OOB Dutch Army 1985-1995

Dutch army OOB 1985 till 1995

At the ending days of the Cold War the Dutch army fielded 3 divisions.

These 3 divisions were divided into brigades.

A standard brigade had 3 infantry battallions, 2 tank battallions and artillery support.

An armored infantry battallion had 3 companies with 4 platoons, an antitank platoon and a company of mortars (120mm)

I served my time in 1986 and 1987 with the 41st infantry battallion (1st battallion of 4th brigade)

Each company had YPR 765 infantrycarriers armed with a 25 mm gun (Oerlikon)

The antitank unit had YPRs with a twin TOW launcher(YPR Prat)

The infantrysection was armed with Fal rifles, an MAG mg and a TLV (Carl Gustav 84mm launcher)

Each platoonleader also had dragon(ATGM) missiles under his command, these gunners were stationed at his vehicle.
The mortars were towed 120mm pieces, they were towed by a normal version of the YPR (armed with .50cal mg).
The mortars were under command of the bn commander.

Standard equipment of the tank battallions was the Leopard 2 battletank.

There were also recon units.
They had M113's which were modified with a 25 mm gun.
Further they had YPR with infantry teams and open soft-top jeeps armed with a MAG mg.
The artillery had M109 SP guns, at the end of the cold war the army also bought MLRS rocket launchers.
Artillery and Recon units were under command of the brigade commander.