The Kampfschwimmer Company and the beachmaster company were both assigned to and integrated into the newly established Maritime Battalion (Seebataillon) on 16 December 1988. (The original Seebataillon had been disbanded in the 1960s.) On 1 April 1989 the Company celebrated its 25th anniversary. Six months before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the, Read More
The 1970s would be a decade marked by terrorism, and this would have great significance for the Kampfschwimmer Company. On 5 September 1972, eight members of the Palestinian terrorist organization Black September entered the Olympic Village in Munich. They took eleven hostages. All hostages died during the course of a rescue attempt by the, Read More
On 1 July 1963 the Kampfschwimmer platoon was relocated as a detached unit from Borkum to the Carlshöhe naval barracks (Carlshöhe Kaserne) in the town of Eckernförde on the Baltic Sea. Commander at this time was Oberleutnant zur See (O-2, equivalent to US Navy Lt. j.g.) Bernd Kielow. The Naval Chief of Staff’s official, Read More
The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was founded on 23 May 1949 out of what had been the three western zones of occupation. The new federal government soon came under increasing pressure to rearm. The catalyst was a conflict taking place 15,000 kilometers southeast of German territory: the Korean War. The Western powers, Read More
Formation and training of a Kampfschwimmer unit during World War II was an act of despair. For years the German war machine, with its ultra-modern heavy weapon systems and cutting edge equipment, had enjoyed an unbroken record of success. This provided the proponents of conventional warfare who dominated the command staff no incentive for, Read More
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