Active 1963–1994, 2000–2005 Type Armoured regiment Motto Regementet för framtiden Mascot Harald the Ram Color Blue and white | Country Sweden Role Mechanized infantry Founded 1963 Branch Swedish Army Size Regiment | |
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Allegiance Swedish Armed Forces (1963–1994, 2000–2005) Part of Milo Ö (1963–1982)
MKG (1982–1994)
Opil (2000–2005) Similar Swedish Armed Forces, Swedish Army, Artillery Regiment, Norrbotten Regiment, Norrland Artillery Regiment | ||
The Gotland Regiment (Swedish: Gotlands regemente), also P 18, was a Swedish Army armoured regiment that was active in various forms 1963–1994 and 2000–2005. The regiment was based in Visby as part of the Gotland Garrison.
Contents
History
In connection with the 1958 Defense Decision, the Riksdag decided that eight armored brigades with new combat vehicles would be organized in the army. A decision which was for economic reasons changed in August 1960, to include only seven armored brigades. The North Scania Regiment (I 6), South Scania Regiment (I 7), Södermanland regiment (I 10) and Gotland Infantry Regiment (I 18) were the infantry regiments that were transferred from the infantry to the armored forces.
On Gotland there was the detachment, the Göta pansarlivgardes kompani på Gotland, since 1944. The detachment was on 1 April 1963 merged in the new Gotland Regiment, forming the backbone of the new armored regiment. The Gotland Regiment was simultaneously given the designation P 18. It had previously been designated I 18 as an infantry regiment.
In conjunction with the so called OLLI reform, which was carried out by the Swedish Armed Forces in 1973 and in 1975, A units and B units were created. The A units were regiments responsible for a defence area, and the B units were training regiments. In Gotland's case, it distinguished itself from the allotment on the mainland. This when the VII. Military Area was reorganized into Gotland Military Command (MKG) in 1966. The military command constituted a special command and control organization within the Eastern Military District, but did not have the overall responsibility for the administration of the island. Furthermore, the professional mobilization was led on a unit level. Through the reform, the full mobilization and material responsibility for the army units on Gotland. This meant that the Gotland Regiment, which was included in the Gotland Military Command (MKG), came to be a B unit (training regiment) as of 1 July 1974.
Prior to the 1977 Defense Decision, the Defence Peace Organization Investigation (Försvarets fredsorganisationsutredning, FFU) proposed to the Riksdag a merging of Gotland Regiment (P 18), Gotland Artillery Regiment (A 7) and Gotlands luftvärnsbataljon (Lv 2) to create an army regiment. However, the Committee on Defence and the Minister for Defence, felt that no decision would be taken before the issue of further land acquisition in connection to Visborgs slätt had been met. In autumn 1980 the issue was considered sufficiently resolved when the Riksdag decided on 16 October 1980 to merge the army units into an army regiment.
On 30 June 1982 the regiment was dissolved as an independent unit, and from 1 July 1982 the regiment was subordinate to the commanding officer of the Gotland Military Command (MKG). Through the 1992 Defense Decision, the Gotland Military Command received a new role. The command came only to lead all operations on Gotland, which on the mainland were settled by the defence area staffs, division staffs and naval command staffs. The army units which since 1982 had been subordinate to the command, came to form independent units. However, the Gotland Regiment was decommissioned and merged with the war unit Gotland Brigade and formed the Gotland Regiment and Gotland Brigade (MekB 18).
Prior to the 2000 Defense Decision, the government proposed to the Riksdag that only six units for training of army brigade commands and mechanized battalions would be the starting point for the future of the Swedish Armed Forces. When it came to Gotland, the government considered that operational requirements made it necessary to have a military presence on the island. But primarily because of cost and maintenance reasons, the government considered that no tank training would be carried out on Gotland. The Swedish Armed Forces' new peace organization did not come to reflect the war organization in the same way as before, which meant that Gotland Regiment and Gotland Brigade was decommissioned on 30 June 2000, and in its place the Gotland Regiment (P 18) was formed on 1 July 2000.
In the 2004 Defense Decision, the Riksdag decided on a decommissioning of the Gotland Regiment (P 18). Prior to the defense decision, the regiment was put up against the Jämtland Rifle Regiment (I 5), South Scania Regiment (P 7) and Södermanland Regiment (P 10), where the government was keen to create rational production conditions, and a sustainable organizational structure. The new organization would respond to the requirements of the new structure of operational units and the development and education resources sets. Each regiment trained mechanized units, and had good production conditions and good engineering resources. The government wanted that the Swedish Armed Forces would be developed into an operational defense, with a greater emphasis on internationalization, which came to mean that the government proposed a decommissioning of Gotland Regiment. Remaining of the three regiments was South Scania Regiment, which the government considered had geographically the best advantageous location, with proximity to the training ground, which was central to the Swedish Armed Forces. The government also drew great importance of having military training units with emphasis on ground warfare in southern Sweden, with short distances to both the Øresund Bridge and Barsebäck Nuclear Power Plant.
The Gotland Regiment was decommissioned on 31 December 2004. From 1 January 2005, the regiment changed name to the Decommissioning Organization P 18 (Avvecklingsorganisation P 18), which would account for the decommissioning of the regiment, which would be completed on 31 August 2006. On 28 May 2005 the official decommissioning of the regiment took place.
Campaigns
2003-2005
These companies merged with Södermanland Regiment (P 10) to form the battalion Viktor Niklas (VN).
-2003
Organization until 2003:
Barracks
The regiment was placed on 30 August 1905 to a newly built barracks establishment at Visborgs slätt which the regiment since 1887 had as its meeting place and military camp. The barracks establishment was erected after the 1901 Defence Reform's building program after the Fortifikationen' type drawings för infantry establishments. In total, just over a hundred buildings came to be erected in the area. The barracks area has a number of times been extended in the form of garage and storage buildings and barracks. From 1986 the Gotland Artillery Regiment was colocalized with Gotland Regiment. And from 1978 the Gotlands luftvärnskår was colocalized with Gotland Regiment. Except these units, the barracks area has also hosted a number of staffs, including the staff of the Gotland Military Command and Gotland Military District. After the regiment was decommissioned the Swedish Fortifications Agency on behalf of the government, sold the entire barracks area for about 40 million Swedish krona.
Training grounds
The regiment's primary practice and firing range has been based in Visby, Stånga malm, Blekväten, Vallstena, Hällarna and Tofta firing range.
Heraldry and traditions
When the regiment was reorganized into an armored regiment in 1963, the regiment carried a banner which was awarded to the regiment on 13 June 1954 by the Chief of the Army Carl August Ehrensvärd. The regiment also came for some time to carry the banner of Göta pansarlivgardes kompani på Gotland alongside their own banner.
In 1975 the name "Royal" was removed from all regiments according to a parliamentary decision, wherein the name was now only Gotland Regiment (P 18). In 1978, the regiment organized the World Military Shooting Championship. In 1979, Corporal Harald I (a ram) did his first appearance in service during the Royal Guards ceremony at the Stockholm Palace. He later was appointed honorary corporal.
In 1991 the Gotland Regiment Honorary Medal (Gotlands regementes hedersmedalj) in gold and silver was instituted. The medal is of the 8th size, and has a ribbon in blue with a narrow white stripe on each side and a narrow red stripe in the middle. In connection with decommissioning of the regiment in 2005, the Gotland Regiment Memorial Medal (Gotlands regementes minnesmedalj) in silver was instituted. The medal is of the 8th size, and has a blue ribbon with a red stripe on the inside followed by a white stripe on each side. The ribbon is coated with a ram in silver.
Commanding officers
Regimental commanders active from when the regiment was organized as an armored unit. For regimental commanders before 1963, see Gotland Infantry Regiment. The years 1982-1994 the regimental commander was subordinate to the commaning officer of the Gotland Military Command (MKG). For the years 1994-2000, see Gotland Regiment and Gotland Brigade (MekB 18).