page_title: Erlangen
section_title: History of the Erlangen Garrison
hierarchical_section_title: Erlangen / History / History of the Erlangen Garrison
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Jägerdenkmal Erlangen
context_page_description: Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt and with 113,758 inhabitants it is the smallest of the eight major cities in Bavaria. The number of inhabitants exceeded the threshold of 100,000 in 1974, making Erlangen a major city.
  Together with Nuremberg, Fürth and Schwabach, Erlangen forms one of the three metropolises in Bavaria. With the surrounding area, these cities form the European Metropolitan Region of Nuremberg, one of 11 metropolitan areas in Germany. The cities of Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen also form a triangle on a map, which represents the heartland of the Nuremberg conurbation.
  An element of the city that goes back a long way in history, but is still noticeable, is the settlement of Huguenots after the withdrawal of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Today, many aspects of daily life in the city are dominated by the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Siemens technology group.
context_section_description: Until the 18th century, the margrave's soldiers were quartered with private individuals during missions in the Erlangen area. After the city was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1810, it made several attempts to set up a garrison, mainly for economic reasons, but without success at first. When in 1868 the general compulsory military service was introduced with the option to do military service and study at the same time, the garrison became a vital location factor for the city and especially for the university. A renewed application was successful, so that on 12 March 1868 the 6th Hunter Battalion moved into Erlangen. The Bavarian Army was housed in various municipal buildings and used, among other things, today's Theaterplatz square for its exercises. In addition, a shooting range was set up in the Meilwald forest.
  In 1877 the first hunting barracks were completed in the Bismarckstraße (name of street in Erlangen). One year later the hunter battalion was replaced by the III Battalion of the Royal Bavarian 5th Infantry Regiment Grand Duke of Hesse. In 1890 the entire 19th Infantry Regiment was stationed, which resulted in the construction of the Infantry Barracks and the drill ground. In 1893 a "Barrack Casernement" was established in the north-west corner of the drill ground and used as a garrison hospital from 1897. On 1 October 1901, the 10th Field Artillery Regiment moved into the town, for which the artillery barracks were erected. At that time the city had about 24,600 inhabitants, 1160 students and now a total of 2200 soldiers, whom the population held in high esteem, especially after the military successes against France in 1870/71.
  In World War I, both Erlangen regiments, which were subordinated to the 5th Royal Bavarian Division, fought exclusively on the Western Front. Over 3,000 soldiers lost their lives. After the war Erlangen retained its status as a garrison town. Since the Treaty of Versailles stipulated a reduction of the army to 100,000 soldiers, only the training battalion of the 21st (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment of the newly founded Reichswehr remained in the city.
  During the time of National Socialism, the reintroduction of compulsory military service in 1935 and the German re-armament also led to a massive expansion of the military installations in Erlangen. The Rhineland barracks, in which various infantry units were stationed one after the other, the tank barracks, in which the Panzer Regiment 25 was stationed from October 1937, a catering office, an ammunition and equipment depot and a training area were built in the Reichswald forest near Tennenlohe.
  The invasion of troops by the 7th US Army on 16 April 1945 meant not only the end of World War II for Erlangen, but also the end as a location for German troops. Instead, US American units moved into the military facilities, which had remained undestroyed, and have even been considerably expanded since the reactivation of the 7th US Army in 1950/51: The area of the now Ferris Barracks (named after Lt. Geoffrey Ferris, who died in Tunisia in 1943) was extended to 128 hectares, the living area for the soldiers and their relatives to 8.5 hectares and the training area in Tennenlohe to 3240 hectares. On average, 2500 soldiers and 1500 relatives were stationed in Erlangen in the 1980s.
  The population of Erlangen met the presence of the Americans with mixed feelings. Although their protective function during the Cold War and the jobs associated with stationing were welcomed, the frequent conflicts between the soldiers and the civilian population and numerous manoeuvres were a constant source of offence. The first open protests took place during the Vietnam War. These were directed against the training area and the shooting range in Tennenlohe, where even nuclear weapons were suspected, as well as against the ammunition bunkers in the Reichswald. Helmut Horneber, who had been responsible for the American training area for many years as forest director, pointed out in 1993 how exemplarily the American troops had protected the forest areas.
  Due to
caption: The hunter monument in the Hindenburgstraße reminds of the 6th hunter battalion.
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