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The
National People’s Army (German: Nationale
Volksarmee) was the military of the German
Democratic Republic
. Since East Germany was at the frontline of
the
Cold War, the GDR's military was
considered to be the most advanced in the whole
Warsaw Pact, excluding the Soviet Union.
It was
battle ready at all times, ready to be mobilized in a future war
with NATO
.
History
Soldiers of the Guards Regiment
"Friedrich Engels" marching at a changing-of-the-guard ceremony at
the Neue Wache on the Unter den Linden in Berlin.
The creation of the National People’s Army on
March 1,
1956, six months after
the formation of the West German
Bundeswehr, was followed by years of preparation
during which former
Wehrmacht officers and
Communist veterans of the Spanish Civil War helped organize and
train
paramilitary units of
the
People's Police.
With its German
appearance—including uniforms and ceremonies patterned after older
German military traditions—the doctrine and structure of the NVA
were strongly influenced by the armed forces of the Soviet Union
, thus mixing elements of the 20th century's most
innovative and successful schools of military in a force which, for
its size, was considered one of the most professional and prepared
of the world.
During its first year, about 27 percent of the NVA's officer corps
had formerly served in the Wehrmacht. Of the 82 highest command
positions, 61 were held by ex-Wehrmacht officers. The military
knowledge and combat experience of these veterans were
indispensable in the NVA's early years, although by the 1960s most
of these World War II veterans had been retired. The West German
Bundeswehr similarly relied on Wehrmacht
veterans who initially comprised the majority of its commissioned
ranks.
In its first six years, the NVA was an all-volunteer force.
West Germany
, in contrast, reintroduced universal military
service in 1956. Conscription was finally introduced in
1962, and the NVA's strength was increased to about 170,000
troops.
Like the Communist parties of other socialist states, the
Socialist Unity Party of
Germany, or SED, assured control by appointing loyal party
members to top positions and organizing intensive political
education for all ranks. The proportion of SED members in the
officer corps rose steadily after the early 1960s, eventually
reaching almost 95 percent of the officer corps.
The NVA described itself as the
instrument of power of the
working class. According to its doctrine, the NVA protected
peace and secured the achievements of socialism by maintaining a
convincing deterrent to imperalist aggression. The NVA's motto,
inscribed on its flag, was "For the Protection of the Workers' and
Farmers' Power."
A stamp celebrating 25 years of the
NVA
The NVA never took part in full-scale combat, although it
participated in a support role in the suppression of the
Prague Spring of 1968 and NVA officers often
served as combat advisers in Africa. When the Soviet Union prepared
to occupy Czechoslovakia, the GDR government originally planned to
use the 7th Panzer Division and the 11th Motorized Infantry
Division to support the intervention, but fear of international
reaction to the deployment of German troops outside Germany for the
first time since the
Second World
War caused second thoughts. Instead, the NVA provided
logistical help when Soviet troops advanced into Czechoslovakia and
stood at the border ready to intervene in the event that the
Soviet Army could not quell the
uprising.
In the fall of 1981, the NVA stood ready to
intervene in Poland
in support
of a possible Soviet invasion, but the declaration of martial law
in Poland averted the crisis.
The NVA
was in a state of heightened combat readiness on several occasions,
including the construction of the Berlin Wall
in 1961, the Cuban
Missile Crisis in 1962, the 1968 Warsaw Pact intervention in
Czechoslovakia, and for the last time in the fall of 1989 as
protests swept through the country.
Post-Unification
Tatra-813
Late NVA bread bag
The NVA was disbanded in 1990. Its facilities and equipment were
handed over to the
Bundeswehr. Most
facilities were closed, and equipment was either sold or given to
other countries. Most of the NVA's 36,000 officers and NCOs were
let go, including all officers above the rank of lieutenant
colonel. Only 3,200 were retained by the Bundeswehr after demotion
by one rank. In addition, all female soldiers and all soldiers over
the age of 55 were also discharged.
Until
March 1,
2005,
time served in the NVA was listed as time “served in a foreign
military”. Service in the NVA did not count for points towards
federal pensions in the unified Germany. Retired NVA soldiers and
officers received only minimal pensions after unification: a
thirty-year veteran would receive a pension smaller than a graduate
student stipend. After the reform, service in the NVA is known as
“served outside of the Bundeswehr”.
Many former NVA officers feel bitter about their treatment after
unification. While receiving only minimal pensions, few have been
able to find jobs except as laborers or security guards. Former NVA
officers are not permitted to append their NVA rank to their name
as a professional title; no such prohibition applies to rank
attained in the Wehrmacht or Waffen-SS during the Nazi era. .
Former Wehrmacht soldiers in the NVA
The below list includes the NVA generals and admirals who were
awarded the
German Cross in the
Wehrmacht during the
Second World War with the date of the
awards as well as the rank held at the time listed after the
name.
- Generalmajor Rudolf Bamler (12 Mar 1942 as Oberst)
- Generalmajor Bernhard Bechler (28 Jan 1943 as Major)
- Generalmajor Dr. rer. pol. Otto Korfes (11 Jan 1942 as
Oberst)
- Generalmajor Arno von Lenski (21
Jan 1943 as Generalmajor)
- Generalleutnant Vincenz
Müller (26 Jan 1942 as Oberst i.G.)
- Generalmajor Hans Wulz (25 Jan 1943 as Generalmajor)
The below list includes the NVA generals and admirals who were
awarded the
Knight's
Cross of the Iron Cross in the
Wehrmacht during the
Second World War with the date of the
awards as well as the rank held at the time listed after the
name.
- Generalmajor Wilhelm
Adam (17 Dec 1942 as Oberst)
- Generalmajor Dr. rer. pol. Otto Korfes (22 Jan 1943 as
Generalmajor)
- Generalleutnant Vincenz
Müller (7 Apr 1944 as Generalleutnant)
Utilization of former NVA materiel after 1991
The NVA was, in relation to its equipment and training, one of the
strongest armies in the Warsaw Pact. It was outfitted with a large
number of modern weapons systems, most of Soviet origin, from which
a small portion were given back to the Soviet Union in 1990.
The remaining equipment and materials was very substantial. Large
quantites of replacement parts, medical supplies,
atomic, biological and chemical
warfare equipment, training devices and simulators, etc. had to
be disposed of.
One of the first measures taken after
reunification was a survey and securing
of weapons and devices by former members of the NVA. The federally
operated
Material Depot Service Gesellschaft (MDSG) was
charged with taking custody of and warehousing this equipment. The
MDSG employed 1,820 people who were primarily taken from the
Bundeswehr. The MDSG was privatised in 1994. Unless the defense
material was given free of charge to beneficiaries in the new
federal states or other departments, to museums, or to friendly
nations in the context of aid supplies in third world nations, it
was destroyed.
Left behind were:
- 767 aircraft (helicopters, fixed wing aircraft), 24 of which
were MiG-29s
- 208 ships
- 2,761 tanks
- 133,900 wheeled vehicles
- 2,199 artillery pieces
- 1,376,650 firearms
- 303,690 tons of ammunition
- 14,335 tons of fuel and cleaning materials
The sale
of BTR-60s to Turkey
at the
beginning of the 1990s (with the stipulation that they not be used
in internal conflicts, especially against the Kurds), made headlines. It was later proven by
German journalists that these former NVA vehicles were, and still
are, being used in regions with Kurdish populations, in violation
of this stipulation.
Recruitment and conscientious objection
Before the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, military
service in the GDR was voluntary, though the
Free German Youth and public schools
mounted intensive recruitment drives and service in the NVA was
often a prerequisite for career advancement.
Compulsory service had
been introduced earlier in West Germany (1956)—one year after the Federal Armed Forces were
established—but the GDR held back from this step until 1962.
The reason was partly that the authorities feared that conscription
would swell the ranks of GDR citizens fleeing to the West. The
situation changed when the border was sealed in August 1961, and
five months later the government announced a mandatory service term
of 18 months for men.
Another GDR stamp celebrating 25 years
of the NVA.
In the background is a memorial commemorating those who
perished in the former Nazi Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.
There was, at first, no alternative service for
conscientious
objectors. This changed in 1964 when, under pressure from the
national Protestant church, the GDR's National Defense Council
authorized the formation of
Baueinheiten (construction
units) for men of draft age who "refuse military service with
weapons on the grounds of religious viewpoints or for similar
reasons".
The construction soldiers wore uniforms and lived in barracks under
military discipline, but were not required to bear arms and
received no combat training. In theory, they were to be used only
for civilian construction projects. The GDR therefore became the
only Warsaw Pact country to provide a non-combat alternative for
conscientious objectors. However, fearing that other soldiers would
be contaminated by pacifist ideas, the government took care to
segregate the construction units from regular conscripts. Moreover,
conscripts who chose the alternative service option often faced
discrimination later in life, including denial of opportunities for
higher education.
Organization
The NVA had four main branches:
In wartime, mobilization of the NVA's reserves would have nearly
doubled its strength. GDR authorities also had at their disposal
the internal security troops of the
Ministry of the Interior (the
Kasernierte Volkspolizei or
garrisoned People's Police) and the
Ministry for State Security (the
Felix Dzerzhinsky Watch
Regiment) along with the 210,000-member
party auxiliary "
Combat Groups of the Working
Class" (
Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse), who were
available in times of war.
The
highest level of leadership for the NVA was the Ministry for
National Defense (Ministerium für Nationale Verteidigung)
headquartered in Strausberg
near East Berlin.
NVA administration was divided into the following commands:
- the
Kommando Landstreitkräfte (KdoLaSK) based in Geltow near Potsdam
.
- the
Kommando Luftstreitkräfte und Luftverteidigungskräfte
(KdoLSK/LV) based in Strausberg.
- the
Kommando Volksmarine (KdoVM) based in Rostock
.
- the
Kommando der Grenztruppen (KdoGT) based in Pätz near Berlin
.
Equipment
During its existence, the bulk of all the weaponry originated in
the Soviet Union with a small amount from other East
European/Warsaw Pact countries. East Germany did make modified
copies of several weapons and designed and built small ships and
trucks.
Small Arms:
- AK-47 Assault
rifle Manufactured by the state arsenal as the MPi-KM (fixed
stock, later variants were distinctive stippled plastic) and
MPi-KMS-72 (AKMS) with a single strut "coathanger" side-folding
stock.
- AK-74 Assault Rifle MPi-AK-74N,
MPi-AKS-74N, MPi-AKS-74NK variants made by the state arsenal for a
short period of time starting in 1983 (withdrawn from service after
German reunification)
- RPD Light Machine Gun
- RPK Light Machine Gun
- PKM Medium Machine Gun
- Dragunov SVD Semi-automatic sniper
rifle
- RPG-7D light AT-weapon
- RPG-18 light AT-weapon
Armored Vehicles:
Uniforms
Rank Insignia
Like many of the other Warsaw Pact countries, NVA rank insignia
followed the Soviet pattern in the arrangement of stars.
| Officer
Candidates/Warrant Officers of the NVA |
| Stabsoberfähnrich (Staff Ensign 1st Class) |
Stabsfähnrich (Staff Ensign) |
Oberfähnrich (Ensign 1st Class) |
Fähnrich (Ensign) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Enlisted Ranks
of the NVA |
| Stabsgefreiter (Lance Corporal) |
Gefreiter (Private 1st Class) |
Soldat (Private) |
 |
 |
 |
Relics
The
former Nazi holiday complex at Prora
, on the
island of Rügen
, contains a
number of museum displays. One of these is devoted to the
NPA, which had used part of the complex as a barracks.
See also
Notes
- Andrew Bickford, "Soldiers, Citizens, and the State: East
German Army Officers in Post-Unification Germany." Comparative
Studies in Society and History 2009; 51(2):260-287.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0010417509000127
- Generals & Admirals who were awarded the Knight's
Cross in the Axis History Factbook
- Generals & Admirals who were awarded the German
Cross in the Axis History Factbook
External links
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