Deutsches Heer Deutsches Heer or Heer ( In English : German Army ) is the body of land of Bundeswehr ( German Armed forces ) . Which currently constitutes the largest and most powerful ground force of European Union . Traditionally the German military forces have been composed by the Army , by Marine and just before the WWI , by Air Force . The Heer was reformed in 50s As host of the West Germany and as part of Bundeswehr . In October 1990 the army East Germany and the whole structure was built at the Deutsches Heer . History . Overview . Since Germany became the modern unified state in 1871 the name of the military were : Pre - 1914 . After the defeat of Napoleon in Battle of Waterloo the realm of Prussia has had years of military successes in nineteenth and XX centuries . Every man between 17 and 45 years , was obliged to give military service . There were four classes of service ; Assets ( " Aktiv " ) Reserve , Landwehr and Landsturm . The " Landwehr " and the " Landsturm " are called only on the brink of war . The basic unit of the army at this time was the " Regiment " . The regiment gave support to a specific city or region . Each regiment was stationed near his hometown . The regiment ' s reserve was composed mostly of members from the local regiment . Units " Landwehr " and " Landsturm " were organized the same way . A person could spend all 22 years of military service surrounded by his friends and family . This system has created strong ties in the regulations , however there was a danger to all people of a city being killed in battle at once . World War I ( 1914 - 1918 ) . The German army that fought in WWI was not really a unified army . The four Germanic kingdoms that existed before the Unification in January 1871 , Namely Bavaria , Prussia , Saxony and Württemberg , which each had its own army before unification . Prussia was the largest of the four armies . After the unification and the formation of German Empire , The Prussian army became the core of the Imperial German Army ( Deutsches Heer or Kaiserliches Reichsheer ) . In 1914 the German Army has 50 active divisions and 1918 , 250 divisions . The term " German army " came to be used only after the signing of Versailles Treaty in 1919 . Reichswehr ( 1918 - 1935 ) . With the end of WWI and the signature of Versailles Treaty , The German army ( Heer ) was simply dissolved . Many soldiers have come together in small armed groups known as Freikorps . The Freikorps were generally groups of 100 men or less , which protected a neighborhood or a city . In March 6 of 1919 an army known as the " Vorläufige Reichswehr " ( provisional German defense force ) was formed with about 400 , 000 men , many from the Freikorps . Then , in September 30 of 1919 Übergangsheer the Army ( Transitional ) was established as the Defence Force along the Freikorps eat . Finally , January 1 of 1921 , 100 . 000 manmade formed the Reichswehr , with seven infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions . The Reichswehr was controlled by the Allies in the hope of avoiding a future German military aggression . Wehrmacht ( 1935 - 1945 ) . Under the Versailles Treaty , The Reichswehr was limited to only 100 , 000 men divided between the army and navy . In 1933 Hitler came to power and began to reject the treaty . The army was incorporated in " Wehrmacht " in May 1935 with the " Law for the reconstruction of the National Defence Force . " The Wehrmacht included not only the army and navy but also the air force , known as Luftwaffe . Initially , the army was expanded to 21 units at divisional and smaller formations . Between 1935 to 1 . 945 this force consisted of hundreds of divisions and thousands of smaller units . Between 1939 and 1 . 945 around 16 million people served in the army . Of these , 1 . 6 million were killed and 4 . 1 million were injured . Of the 7361 men who received the initial class of the highest honor German combat WWII . the Iron Cross , 4 , 777 were from the army , making up 65 % of the total granted . The German army has been implicated in war crimes , including providing assistance in genocide of European Jews during the Holocaust . The Allies dissolved the German army in August 20 of 1946 . Cold War 1956 - 1990 . The " Heer " was founded in 1955 as the army of West Germany . After 1990 , it absorbed the army of socialist East Germany , a part of the Nationale Volksarmee . The former East German forces were initially commanded by the Bunderwehr Command East under command of Lieutenant General Jörg Schönbohm , which was disbanded on 30 June 1991 . In the aftermath of the merge , the German Army consisted of four Corps with a manpower of 360 , 000 men . It was continuously downsized from this point . In 1996 , an airborne brigade was converted into a new command leading the Army ' s special forces , known as the KSK . The 2001 onwards restructuring of the German Army saw it move to a seven division structure – 5 mechanized ( each with two mechanized brigades ) , 1 special forces , and one airmobile . In 2003 , three Corps still existed , each including various combat formations and a maintenance brigade . I . German / Dutch Corps , a joint German - Netherlands organization , used to control in peacetime the 1st Panzer and 7th Panzer Divisions as well as Dutch formations . The 1st Panzer would have reported to the corps in wartime while the 7th would be posted to the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps . II Corps was German in peacetime but would have exchanged a division with the V U . S . Corps in time of war ( the 5th Panzer ) . 5 Pz Division disbanded as of 30 June 2001 . In peacetime it also commanded the 10th Panzer Division , which was allocated to Eurocorps and which parents the German half of the Franco - German Brigade . The 1st Mountain Division at Munich was also under this headquarters . The IV Corps was headquartered at Potsdam in eastern Germany and controlled two Panzer - Grenadier Divisions , the 13th and 14th . The 14th Panzer - Grenadier Division also took control of units in Western Germany re - subordinated from the 6th Division when it lost its command function . It would have made up the German contribution to the Multinational Corps Northeast in time of war . IV Corps also used to have under its command the Military District Command I , the 1st Air Mechanised Brigade , and the Berlin Command ( ' Standortkommando ' ) . with autocannon 20 mm Equipemnt . Armoured Vehicles . with TOW anti - tank guided missile with mortar 120 mm as a radar vehicle for the light air defence system ( LeFlaSys ) as a command vehicle for the LeFlaSys as an engineer reconnaissance vehicle with Stinger equipped for the LeFlaSys as a medical vehicle for the airborne troops M113 A2 ( multirole armoured vehicle ) being phased out GTK Boxer ( multirole armoured fighting vehicle ) to replace M113 and TPz Fuchs ( planned ) IAI Harop ( unmanned combat aerial vehicle ) , loitering munition in combination with Rheinmetall KZO , ordered Dingo 1 / 2 ( armoured wheeled vehicle ) Eagle IV ( armoured wheeled vehicle ) LAPV Enok ( light armoured patrol vehicle ) Grizzly ( armoured wheeled vehicle ) AGF Serval ( reconnaissance and combat vehicle ) DURO III ( armoured wheeled vehicle ) YAK ( armoured wheeled vehicle ) , based on DURO III Mungo ESK ( armoured transport vehicle ) TPz Fuchs ( multirole armoured vehicle ) BV 206 S ( tracked armoured transport vehicle ) Artillery . M270 MLRS ( 227 mm multiple rocket launcher ) PzH 2000 ( 155 mm self - propelled howitzer ) ABRA ( artillery radar system ) , being phased out Mortar TAMPELLA ( 120 mm ) Mortar " R " ( 120 mm ) COBRA ( counter artillery radar system ) ATMAS ( artillery weather measure system ) SMA ( artillery sound measure system ) Engineering Equipment . Dachs ( tracked engineer tank ) Büffel ( tracked salvage tank ) Biber ( bridge layer ) Panzerschnellbrücke 2 ( bridge layer ) , replacing the Biber Skorpion ( mine layer ) Keiler ( mine breaker ) M3 Amphibious Rig ( amphibious vehicle ) Motorboot 3 ( motorboat ) Medium Girder Bridge ( bridge system ) Faltfestbrücke ( solid bridge system ) Faltschwimmbrücke ( swimming bridge system ) Pontoon bridge