The United States Army Garrison Bavaria is a Army garrison of the United States Army headquartered in Grafenwöhr, Germany, with four locations, which include Grafenwöhr (Tower Barracks), Vilseck (Rose Barracks), Hohenfels (Hohenfels Training Area) and Garmisch (George C. Marshall Center and NATO School), along with Grafenwöhr Training Area Camps.
History
Garrison
In 2013, U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwöhr was transformed to U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria, a single garrison. In February 2017, in response to the growing rotational force and training troop presence, U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria established the 5th Community to "manage garrison resources in the training camps, deconflict infrastructure and facilities usage, and ensure the efficient operation and integration of garrison support to deployment, sustainment, and redeployment operations."
Mission
U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria is the largest U.S. base outside of the United States and hosts 40,000 soldiers and civilians. The garrison's mission is to provide a "high-quality base operations and community support" to all U.S. personnel in Grafenwöhr-Vilseck, Hohenfels and Garmisch. The garrison also directly supports the 7th Army Training Command (the largest training command outside the continental United States), the Combat Maneuver Training Command, 2nd Cavalry Regiment and several other tenant units.
Post and training information
Grafenwöhr and Vilseck
The Grafenwöhr Training Area (GTA) was created following the activation of the III Royal Bavarian Corps in 1900 and in 1908, the training area was officially designated as "Training Area Grafenwöhr". After the Nazis took power, the Wehrmacht used the training area for military training and guarded enemy prisoners of war. After WWII, U.S. Army Europe expanded the role of the training area to meet the increased training & facilities needs, to support the troops. A large build-up of Rose Barracks in Vilseck occurred in the mid 1980s with the construction of facilities to support a brigade size element which is now home to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. 2001 brought the start of a build-up of Tower Barracks (Formerly East Camp) with new construction, realignment, and renovations to support a Brigade Combat Team (BCT), which was completed in 2012 and now houses two 173rd ABCT Battalions and supports Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF), in support of the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI). With the establishment of the training area, Grafenwöhr and its subdivisions Gmuend, Huetten, and Goeßenreuth lost 2,820 hectares, meaning two-thirds of its real estate, as well as a portion of its back country.
Nevertheless, the military caused a consistent economic growth in the city Grafenwöhr. The number of inhabitants doubled between 1909 and 1910, from 961 to 1,841. In 2010, Grafenwöhr had 6,550 inhabitants. Since 2010, the fluctuating development of Grafenwöhr has been closely connected to the development of the training area. The Water Tower joined the city's original landmark, the gothic town hall built in 1462. With 232 km², it is the largest NATO training facility in Europe today, providing vast ranges, simulation centers, classrooms and facilities for realistic and relevant training to U.S. Army, Joint Service, NATO and allied units and leaders.
Former Villages
Approximately 250 residents of ten villages, farms and hamlets had to leave their homes between 1907 and 1910 as a result of the establishment of the training area. During the large expansion of the training area to its current size in 1938, 3.500 residents of 57 villages, farms and hamlets were resettled. The families were moved to other communities in all parts of Bavaria, where they were given houses and land or were financially compensated. The resettlement was organized by the Reich's Resettlement Corporation (RUGES), allegedly with pressure from the Third Reich. Hopfenohe, Pappenberg and Haag were the three largest villages back in the time. After WWII, the villages were released for the removal of building materials. Only a few remnants of the walls, vaulted cellars, wells, remains of churches, chapels and cemeteries bear witness to the former villages.