The Franco-German Brigade as reinforcements against the floods

(BRUSSELS2) Several units of the Franco-German brigade (BFA) are currently lending a hand to the German civil security authorities in the face of flooding. After the declaration of a "natural" disaster or even a "national disaster" according to the word used by German Federal President Gauck, German and also French units were deployed first in Bavaria and then in Saxony, at the request of the authorities of the Länder ( *).

French and German units

An operations management staff has been set up, placed under the orders of Oberstleutnant Kuhlmann, commanding Jägerbataillon 292. On the German side, the "Task Force BFA" is made up of the 2nd company of Jägerbataillon 292, the 3rd Company of Jägerbataillon 291, an element of Panzerpionierkompanie 550 and the German 4th Company of the Command and Support Battalion (BCS). About sixty French soldiers were also mobilized, from a section of the 110th infantry regiment and the BCS transport platoon.

First deployed as a reserve intervention force on the banks of the Danube, weakened by water, from June 5, the "BFA task force" joined the banks of the Elbe, in eastern Saxony, near the Czech border, where the situation is increasingly worrying ". Meanwhile, the BCS transport platoon, which left Mülheim on the night of June 6, delivered nearly 850 beds to Bavaria in the Passau region, before joining the rest of the detachment.

A breach on the banks of the Elbe

The BFA detachment first set up between Pülswerda and Köllitsch, about a hundred kilometers north of Dresden. The localities are threatened by the flooding of the Elbe following the heavy rains of recent weeks. The primary mission of soldiers from both nations is - as the BFA communications officer explained, " reinforce the dike by making sandbags and erecting barriers to stop the water ". Oberstleutnant Kuhlmann's mobile staff moved into the castle of the small village of Pülswerda, barely a few dozen meters from the flooding waters, while the soldiers were accommodated in Köllitsch. Then the soldiers move further north, where the situation is downright critical. " A breach has opened up on one of the dykes of the Elbe ». The mobile staff moved to Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, while the 2nd company of the Hauptamnn Köhler, with its French elements, moved to the village of Prettin, 20 km from Torgau. Mission: to make sandbags, and above all to transport them with trucks to critical locations. The soldiers are supported by the population, who supply them with water and... pastries ». What, redouble your efforts...

(*) The fight against natural disasters essentially depends in Germany on the Länder. A crisis summit will be organized next Thursday between the minister-presidents of the 16 Länder to define and distribute the financial aid.