The East Germans
The German Democratic Republic ceased to exist as an independent nation when its federal states were re-established and acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany in November 1996. Collusion between the West German Bundeswehr and the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) had begun as early 1992 when NVA officers became increasingly disillusioned with Soviet foreign policy and where it was leading, and opened secret dialogue with their West German counterparts. Despite being cut off from West Germany since the late 1940’s most East Germans still considered themselves part of an all-German nation in spite of the Communist regime’s best attempts to foster a new East German identity. When the Soviet Union invaded China in 1995 it was clear to the NVA that German troops were going to be used as cannon fodder by the Soviet Army in the battlefields of China. Plans began to be set in motion between the higher military echelons of both German states, which were kept secret from the elected West German government in Bonn and the Communist leadership and its security apparatus in East Germany. Computer files on NVA officers and NCO’s were made available to West German military intelligence by pro-nationalist East German officers to assess loyalty during planned future reunification. West German television intensively broadcasted news about the Soviet war against China in the build up to reunification, which was easily picked up in East German homes and was in stark contrast to news on the state run East German and Soviet networks, further demoralised East German attitudes about the war and their government.
The intelligence services of NATO nations were not unaware of West German preparations to unilaterally invade East Germany. Increased West German military activity close to the inner German border were noted in the months before German Reunification by other NATO forces, but none believed that the Germans would ever really go ahead with it. When the inner German border was opened by selected East German Border Troops in the early hours of the 7th of October 1996 and West German tanks crossed the frontier, the East German leadership and the rest of the world was taken completely by surprise. Senior NVA commanders had carefully coordinated the deliberate placement of many NVA units in barracks or on manoeuvres to stop them from interfering with the reunification process, while pro-nationalist led army units isolated Soviet garrisons and State Security troops until they were reinforced by West German forces. Radar coverage of air corridors over the inner German border was controlled by the pro-nationalist officer corps of the East German Luftstreitkrafte to allow Luftwaffe transport aircraft to land at East German air bases, while data was temporarily concealed from the wider Soviet air defence network. Running on a coordinated timescale assisted by allied East German troops over road, railway and air, over 30,000 West German troops were deployed across East Germany within twelve hours of the inner German border being opened. By the time the East German leadership and the Soviet Union knew what was happening there was little they could do to stop it as thousands of West German troops were crossing by the hour backed by heavy armour and aircraft. Resistance to reunification was strongest among the State Security forces known as the Stasi, who were quickly overwhelmed or arrested by West German forces. When news reached the rest of the NVA very few East German troops were willing to engage West German soldiers despite being ordered to. News that the Stasi were being rounded up and that Soviet forces were being locked down in their bases was actually supported by most NVA troops and junior officers, who quickly made contact with West German forces and awaited further orders. Known communist sympathisers and members of the East German government and security forces were quickly arrested in order to prevent a counter coup by pro-regime forces that could rely on Soviet backing. The Soviet Union and her Warsaw Pact allies were expected to fiercely resist German reunification, and Soviet forces in Germany began to fight their way out of their bases and engaged both West and East German troops. Warsaw Pact forces massing on the German border in Poland and Czechoslovakia were faced off by strong West German forces manning border crossings. With the ongoing war with China and NATO supporting German reunification, the Soviets were unsure about how strongly the rest of NATO would react if they attacked Germany. Their delay in attacking allowed German forces further time to tighten their control of East Germany. Soviet forces in Germany were allowed to retreat peacefully into Poland, but some began to fight both sides of the German Army and were forced across the border or eliminated. When the expected Warsaw Pact counter attack happened in late October they were engaged by both East and West German forces.
As the NVA was absorbed into the Bundeswehr and the Soviets withdrew from Germany, some loyalist NVA, security personnel and politicians left with them forming a Soviet supported government in exile and a nucleus for the creation of a new East German Army. In subsequent months other loyalists who had avoided arrest, or who were former soldiers who had been made redundant after amalgamation or who were simply devout communists crossed into Poland and Czechoslovakia or made their way to the Soviet Union via another route. As the Warsaw Pact advanced into Germany in late October 1996 a number of Germans volunteered to join the Pact armies. Initially these were quietly ignored by Soviet commanders, but as the Soviet offensive into Germany stalled these volunteers were hastily assembled in the Polish Baltic city of Gdansk for training. Since most were veterans of the NVA they needed little training, although they were initially commanded by Russian officers who were selected from those who had served in Group of Soviet Forces Germany and who spoke fluent German. Since they were mainly committed communists the commissar strength within the unit was low and the Soviet officers were gradually phased out. The newly formed NVA were dressed and equipped as standard Soviet units but wore East German ranks and a German roundel on their side and field caps identical to the German Army itself. The first reformed NVA combat unit was the 2nd German Motor Rifle Division “Willi Bredel”, equipped with Soviet supplied tanks and APCs. When other NATO powers fully committed themselves to supporting Germany in 1997, Soviet and Pact armies were quickly thrown back into Poland in disarray and the 2nd German Motor Rifle Division was committed to breaking the siege of Warsaw in 1997, were its performed surprisingly well against NATO troops. However casualties were heavy and the division suffered from at least one NATO tactical nuclear strike and were withdrawn for refitting after the breaking of the siege.
During this time NVA officers scoured POW camps looking for new recruits from captured German servicemen to refill the ranks of the 2nd German Motor Rifle Division and the newly forming 4th German Motor Rifle Division “Karl Marx”. In this respect they were initially successful, but many German soldiers only joined to escape the miserable POW camp conditions and proved neither effective or cooperative soldiers and desertion was rife. By the time of the Warsaw Pact counteroffensive in Poland in the summer of 1998 the strength of the 2nd Division was little more than a large brigade, while the 4th Division was never more than regiment size and was disbanded and re-designated the 4th German Motor Infantry Regiment. Other East German units were also created in this period, notably the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment, an elite unit of the former State Security troops. Many members were former Stasi who reformed it in exile after German Reunification and acted as security for the reformed GDR government. The 73rd Fallschirmjager Battalion was believed to have been formed from specialised combat troops drafted from the Felix Dzerzhinsky Regiment, and were equivalent in capabilities to Soviet Spetsnaz forces. It is not believed that any East German air or naval units were reformed by the Warsaw Pact, although former East German pilots and sailors did volunteer for service with the Soviet forces. In 1999 Soviet naval infantry recaptured the 934 square kilometre German Baltic island of Rugen, two kilometres off the German coast. NVA units were moved to Rugen Island to form its garrison, and by early 2000 the new government of the German Democratic Republic had established its provisional capital in the town of Binz. The Stasi also re-established itself on the island with plainclothes security police and informers in every community and units of the Felix Dzerzhinsky Regiment guarding government facilities. However Pact forces were soon pushed out of the German Baltic coast by the German Third Army shortly after Rugen was captured, isolating the East Germans on the island. Rugen Island in 2001 is of little strategic importance do either NATO or the Warsaw Pact and the island have so far been ignored. German attitudes towards the NVA ranges from amusement to loathing but most Germans consider them traitors. The Soviet Union still uses the occupation of Rugen as a propaganda tool which rankles the German government and the Third German Army who surround it on the mainland, and it is likely that liberation of the island may be attempted in the near future. In 2001 the NVA forces are split between Rugen Island and units attached to the Soviet 2nd Western Front headquarters in Northern Poland.
NVA Kommando Landstreitkrafte
Command HQ (40 men): Olszlyn, Poland
Wachregiment " Feliks E. Dzierzynski" (330 men, 2x BRDM-2, 4x BTR-60): Olszlyn, Poland & Rugen Island
• Kommando 1 (90 men ): Olszlyn, Poland
• Kommando 2 (120 men, 1x BRDM-2, 2x BTR-60): Rugen Island
• Kommando 3 (120 men, 1x BRDM-2, 2x BTR-60): Olszlyn, Poland
73rd Fallschirmjager Battalion (40 men): Rugen Island
• 2nd Panzer Motorisierte-Schutzen Division " Willi Bredel" (1,500 men, 2x T-55, 1x Leopard 1A3 ): Olszlyn, Poland
• 1st Panzer Regiment (300 men, 2x T-55, 1x Leopard 1A3, 1x BTR-60)
• 1st Motorisierte-Schutzen Regiment (400 men, 1x BMP-1)
• 2nd Motorisierte-Schutzen Regiment (300 men, 1x M113)
• 3rd Motorisierte-Schutzen Regiment (350 men, 4x BTR-60)
• 1st Artillery Regiment (150 men, 2x 122mm, 4x 120mm Mortars)
4th Motorisierte-Schutzen Regiment (480 men, 2x BTR-152, 2x 120mm Mortars): Rugen Island
5th Motorisierte-Schutzen Regiment (220 men): Olszlyn, Poland