[RN7]

After the Bundeswehr crosses the inter-German border the East German government would become heavily reliant on its security forces to control territory and remain in power. East Germany had one of the largest state security forces in the world, including three separate para-military security organisations in addition to the regular police force.

1) Border Troops
2) Ministry of the Interior
3) Ministry for State Security (Stasi)

1) The 47,000 strong East German Border Troops (Grenztruppen) were the second largest border guard force in the Warsaw Pact after the Soviet Union. The Border Troops were organised into four commands of twenty frontier regiments, one border-crossing regiment, one artillery regiment, three helicopter flights, six training regiments and one coastal brigade. Each frontier regiment had three battalions with four companies, and also one staff company, one artillery company, one engineer company, one signal company, one service company and one transport company. The Grenztruppen were equipped as motorised infantry battalions, with armoured cars, wheeled armoured personnel carriers, mortars, machine guns, antitank weapons and some T-55 tanks. The Grenztruppen were considered East Germany's first line of defence, and its troops were mostly enlisted and were considered highly disciplined.

The four Border Troop commands included Grenzkommando Nord that guarded the northern sector of the West German border. It had six frontier regiments, two training regiments, a helicopter flight and a boat section on the Elbe River. Grenzkommando Sud guarded the southern sector of the West German border with six frontier regiments, two training regiments and a helicopter flight. Grenzkommando Kuste guarded the coast and was organised as a coastal brigade with twelve marine battalions, eight boat companies and a helicopter flight. The patrol craft and helicopters were operated by the East German Navy. Grenzkommando Mitte was stationed in East Berlin, and it manned the crossing points into West Berlin and the perimeter surrounding it. It had six frontier regiments, one artillery regiment, two training regiments, one border crossing point regiment of eight companies, and one boat company to patrol the waterways in and around West Berlin. There were also two independent frontier regiments on the border with Czechoslovakia and Poland. As the Border Troops of Grenzkommando Nord and Sud were based on the inter-German border it is likely that their commanders were pro-German Reunification, as they were responsible for opening the border and allowing the Bundeswehr to cross into East Germany. The other Border Troop units especially from Grenzkommando Mitte and the regiments on the Czech and Polish border would likely have remained loyal to the East German regime. The East German regime no doubt planned to use the forces of Grenzkommando Mitte against West Berlin.

2) The Ministry of the Interior controlled the East German police (Volkspolizei). Under its command included 8,500 Transport Police who were organised into sixteen companies of armed police, and another 15,000 troops attached to the Volkspolizei Alert Units (Bereitschaftpolizei). The Alert Units were organised into 21 battalions, with each battalion having a headquarter company, four alert companies (one mechanised and three motorised), and one support company with artillery, anti-tank guns and mortars. One alert battalion was attached to each East German district, but the key districts of Halle, Leipzig, Magdeburg and Potsdam had two battalions, and there were six battalions in East Berlin. The Ministry of the Interior also controlled Service Unit 9 (Diensteinheit IX), a covert anti-terrorist unit similar to GSG-9 that was formed in the aftermath of the Munich Massacre in 1972. Diensteinheit IX was armed with Soviet and West German weapons, and its pre-war function included hostage rescue, physical security and the hunting of Soviet Army deserters in East Germany. The Ministry of the Interior also controlled the Combat Groups of the Working Class (Kamphfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse). It was a workers militia of 500,000 members organised into 200 battalions, armed with second line equipment and it served as a home defence force in wartime. The loyalties of the Ministry of Interior troops probably depended upon their location in East Germany, and what they really thought of the East German regime once Bundeswehr panzers were sighted on the horizon.

3) East Germany's most notorious security force was operated by the Ministry for State Security (Stasi), the East German equivalent to the Soviet KGB. The Stasi was a large organisation with 90,000 employees with many functions, but its two principle roles were foreign intelligence and spying on the population of East Germany. The Stasi was in charge of the surveillance of mail and telephone lines, and ran a vast network of informants with as many as 500,000 collaborators with informants and agents in every apartment building and industrial plant. The Stasi also scrutinized the political reliability of the NVA and other East German security services, which did little to endear its popularity among the East German armed forces. The Stasi operated a secure internal communications system for the government, and had a penal system that was distinct from the Ministry of the Interior. The Stasi also controlled the Felix Dzierzynski Guard Regiment which was responsible for the protection of government and party buildings and personnel. The Felix Dzierzynski Guard Regiment was trained to the same standard as the NVA and Volkspolizei alert units, and recruits were selected from politically reliable backgrounds. The regiment had a strength of 11,000 troops and was nearly the size of a motorised rifle division, equipped with armoured vehicles, mortars, antitank weapons and antiaircraft guns. It was organised into three combat groups with six motorized rifle battalions, one artillery battalion, three training battalions, one engineer company, one support company, one medical company and one reconnaissance (parachute) company. The reconnaissance company was a commando unit equivalent to Soviet Spetsnaz forces. The Felix Dzierzynski Guard Regiment was in effect a politically reliable internal security force that could be deployed to suppress rebellion and unrest against the regime in East Germany, and as it was not part of the NVA it could be deployed in East Berlin. It has been said that the Stasi maintained a greater surveillance of its own people than any other secret police force in history, including the KGB and the Nazi Gestapo. However they did miss the well organised planning for German Reunification by senior elements of the NVA with the Bundeswehr, but during German Reunification they would have been by far the most resistant to unification.

After the Bundeswehr establishes itself in East Germany and the NVA begins to show its true loyalties, the East German government would likely pull back as many of its loyal security units to eastern districts of East Germany and allow the Soviets to fight the Bundeswehr. Most of its remaining forces would be withdrawn to loyalist strongholds including East Berlin, as if they lose control of their capital they will lose their legitimacy. So in and around Berlin the East Germans have a large Stasi force including most of the Felix Dzierzynski Guard Regiment, Grenzkommando Mitte and six battalions of Ministry of the Interior Alert Units, with some loyal NVA and militia units.

Facing them in West Berlin are the three Berlin garrison brigades of the US, British and French armies, and the West Berlin police force. The combined strength of the Berlin garrisons was 10,000 troops (4,300 US Army, 3,000 British Army and 2,700 French Army). The three Berlin brigades were basically infantry brigades, but they included mechanised units with tanks, artillery and air defence units. This force included perhaps 300 armoured vehicles such as 28 US M60A3 that were replaced by M1A1's, 18 British Chieftains'replaced by Challenger 1, and 40 French AMX-30. The US also had 9 M109 155m howitzers and all of the brigades were equipped with a large number of Dragon, TOW and Milan ATGW's. Allied air force personnel were also stationed at Gatow, Tegal and Templehof airports, with the RAF strength at Gatow reportedly standing at 700 personnel in 1991. No combat jets were based in West Berlin but there were some US and British helicopters. Once the Bundeswehr crosses the inter-German border the French protest and pull their forces out of Germany including West Berlin. This would have been a major event as France had 52,700 troops and 570 tanks stationed in Germany. The Soviets likely allowed the French to evacuate their troops and civilians through Tegal airport in the French sector of West Berlin, although they would have to leave their vehicles. Do they destroy them or give them to the US and Britain?