without replacement for flimsy reasons. It went so far that for one and a half years,
19:27they had turned the Bundeswehr into a ridiculed long-haired army. The parliamentary commissioner for
19:34the armed forces said that the appearance of long-haired soldiers was sloppy and dirty.
19:40The army NCO schools, one to four, founded from 1990 onward in MĂĽnster,
19:47Weiden in the upper Palatinate, Landstein and Delitzsch, were not comparable in any respect,
19:53nor was the only remaining NCO school in Delitzsch after the merger, with two additional locations in
20:00Saundershausen, Thuringia and Selle, Lower Saxony. However, I can assure you of one thing. If,
20:08which of course will not happen, one of the civilian or uniformed officials were to ask me,
20:13what? In my opinion, if someone were to ask me what the reason for the catastrophic lack of
20:19non-commissioned officers since the establishment of the Bundeswehr is, I would tell him something that
20:25would make him tremble. And another thing, when a nation of 84 million people and its army,
20:31from whose every gun barrel quadrillions of euros are pouring out, and if a nation of 84 million
20:37people and its army, which afford themselves the luxury of 220 generals and admirals, can't even
20:43gather 2,000 volunteers per year for training at a non-commissioned officer school, especially when
20:49you have to subtract the now usual 25 percent dropout rate, then the federal service flag should be
20:55replaced with this impressive flag. But what do you think of my suggestion? Should we reintroduce the
21:01old-style non-commissioned officer schools, or leave everything as it is? We want your opinion.
21:22We'll see you next time.
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