Regional territorial commands

There is a regional territorial command in each of the 16 federal states. They are directly subordinate to the Bundeswehr Joint Force Command. Regionally interconnected, the core responsibility of the regional territorial commands is civil-military cooperation. They lead, establish, maintain and expand the territorial network at the appropriate level via the region and district liaison detachments assigned to them. This includes work relations with federal state chancelleries and ministries, districts and municipalities, authorities and organisations with security tasks, and other authorities and institutions with duties pertaining to disaster control, civil protection and civil defence. The contacts of federal states bordering on neighbouring countries extend across national frontiers.

First point of contact for administrative assistance

The regional territorial commands are the first point of contact for administrative assistance and disaster relief in accordance with Article 35 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. They advise civilian decision makers on the scope and possible limits of the support services provided by the armed forces. They coordinate civilian requests for assistance and take on the task of harmonising the activities of deployed troops and civilian disaster control authorities. At the directive of the Bundeswehr Joint Force Command, they assume temporary command within a limited area of the soldiers deployed for administrative assistance from all areas of the Bundeswehr.

A key function is assumed here by the district and region liaison detachments within the regional territorial commands, which are made up of reserve duty personnel from the region and form part of the territorial network. The objective is to be able to respond more quickly in case of an emergency according to the principle of “knowing people in times of crisis” – for prompt assistance with floods, snow disasters, forest fires and major accidents.

Sensors throughout the country

In addition, the regional territorial commands act as nationwide sensors. They maintain and evaluate both the federal territorial situation picture and the civil-military situation picture of their respective federal state. These partial situation pictures are incorporated into the overall situation picture at the Bundeswehr Joint Force Command. Moreover, the local information provided by the regional territorial commands makes an important contribution to the military decision-making of the operations command in a state of defence.

For the purposes of national and collective defence, the regional territorial commands also regularly record and update data on civilian and military infrastructure relating to defence. These data from the regional territorial commands serve as the basis for a potential classification of regional infrastructure as defence-critical by the Commander of the Bundeswehr Joint Force Command in his capacity as National Territorial Commander.

Germany as a hub and its partners

Furthermore, the regional territorial commands assist with host nation support, i.e. with transit and supply for the armed forces of friendly nations passing through Germany. This includes cooperating with civilian commercial service enterprises and dealing with matters concerning military transport infrastructure.

The regional territorial commands are also responsible for the acceptance, review, approval and compliance monitoring of national and international notifications of intent to train outside of military training areas.

Each regional territorial command regularly provides information about the Bundeswehr in its federal state via its regional Facebook channel.