Campbell Barracks

49°23′12″N 8°41′03″E / 49.3867°N 8.6842°E / 49.3867; 8.6842 Campbell Barracks, in Heidelberg, Germany, was home to Headquarters, United States Army Europe (USAREUR) from 1948 to 2013. It was also home to Headquarters, V Corps and Headquarters, Allied Force Command Heidelberg.

As part of the German rearmament, the German 110th Infantry Regiment was activated in May 1936 and stationed in Heidelberg. The existing Grenadier-Kaserne (now Patton Barracks) was not large enough for the regiment. Accordingly, a new installation was built in 1937 on what was then farmland on the southern outskirts of Heidelberg near the suburb of Rohrbach.^{[citation needed]}

At first unnamed, the new installation was designated Großdeutschland-Kaserne after Austria became part of Nazi Germany in March 1938. Stories linking Großdeutschland-Kaserne to the Großdeutschland Division of World War II have no foundation. The casern predates the division, which was not formed until May 1942. Neither the division nor any of its subordinate units were ever stationed in Heidelberg, nor was the 110th Infantry Regiment ever attached to the Großdeutschland-Division.^{[citation needed]}

When completed, the new Heidelberg barracks became the home of the 110th Infantry's headquarters, its 1st Battalion and its two regimental support companies. The regiment's 2d Battalion was stationed at Loretto-Kaserne (now called Hammonds Barracks) in Seckenheim and the 3d Battalion at Grenadier-Kaserne. The Keyes Building on Campbell originally served as the regimental officers mess.^{[citation needed]}

The first Allied troops entered Heidelberg on the morning of Good Friday, March 30, 1945, and the city surrendered without a fight. The Wehrmacht had left Heidelberg a day earlier but not before blowing up the bridges crossing the River Neckar, which in Heidelberg meant blowing up the old bridge.^{[citation needed]}

The U.S. units that initially occupied Großdeutschland-Kaserne are not known, but by V-E Day, 8 May 1945, the headquarters of the U.S. 6th Army Group occupied the Kaserne. The Army Group headquarters was inactivated in June 1945, whereupon the headquarters of the U.S. Seventh Army moved from Augsburg to Heidelberg, officially opening at Großdeutschland-Kaserne on July 22, 1945.^{[citation needed]}

The Seventh Army headquarters remained in Heidelberg until its inactivation on 31 March 1946. The headquarters of the U.S. Third Army then moved from Bad Tölz to Großdeutschland-Kaserne on 2 April 1946. In the meantime the Third Army had activated a new organization on 15 February 1946 called the U.S. Constabulary. The Constabulary was basically a police force with the mission of maintaining law and order in the U.S. Zone of occupied Germany. On February 15, 1947, the Constabulary headquarters moved from Bamberg to Großdeutschland-Kaserne and the Third Army headquarters was inactivated on March 15, 1947.^{[citation needed]}

During this time the headquarters of the U.S. Army in Europe, then known as the U.S. Forces, European Theater (USFET), was stationed in Frankfurt in the IG Farben Building (the Abrams Building). The same day Third Army headquarters was inactivated, USFET was redesignated as the European Command (EUCOM), not to be confused with the joint United States European Command (USEUCOM) of today.^{[citation needed]}