570th U.S. Army Artillery Group

[Tazak]

Does anyone have a link or details around the TOE for this group, it was attached to 1 BR corp/NORTHAG but I cannot find any details around weapon systems it deployed (I suspect it was a group of SSM units)

[CapnDarwin]

Best I've located is they are a SSM unit with nuclear capable SSMs. Mainly Honest Johns in the 70s but no indication of weapons in the 80s.

OOB 70s-80s below

570th Arty Gp (Wh Spt)
HHD, 570th Arty Gp Handorf
583rd Ord Co (Sp Ammo)(GS) Handorf
1st FA Det (Msl Wh Spt)(HJ) Schill Ksn, Wesel
15th FA Det (Msl Wh Spt)(HJ) Paderborn
22nd FA Det (Msl Wh Spt)(HJ) Dempsey Bks, Sennelager
69th FA Det (Msl Wh Spt)(HJ) Hemer
81st FA Det (Msl Wh Spt)(HJ) Dülmen
509th AD Det (Msl Wh Spt) Vörden

[Tazak]

thanks Capn Darwin, I believe Lance replaced HJ's so its likely they upgraded at some point.

[bayonetbrant]

No - they were a nuclear weapons custodial unit (as was all of SASCOM / 59th Ord Bde). Their job was to maintain the nukes until such time as they were placed on someone else's launchers and sent downrange. They did not own any organic launch vehicles. There were a half-dozen or so of those 'groups' (BN-sized units) scattered across West Germany, including the 557th, where my father was stationed twice. Their 'detachments' (CO units in the MTOE and commanded by a captain, but much smaller - usually only 30-40 or so) were scattered around and partnered with other units, including German, Brit, etc...

[CapnDarwin]

Thanks Brant!

[Tazak]

bayonetbrant thanks

[Kiwi Red One]

Try the link to the 570th AAG on the right hand side of this page:

http://www.usarmygermany.com/Units/Ordn ... OrdBde.htm

Should give you plenty of information on what you're after

[Tazak]

Kiwi Red One - thanks, makes sense knowing them as part of an ordnance Bde rather than a 'arty group'

[bayonetbrant]

The entire 59th Ordnance Brigade were the nuclear weapons custodians for EUCOM.

There were 2 ORD BNs that held the theater-level weapons for the US, and the USAAGs were all partnered with allied nations to provide the tac nuke warheads for their launch delivery systems. So you had units like the 290th married up with the Danes and the north flank of the German army. Another group was paired up with the Brits. There was another that supported the Dutch and Belgians. The 557th supported the Germans, including a detachment that was co-located with a Luftwaffe unit, b/c the German Pershing 1A missiles belonged to them, rather than the Bundeswehr.

They had no organic launch vehicles, and other than local security, no real fighting presence. There were ORD COs in each group that were responsible for warhead maintenance, and those companies included platoons of nuclear demolition engineers in case either (a) the nukes were needed to be used in "demo" mode (not really expected, but occasionally trained) or (b) they needed to destroy the warheads in place to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

There was a lot of NATO propaganda from a lot of allied countries - Holland, Belgium, Greece, Denmark, (especially) Germany - that they owned no nuclear weapons. That was true. We owned the nukes; they owned the delivery systems.

The 59th ORD BDE were the custodians of those nukes and they were partnered up with allied nations all over western Europe in little 30- and 40-man dets on allied bases and kasernes, working with foreign troops every day. And it's amazing that with such a huge - and sensitive - mission, no one knows who they were or what they did, even today.

[bayonetbrant]

This is the American side of the Kaserne where the 557th USAAG was based. HHD and the ORD CO were on this post. The actual group HQ was just north-west of here in another clump of buildings on the German side of the Kaserne

http://goo.gl/maps/v2rGm

The American housing area was just west where Hohe-strasse hits Jakob Mueller Platz

[bayonetbrant]

ORIGINAL: bayonetbrant

The entire 59th Ordnance Brigade were the nuclear weapons custodians for EUCOM.

There were 2 ORD BNs that held the theater-level weapons for the US, and the USAAGs were all partnered with allied nations to provide the tac nuke warheads for their launch delivery systems. So you had units like the 290th married up with the Danes and the north flank of the German army. Another group was paired up with the Brits. There was another that supported the Dutch and Belgians. The 557th supported the Germans, including a detachment that was co-located with a Luftwaffe unit, b/c the German Pershing 1A missiles belonged to them, rather than the Bundeswehr.

They had no organic launch vehicles, and other than local security, no real fighting presence. There were ORD COs in each group that were responsible for warhead maintenance, and those companies included platoons of nuclear demolition engineers in case either (a) the nukes were needed to be used in "demo" mode (not really expected, but occasionally trained) or (b) they needed to destroy the warheads in place to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

There was a lot of NATO propaganda from a lot of allied countries - Holland, Belgium, Greece, Denmark, (especially) Germany - that they owned no nuclear weapons. That was true. We owned the nukes; they owned the delivery systems.

The 59th ORD BDE were the custodians of those nukes and they were partnered up with allied nations all over western Europe in little 30- and 40-man dets on allied bases and kasernes, working with foreign troops every day. And it's amazing that with such a huge - and sensitive - mission, no one knows who they were or what they did, even today.

For anyone that's going to Origins this year, there's going to be a 1-hour talk on Saturday at the Origins War College about the 59th Ordnance Brigade.

[JohnOsb]

Great stories to tell, I was with the 4./FlaRakBtl 22 --C Tm 52nd USAAD at Marienheide, we had Nike Hercules, we own the nukes, the Germans own the missiles. Great four years there. And the 50-5 was a pain in the ass most of the time [:)]

[bayonetbrant]

If anyone's interested, at Origins 2016 there's going to be a 1-hour talk about the 59th Ord Bde in the War College at 1800 on Saturday evening.

[bayonetbrant]

https://www.armchairdragoons.com/featur ... e-brigade/

[bayonetbrant]

[:(]