NORTHAG wartime structure in 1989


The Northern Army Group was a [NATO military formation comprising five Army Corps from five NATO member nations. During the Cold War NORTHAG was NATO's forward defence in the Northern half of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Southern half of the Federal Republic of Germany was to be defended by the four Army Corps of NATO's Central Army Group. During wartime NORTHAG would command four frontline corps and one reserve corps. Air support was provided by Second Allied Tactical Air Force.
In 1966, France had withdrawn from the NATO Military Command Structure, but still wished to take part in the defence of Western Europe. A series of secret agreements made between NATOs Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the French Chief of the Defence Staff detailed how French forces would reintegrate into the NATO Command Structure in case of war. At the outbreak of hostilities plans were underway to place the French First Army directly under the command of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. There were two additional French large formations, the III Corps, and Rapid Action Force associated with the Army Group. From 1983 to 1984, Isby and Kamps write that planning was underway to possibly use III Corps and FAR formations in NORTHAG "although they would, like all French forces, remain under national operational command."

Army Group Headquarters

What can be gathered publicly about the wartime structure of NORTHAG in the autumn of 1989 at the end of the Cold War follows below. It is not drawn from one single source, and may be inconsistent and/or incomplete.
During the transition to war, the support units of the British Army of the Rhine would have formed the British Rear Combat Zone Command headquartered in Düsseldorf, which would have supplied the fighting forces and guarded the lines of communication within West Germany. Further West in Belgium was the British Communications Zone Command, which was headquartered in Emblem, outside Antwerp and tasked with receiving reinforcements and supplies from Great Britain and to co-ordinate their onward movement to 1 Corps.
The following infantry battalions, based in the United Kingdom, were tasked with Rear Area Security in BAOR's Communications Zone and Rear Combat Zone:
note 1: units in italics were based in the outside of BAOR's area of operation and would join BAOR upon mobilization.

I Netherlands Corps

The area 1 BR Corps had to defend lay between Hanover to the north and Kassel to the south and extended from the Inner German Border to the Upper Weser Valley. In case of war, the Corps first line of defense would have been a screening force of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, 16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers and 664 Squadron Army Air Corps, which would have become an ad hoc brigade formation under command of BAOR's Brigadier Royal Armoured Corps. Behind the screening force 1st Armoured and 4th Armoured Division would form up. 3rd Armoured Division was to the rear of the two forward deployed division as reserve. 2nd Infantry Division was to defend the Corps Rear Area and prepare a last line of defense along the Western bank of the Weser river.
Units in italics were based in the UK and would join parent organization upon mobilization
note 1: December 1989.

1st Armoured Division

1st Armoured Division was the corps' Northern forward deployed division.
2nd Infantry Division was based in the North East of the United Kingdom and was planned to have joined I British Corps in Germany within 72 hours of mobilization. The division was tasked with defending the Corps Rear Area and prepare a last line of defense along the Western bank of the Weser River. Therefore, the 29th Engineer Brigade was added to the division and was tasked with route maintenance and preparation of defensive positions on the western bank of the Weser River in the Upper Weser Valley.
3rd Armoured Division was the corps' reserve formation.
note 2: units in italics were based in the UK and would join 1st Armoured Division upon mobilization.

4th Armoured Division

4th Armoured Division was the Corps' Southern forward deployed division. As the division's area of operation was hilly and woody, 19th Infantry Brigade was added to it.
note 2: units in italics were based in the UK and would join 4th Armoured Division upon mobilization.

I Belgian Corps

The German Northern Territorial Command, headquartered in Mönchengladbach, was a corps-sized command responsible for NORTHAG's Rear Combat Zone, which extended from the Belgian and Dutch border to approximately the middle of Northern West Germany. The Command's tasks were to ensure an uninterrupted flow of war materiel to allied forces fighting in the Combat Zone and to provide hospital care for wounded troops.

III US Corps

3rd Armored Cavalry