GSG 9
The
Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (or
GSG 9, the German abbreviation of
Border Guards, Group 9) is the
Counter-Terrorism unit of the
German Federal Police, and is considered to be among the best of such units in the world. Many later Counter-Terrorist units of other nations were modelled after the GSG 9.
In
1972, the
Palestinian terrorist movement
Black September used the
Summer Olympic Games in
Munich, Germany to kidnap 9
Israeli athletes, killing two in the Olympic Village (two athletes escaped). The incident tragically culminated when
German police, neither trained nor equipped for Counter-Terrorism, attempted to rescue the athletes; they failed miserably, and the operation led to the death of one policeman, five of the eight kidnappers and all of the hostages (subsequently called the
Munich massacre). As a consequence of the affair's mismanagement, German officials created the GSG 9 under the leadership of then
Lieutenant Colonel Ulrich Wegener so that similar situations in the future could be responded to adequately and professionally. The unit was officially established on
April 17,
1973 as a part of Germany's federal-level police agency, the
Bundesgrenzschutz (
federal border guard service; renamed in 2005 to
Bundespolizei,
federal police). The name GSG 9 stands for "Grenzschutzgruppe 9" (
border guards group 9) and was chosen simply because there existed eight regular border guard groups at the time, although after the 2005 renaming the expansion was dropped and the abbreviation
GSG 9 is now the single official way to refer to the unit. Its formation was based on the expertise of the British
SAS and the Israeli
Sayeret Matkal, where Wegener emphasises especially the importance of the Israelis.
Its first mission, which is still one of the most well-known and established the GSG 9's reputation as an excellent unit, was "Operation Feuerzauber" (
operation fire magic). It was carried out in
1977 when
Palestinian terrorists hijacked the
Landshut, a
Lufthansa plane on the way from
Palma de Mallorca to
Frankfurt, demanding that imprisoned members of the German "
Red Army Faction" terrorist group be freed. After a four-day odyssey through the
Middle East, the hijackers directed the
Boeing 737 to
Mogadishu,
Somalia, where they waited for the arrival of the Red Army Faction members after the German government had (falsely) signalled they would be released. In the night between
October 17 and
October 18, Somalian ranger units created a distraction, while members of the GSG 9 stormed the plane. It is not true, that two British
SAS soldiers took part in the assault; the SAS was only providing tactical support. The operation lasted seven minutes and was successful: all hostages were rescued, three hijackers died, the fourth was heavily injured. Only one GSG 9 member and one stewardess were injured. The international Counter-Terrorism community applauded GSG 9 for the excellent and professional handling of the situation, especially because an assault on a plane is considered one of the most difficult scenarios.
The GSG 9 is used to act against cases of
hostage taking,
kidnapping,
terrorism, and
extortion. The group may also be used to secure locations, neutralize targets,
sniping and fugitive hunting. Furthermore, the group is very active in developing and testing methods and tactics for these tasks. Finally, the group may provide consultation to the different
Länder,
Ministries and international allies. The group assists the
Bundespolizei and other federal and local agencies by request.
Publicly known missions
*
October 17 1977/
October 18 1977: Freeing all 86
hostages held by a
Red Army Faction group in the hijacked
Lufthansa flight 181 in
Mogadishu,
Somalia *
1982: Arrest of the
RAF terrorists Mohnhaupt and Schulz
*
June 27 1993: Arrest of the
RAF terrorists Birgit Hogefeld and
Wolfgang Grams in
Bad Kleinen. Some people believed that Wolfgang Grams was executed in revenge for the death of the GSG 9 operative Michael Newrzella during the mission. Grams had shot and killed Newrzella when Newrzella tried to tackle him. However, the official investigation determined that Grams committed suicide.
*
1993: Ending of the
hijacking of a
KLM flight from
Tunis to
Amsterdam, redirected to
Düsseldorf without firing a single shot.
*
1994: End of a
hostage situation in the
Kassel Penitentiary*
1994: Involved in the search for the
kidnappers Albert and Polak
*
1998: Arrest of an
extortionist of the German railway
Deutsche Bahn*
1999: Arrest of
Metin Kaplan in
Cologne*
1999: Arrest of two suspected members of the
Roten Zellen in
Berlin*
1999: Involved in the ending of the
hijacking in the central bank in
Aachen*
2000: Advised the
Philippines related to a
hostage situation
*
2001: Arrested two spies in
Heidelberg*
2001: Aided in the liberation of four German tourists in
Egypt*
2001: Arrested a number of
terrorists related to the
September 11, 2001 attacks*
2002: Arrested a number of
terrorists related to the
September 11, 2001 attacks*
2003: Protection of the four members of the German
Technisches Hilfswerk (THW) (the governmental disaster relief organization of
Germany) in
Baghdad,
Iraq. The THW's mission is to repair the
water distribution network.
*
2004: The GSG 9 is responsible for protecting property and personnel of the German embassy in
Baghdad,
Iraq. On
April 7 2004 two members were attacked and killed near
Fallujah while in a convoy travelling from
Amman (
Jordan) to Baghdad. The two men age 25 and 38 were travelling in a car at the rear of the convoy, and therefore received most of the enemy fire after passing the
ambush. The men were shot after their armoured
Mercedes was hit and stopped by
RPGs. In a later statement, the attackers apologised for mistaking the German convoy for an American convoy. One of the bodies is still missing.
However, most of the missions are
confidential and not made public. Since the founding of the GSG 9 the group has participated on over 1500 missions, yet reportedly fired shots only on 4 occasions (official count, prior to the 2003
Iraq War). These occasions were 1977 in
Mogadishu and 1993 in
Bad Kleinen, furthermore two more missions where were used to defend against dogs of the persons to be arrested.
|
GSG 9 Counter-Terrorism officers practising entry techniques |
The unit forms part of the
German Bundespolizei (
Federal Police, former Bundesgrenzschutz), and thus has normal
police powers, including for example the power of arrest. The Federal Police of Germany (and thus the GSG 9) is under the control of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The
Bundespolizei also provides aerial transportation for the GSG 9. In contrast, regular police are responsible to the various
States or Länder, as are
Spezialeinsatzkommandos (SEK) (German equivalent of
SWAT), while the military is responsible for the (Special Forces command) and the
Kampfschwimmer (
German Navy SEAL equivalent).
The GSG 9 is based in
Sankt Augustin-Hangelar near
Bonn and consists of three main sub-groups, plus a number of support groups as shown below.
GSG 9 (regular Counter-Terrorism)
The first sub-group of the GSG 9 is used for regular land-based Counter-Terrorism actions. This may involve cases of
hostage taking,
kidnapping,
terrorism, and
extortion. The group may also be used to secure locations, neutralise targets,
sniping and fugitive hunting. The group has approximately 100 members.
GSG 9 (Maritime Counter-Terrorism)
The second sub-group of the GSG 9 is used for Counter-Terrorism at sea, for example the
hijacking of ships or
oil platforms. The group has approximately 100 members.
GSG 9 (Airborne Counter-Terrorism)
The third sub-group of the GSG 9 is used for Counter-Terrorism involving Airborne operations, including
parachuting and
helicopter landings. The group has approximately 50 members.
Technical unit
This unit supports other units in obtaining entry to target areas and is responsible for the procurement, testing and issuance of non-weapon equipment.
Central services
This service group maintains the
armoury of the GSG 9, and is involved in testing, repairing and purchasing
weapons,
ammunition, and
explosives.
Documentation unit
This unit handles the
communications of the GSG 9, including the testing, repairing and purchasing of communications and
surveillance equipment.
Operations staff
This is the administration of the GSG 9.
Training unit
This unit trains existing members, and selects, recruits and trains the new members.
Members of the
Bundespolizei and other German police services with 2 years of service can join the GSG 9. The 22-week training period includes 13 weeks of basic training and 9 weeks of advanced training. Besides medical tests there are many physical and psychological requirements, for example running 5000 meters within 23 minutes and jumping a distance of at least 2.4 meters (from a standstill). The identity of GSG 9 members is classified as
top secret. Further training often involves co-operation with other allied
Counter-Terrorism units.
Only one in five pass the training course.
*
Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun, in various versions/configurations.
*Heckler & Koch
G36 assault rifle, G36K,and G36C
*Heckler & Koch
PSG-1 sniper rifle and G8
automatic rifle.
*
SIG 550 assault rifle family
*
GLOCK 17 pistol*USP Family of Handguns
*Smith & Wesson and Ruger .357 Magnum Revolvers
*The GSG 9 is one of the famous Counter-Terrorist units portrayed in
Counter-Strike,
Counter-Strike: Source and in
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.
*German
Rainbow operatives Jorg Walther and Dieter Weber were once GSG 9 operators.
*Some of the enemies in Konami's arcade game
World Combat 2 (
Wartran Troopers in Japan/Asia) are troopers wearing standard GSG 9 uniforms.
*
"Patch", a character in the first person shooter
Command & Conquer: Renegade, was a member of the GSG 9 before being recruited by
GDI.
The German GSG 9 team won every event at the 2005
SWAT World Challenge in
Las Vegas, beating 17 other teams. In 2006 they again gained the victory with first place in four of the eight different competitions of World SWAT Challenge.
*
Spezialeinsatzkommando*
KSK*
Zentrale Unterstützungsgruppe Zoll*
Kampfschwimmer*
SWAT*
Official GSG 9 page of the German Federal Police*
Site of the GSG 9 companionship*
World SWAT Challenge
