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Panzer and Daenner Kasernes are well known installations in the Kaiserslautern American Community. Rhine Ordnance Barracks, Pulaski Barracks, Miesau Army Depot, Kaiserslautern Army Depot and even the geographically distant Germersheim Depot may ring a bell. Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and the new medical center under construction, Smith Barracks in Baumholder and Sembach Kaserne up on the hill are common names. Higher headquarters is located in Wiesbaden and there is a unit at the Black Sea, while older residents of Kaiserslautern might even remember Holtzendorff Kaserne.
Now, you may ask yourself, where on earth is this mysterious twenty-third kaserne? The answer is right at your doorstep and just across Kaiserslautern’s main cemetery, commonly known as Kleber Kaserne.
The Third Division of the Army Corps of Bavaria was activated in 1897, comprised of the Fifth Infantry Brigade and the 23rd Infantry Brigade. After numerous organizational restructuring measures, Colonel (later Major General) Rudolf Dänner was appointed regiment commander in 1913.
In 1914 a substitutional battalion was activated in Kaiserslautern and moved into the installation built in a Neo Baroque style a year earlier. It is Kaiserslautern’s oldest kaserne and was called the Royal Bavarian 23rd Infantry Regiment Kaserne, or 23rd Kaserne for short, as the region was a part of the Kingdom of Bavaria at that time.
During World War I Bulgarian King Ferdinand I became the one and only regiment owner June 1917 (for roughly a year) and the name of the kaserne received an addition to be called “Königlich Bayerisches 23. Infanterie-Regiment „König Ferdinand der Bulgaren.“
The installation was rather elegant for its times, equipped with a spacious parade ground, a decorative entrance gate and a fancy bell tower with a domed roof. There were numerous administrative buildings and modern dormitories for soldiers. They were fitted with smart new uniforms to later combat in the war soon to begin.
After World War I during the French occupation, the kaserne was renamed “Kléber Kaserne” after Napoleon’s general Jean Kléber. Daenner Kaserne, dedicated to Rudolf Dänner, and Panzer Kaserne were constructed for the German Wehrmacht in 1937, Holtzendorff Kaserne was built in 1938.
This facility was home to French Forces until their withdrawal in 1992. In the scope of a conversion project, it is now used as part of the commercial area “PRE-Park” close to A6 Kaiserslautern-Ost exit.
In 1951 the U.S. Forces returned to Kaiserslautern and claimed ownership of the three kasernes in east Kaiserslautern. In the early 1950’s the City of Kaiserslautern used the facilities to accommodate refugees but was forced to relocate them upon increased pressure by the U.S. Forces.
Ever since that time, the U.S. Army has utilized the premises with altering commands and organizations but kept the German names Daenner and Panzer (tank) Kaserne as well as French Kléber Kaserne.
Germans, on the other hand, still like to refer to the facility as 23. Kaserne with its picturesque clock tower that can be seen from afar. Not only is the kaserne and its tower unique, but its people are also amazing and recently served a Thanksgiving dinner in the Clock Tower Café. See Page 8
