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Old 10-14-2020, 04:04 PM
cawest cawest is offline
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just got this from a facebook group Defensionem-The WarBible. 17th of June 1953 is the date you might want to look at.

ex-Kriegsmarine U-boats for East Germany? First, it was "Da", but then it was "Nyet"!

In the early 1950's, the Soviets wanted to arm East Germany. They envisaged an Auxiliary East German Navy, equipped with 13 ex-Kriegsmarine Type VII U-Boats. The subs would be based on Rugen island, in the Baltic.

In early 1953, East Germany started sending officers and enlisted personnel to the Soviet Union where they would start training on two ex-Kriegsmarine Type VII U-Boats. All was going according to plan... Until the 17th of June 1953 when the East Germans revolted against the Soviet occupation. East German leaders were called to Moscow for consultations and the Soviet Occupation Troops in East Germany crushed the uprising.

It took several weeks to pacify the revolt: It is thought up to 1 million East Germans took part in the unrest. However, by the time the revolt was put down, Moscow had lost confidence in East Germany.

Plans for an East German army were temporarily shelved. The country received the authorisation to create its own Armed Forces in 1956 and the NVA ended up becoming one of the best armies within the Warsaw Pact... But its Navy (Volksmarine) never ever received any subs or any offensive weapons.
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