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1 The Reconstruction of The Danish Army after The Second World War (Enclosure 1: Status of weapons February 1948) (Enclosure 2: Status of personnel and units in January 1948) (Enclosure 3: Forming of the Home Guard 1946) At the German assault 29 th of August 1943 (Operation Safari) the Danish Army was dissolved and its officers and personnel were interned. The Army was stripped of all material, weapons and ammunition, and the army barracks were taken over by the German occupation forces. Danish forces at the liberation When Denmark was liberated 5 th of May 1945 we had no regular armed forces. The immediate tasks then had to be taken care of by: 1) The Danish Resistance Movement App men, irregular armed with light weapons, dropped by allied planes or smuggled into the country via Sweden or stolen from German dumps or soldiers. Training very limited. 2) The Danish Brigade (DANFORCE) App soldiers, formed in battalions with modern equipment and weapons, well trained in Swedish camps from which the force was transferred to Denmark on 5 th of May ) Officers and NCO s from the regular army A total of app , of which some served in the resistance and in the Danish Brigade. On 1 st of June 1945 the conscripts of (app men) were called up again and equipped and armed from stocks brought back by the Danish Brigade. All units were formed as infantry regardless of previous training. On 10 th of July 1945 the Danish Brigade was demobilized. The regular officers returned to the regular army and an additional number of officers were offered voluntary service in the army. On 18 th of July 1945 app new recruits from the 1943-group were called up for service. They were armed partly with Swedish partly with British weapons and equipment. They had only light weapons and were all trained as infantry. During September 1945 the Resistance, which so far mainly had been used as guards in internment camps, was demobilized. The army s tasks in 1945 The assorted army had many big tasks in Among these are: Guarding German refugees spread all over the country in camps. Guarding the German border.

2 Guarding abandoned German fortifications, ammunitions depots and airfields. Guard and work duties in Danish barracks. Training of new recruits. Training of officers and NCO s. Preparations for sending out an occupation force to Germany. Preparations for taking over Bornholm from the Russian forces. A Danish Division On 20 th of November 1945 app new recruits from the and 1945-group were called up for service of these soldiers were designated to form part of a Danish division that was supposed to go to Germany as occupations troops from spring These soldiers were equipped with British weapons, from the beginning only light infantry weapons. It was intended that heavier equipment (heavy weapons, artillery etc.) should arrive very quickly after the call-up, but the first deliveries was delayed until January 1946 and the rest came very slowly. The division force included: 6 infantry battalions, Armed with rifles, tommy-guns, 51 mm mortars, 81 mm mortars and 57 mm antitank guns. 1 recce regiment, Armed with rifles, tommy-guns, 81 mm mortars and 57 mm antitank guns. No real recce equipment was supplied until several months later. 6 field artillery brigades, Armed with 88 mm field guns (25 pounders) 1 anti-aircraft brigade, Armed with 40 mm AA-guns 1 heavy machinegun company, Armed with machineguns and 105 mm mortars 1 anti-tank company, Armed with 76 mm anti-tank guns The rest of the conscripts app men were trained and used as guards etc. and equipped with light Swedish weapons. Training of Officers and NCO s Around 1 st of November 1945 most of the training courses for officers and NCO s were established. The regiments established courses for about corporals, and at Ellsinore and Soenderborg app cornets (in Danish kornetter ) were trained. All branches established courses for sergeants with a total of app. 100 students.

3 The Army Academy re-established the classes for officers and warrant officers that were interrupted in Beside that new classes were established. The number of students was 160 and it was planned to continue with training of 50 officers and 30 warrant officers on a yearly basis. Shortage of officers Training wasn t enough to provide for the adequate number of officers especially junior officers - needed in the army. Therefore on 1 st of December 1945 there was a call-up of app. 400 conscript second lieutenants and cornets from the 1939-group to fill the ranks. To add more officers there was established a course for app. Leaders from the resistance on 1 st of March This came about because of an act from summer 1945 that allowed these leaders to become regular army officers after proper army training of 12 months. 225 of these leaders accepted the offer, and 150 of them became officers and 75 became warrant officers. At the same time there was an offer to those who had been serving as officers in one of the allied powers to enter the Danish army with a corresponding rank, but only about 25 officers joined the Danish army this way. (Personally I would like to comment on this: I was drafted in 1972 and have seen some of these officers of which a few were good but the main part of them were lousy leaders and officers, who lived for their reputation as war heroes. I think the last of them left the army in the late 80 es, thank god! But just after WW2 this was the only way to get officers in a hurry.) 16 th of April 1946 the conscripts called up 18 th of July 1945 were demobilized. On 1 st of May 1946 the training courses of cornets and corporals ended and the army received cornets and lance corporals. At the same time new classes with conscripts from the group were established. On 1 st of June new conscripts were called up of these soldiers were designated as the German Force, mainly armed with British weapons and serving in North Germany. At the same time, on 1 st of June 1946, app. 200 officers of the reserve were appointed officers of the line after passing a special training. At the same time app. 200 conscript NCO s were appointed NCO s of the reserve without the normal extra training. To fully appreciate this, one must understand that under the laws of the military in those days only half of the officers and maybe 10 % of the NCO s were personnel of the line, the rest were of the reserve and had contracts with the army for service. Slowly the Danish Army was reorganized, in enclosure 1 and 2 you can see the status in the beginning of 1948, a year before Denmark joined NATO 4 th of April 1949.

4 Enclosure 1: Status of weapons end February 1948 Item Number of Swedish type Number of British type 88 mm field gun mm antitank gun mm antitank gun mm antitank gun mm antitank & antiaircraft gun mm antitank & antiaircraft gun mm mortar mm mortar mm mortar mm mortar mm mortar mm antitank rifle Machineguns Light machine gun Rifles Sub machine gun Pistol Remarks: Not all weapons were in good shape and had all accessories, and especially the British made stenguns were in a very poor shape.

5 Enclosure 2: Status of personnel and units in January 1948 Text Numbers Drafted 13 th of May Of these only met Rejected for health reasons 700 Army Technical Corps 175 Army Catering Corps 175 Army Health service 100 Army Supply Corps 200 Army Air Corps (ground) 300 NCO s trainees Soldiers at hand for infantry etc Border Command (HQ Åbenrå): 2 nd Pioneer Battalion (Tønder, 2 companies) th Infantry Battalion (Tinglev, HQ and 2 companies) th Infantry Battalion (Kruså, HQ and 2 companies) th Infantry Battalion (Sønderborg, HQ, 1 company and 1 camp) 336 Total Bornholm: 15 th Infantry Battalion rd Artillery Battalion 170 Total 730 Danish Brigade in Germany: Brigade Staff th Infantry Regiment HQ 28 6 th Infantry Battalion th Infantry Battalion th Infantry Battalion 586 Jutland Dragoon Regiment th Field Artillery Regiment HQ 37 6 th Field Artillery Battalion th Field Artillery Battalion 168 Elements of 12 th Field Artillery battalion 141

6 14 th Field Artillery Battalion nd Pioneer battalion 134 The Signal battalion 176 Military Police 126 Repair and Depot facilities, medical Corps personnel 250 Officers and NCO s 500 Observers and liaison 250 Total Guard duties etc. in Denmark (typical elements of units mentioned above): ZEALAND 1 st Battalion / The Royal Life Guard (Copenhagen) nd Field Artillery Battalion (Copenhagen) th Field Artillery Battalion (Copenhagen) 83 2 nd Pioneer Battalion (Copenhagen) th Field Artillery Battalion (Copenhagen) st Field Artillery Battalion (Avedøre) 7 21 st Infantry Battalion (Høvelte) 19 2 nd Battalion / The Royal Life Guard (Sandholm) 37 The Signal Battalion (Værløse) th Infantry Battalion (Roskilde) 78 5 th Field Artillery battalion (Holbæk) 20 The Guard Hussar Regiment (Næstved) th Infantry Battalion (Vordingborg) 38 FUENEN 4 th Infantry Battalion (Odense) 51 JUTLAND 3 rd Infantry Battalion (Haderslev) th Infantry Battalion (Viborg) 33 Jutland Dragoon Regiment (Ålborg) 10 Jutland Dragoon Regiment (Hjørring) 29 Jutland Dragoon Regiment (Skrydstrup) th Infantry Battalion (Fredericia) 30 1 st Pioneer Battalion (Tønder) 40 Jutland Dragoon Regiment (Randers) 51 Total Army Air Corps: One Battalion in Jutland and one in Zealand for training purpose.

7 Sergeant and Corporal trainees Infantry Cornet and Lieutenants School (Helsingør) 260 Engineer NCO School (Copenhagen) 110 Artillery NCO School (Holbæk) 280 Cavalry NCO School (Næstved) 170 Zealand Division Corporal School (Slagelse) 200 Jutland Division Corporal School (Nymindegab) 235 Infantry Sergeant and Staff Sergeant School (Sønderborg) 230 Total The Army personnel situation at the end of February 1948: Skilled personnel Unskilled personnel, basically conscripts from 12 th of November

8 Enclosure 3: Forming of the Home Guard In July 1945 Lieutenant Colonel Svend Wagner put forward a proposal for at Temporary Home Guard based on the members of the resistance and other volunteers. The proposal was premature, so in stead local Home Guard Associations was founded. This allowed the former resistance members to continue training for the purpose of a later entrance in a real Home Guard and at the same time gave the government opportunity to control resistance weapons. The resistance troops were sent home in August 1945, and at that time the Army Command the Home Guard Associations, that allowed each former resistance member to have one rifle, carbine or pistol at home. All other weapons, including explosives and heavy weapons such as machineguns, were to be turned over to the Army Technical Corps. In Easter 1946 the Danish Home Guard Association was founded at a meeting in Odense on the island of Fuenen. 31 st of May 1946, after extended negotiations, an agreement was signed between the Ministry of War and the Danish Home Guard Associations, based on the above mentioned conditions. Orders were issued to collect the Home Guard weapons. In fall 1946 the issue of uniforms to the Home Guard came up, and in spring 1947 Denmark bought used battledress uniforms from UK for the Home Guard (in Denmark known as model 1944). The Home Guard was divided into Regions, and in every region there was an officer of the line or the reserve in charge of training, storing weapons and maintaining other equipment. 1 st of March 1947 the Army Command ordered Lieutenant Colonel Skjoldager to be responsible for Home Guard weapons and training. In the summer 1947 the Home Guard numbered with app. 300 army instructors and 25 naval instructors. The budget was app Danish Kroner. The Home Guard had no wartime tasks and was from the government point of view a private association. This was the Home Guard status in the beginning of 1948.