Hjemmeværnets Patruljer
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Hjemmeværnets Patruljer are patrols of the Danish Home Guard.
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[edit] Introduction
Since the mid 1950s, Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRP) and Long Range Surveillance Units (LRSU) of western militaries have become the intermediate between elite commando units (Special Forces) and ordinary infantry. Long-Range Reconnaissance and Long-Range Surveillance refers to the type of military operations whose primary aim is to gather Human Intelligence (HUMINT) or real time physical information on enemy forces. As the operational requirements for these type of missions lie beyond the capability of ordinary infantry units, specialized personnel is selected amongst volunteer army, navy, air force and para-military personnel. The necessity for such an intermediate unit is big as elite commando units usually do not number heavily among the armed forces in general. Commando units and LRRP/LRSU have both undergone the same training, in terms of performing reconnaissance operations. The difference between the two is where Special Forces units have extra training and extra equipment at their disposal, making them capable of performing a greater variety of specialized tasks, such as Counter-Terrorism, kidnappings, VIP protection and more.
In this article, the term Long Range Reconnaissance will exist only in the history of these specialized units, only to be replaced entirely by the term Long Range Surveillance Units (LRSU) and Long Range Surveillance Companies (LRSC).
[edit] History of the LRSU/LRSC
In 1959, during the Cold War, the Danish Armed Forces saw a need for creating Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRP) equivalent to those of the U.S. Army National Guard. The outcome of this need was the formation of Specielle Efterretningspatruljer/Østre Landskommando and Specielle Efterretningspatruljer/Vestre Landskommando". Translated into English these names mean: Special Intelligence Patrols/Eastern Command and Special Intelligence Patrols/Western Command.
These units and their later successor were and are to this very day in the Danish military more commonly known as "the Patrols".
Using the Americans as a template, the Danes chose to not only structure, but to recruit and train their personnel almost entirely the same way as the Americans. When the Vietnam War ended in the early 1970s, the LRRP's of the U.S. Army was closed almost entirely. During the 1980s, the U.S. Army once again found a need to have the capability to receive battle field information on enemy forces. As some military commanders felt that the name LRRP was too closely linked with the Vietnam war, these new units received a modified name and therefore became known as the Long Range Surveillance units and companies.
[edit] Today
As the situation is today, the Patrols are organized at two levels:
1. At Home Guard Battalion-Level, with Platoon size local scout/patrol platoons assigned to some of the 23 HG Battalions.
2. At Divisional/Corps-Level, with one PTLCOY: the "Patruljekompagniet" - a company size Long-Range Survelliance Company (LRSC) for national operations, assigned to the Danish Army Operational Command (AOC).
The "Patruljekompagniet" (the Patrol Company) is a Special Operations Capable, LRS-unit to the Danish Home Guard who can trace their origin back to "Specielle Efterretningspatruljer ved Østre Landskommando - SEP/ELK" and "Specielle Efterretningspatruljer ved Hærens Operative Kommando - SEP/HOK" or "Special Intelligence Patrols". This unit was operative from 1959 to late 1994.
The Home Guard closed the SEP units in 1994 and in 1995, the Home Guard founded The "Patruljekompagniet / HOK" or "the Patrol Company Army Operational Command" (PTL COY AOC)which is the successor to the SEP units.
This Long-Range Surveillance Company is well trained and carries sophisticated equipment. The PTL COY AOC patrols are the equivalent of the U.S. Army Divisional Long-Range Surveillance Companies. PTLCOY-troopers are capable of performing a variety of missions, such as surveillance, direct action etc. with insertions from the sea, air or land.
Training is conducted with Danish and foreign Special Operations units and Long-Range Surveillance-units, in Denmark and abroad.
Members of the PTLCOY are all-out volunteers recruited from all over the Danish Home Guard. The men rank from Privates to Captains.
Although the PTLCOY are of Home Guard origin, it is a unit specialised in recognition and tactical intelligence. The doctrine, in terms of recruiting, training and organizing its troops, are based almost entirely on that of the U.S. Amry's Long-Range Surveillance Units.
The Scoutpatrols of the Army Homeguard Battalions are organized into platoon-sized scout-units with limited range and capabilities. They can conduct basic Recce-patrols in enemy area for 48 hours, and have no LRS capabilities. Some of the scoutplatoons carry the name of "Patruljekompagni" (PTLCOY) for historical reasons, but has no patrolling capability beyond platoon-level. Only the official PTLCOY to the AOC can be labeled LRSC in military terms.
However, as can be seen and read on private webpages made by these scoutplatoons themselves, the methods of recruiting, screening and training individual troops, vary widely! The scoutpatrols should be capable of performing basic patrolling, however some of the scoutplatoons seems to be training missions well outside their area of operations. This is probably due to problems with recruitment and retainment in the all volunteer scoutplatoons, since the basic patrolling-missions at Homeguard battalion-level, has been widely ignored for years.
General missions tasked to scout/patrol-platoons in the Homeguard:
Reconnaissance, Stationary Surveillance, Limited Direct Action,
Extracurricular training at some Scout/patrol-platoons:
Sabotage, Counter-Terrorism, Urban Warfare, Close protection. Extracurricular private SWAT-training received from Homestead P.D. SWAT, see [1]
Capabilities at the PTLCOY AOC (LRSC) the "Patruljekompagniet" LRSC-mission planning and execution, recognition, Sea, air and land infiltrations, e.g. Combatswimming-training at Danish Navy SEAL's. see [2]
[edit] Conclusion
The Homeguard patrols cannot be generalized and should not be underestimated in either endurance, creativity or adaptivity making for a total lack of capability predictability.
The Patruljekompagniet is the only PTLCOY in military terms, and is cable of conducting LRS-missions, limited Direct Action, and Combat/scoutswimming-infiltration.
[edit] External links
[edit] LRSU/LRSC related links
- [3] Patruljekompagniet / Haerens Operative Kommando's main site
- [4] Danish Special Forces and Patrol-units, capabilities.
- [5] Specielle Efterretningspatruljer (in Danish but with photos)
- [6] Long-Range Surveillance Unit Operations (FM 7-93)
[edit] HomeGuard Scoutplatoon related links
- [7] The Scout/Patrol platoon at Army Homeguard Company 6206
