National People's Army
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The National People’s Army (German: Nationale Volksarmee) served as the military of the German Democratic Republic.
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[edit] History
The formation of the National People’s Army on March 1, 1956 (six months after the formation of the West German Bundeswehr), was the culmination of years of preparation during which former Wehrmacht officers were recruited to organize and train paramilitary units of the People's Police. With its German appearance--with uniforms and ceremonies patterned after older German military traditions--the doctrine and structure of the NVA was strongly influenced by the armed forces of the Soviet Union, thus mixing elements of the most innovative and successful schools of military thoughts of the 20th century in a force which, for its size, was considered one of the most professional and prepared of the world.
By the middle of 1956, about 27 percent of the members of the NVA's officer corps were former members of 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. The West German Bundeswehr similarly relied on Wehrmacht veterans.
In its first six years, the NVA was an all-volunteer army in contrast to West Germany, where universal military service was reintroduced in 1956. Conscription was finally introduced in 1962, and the NVA's strength was increased to about 170,000 troops.
In reality, the NVA was an army under the direct control of the ruling party rather than a "national" army. Like the Communist parties of other socialist states, the SED assured control by appointing loyal party members to top positions and organizing intensive political education for all ranks. Former Wehrmacht officers--most of whom were members of the National Democratic Party of Germany (NDPD)--were gradually replaced after they had served their purpose. Before long, almost 95 percent of the officer corps were SED members.
The NVA described itself as the instrument of power of the working class, serving to protect and secure the achievements of socialism from external aggression. The armed forces, many of its officers and career soldiers believed, protected peace by deterring imperialist attack. The NVA's motto, inscribed on its flag, was "For the Protection of the Workers' and Farmers' Power."
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 7. Panzerdivision and the 11. Motorisierte Schützendivision in 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 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.
The NVA was disbanded in 1990, and 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: only 3,200 were retained by the Bundeswehr after demotion by one rank.
Until March 1, 2005, time served in the NVA was listed as time “served in a foreign military”. Henceforth, it is to be known as “served outside of the Bundeswehr”.
[edit] Utilization of former NVA material 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.
[edit] 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.
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 socialist state in history to provide a non-combat alternative for conscientious objectors. However, the government took care to segregate the construction units from regular conscripts; fearing that other soldiers would be contaminated by pacifist ideas. Moreover, conscripts who chose the alternative service option often faced discrimination later in life, including denial of opportunities for higher education.
[edit] Organization
The NVA was comprised of four main branches:
- The Landstreitkräfte (Ground Forces) with a strength of 120,000.
- The Volksmarine (People's Navy) with a strength of 16,300.
- The Luftstreitkräfte/Luftverteidigung (Air Forces/Air Defence) with a strength of 39,000.
- The Grenztruppen der DDR (Border troops of the GDR), consisting of 50,000 border guards.
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 (who controlled the Volkspolizei) and the Ministry for State Security (who controlled the Felix Dzerzhinsky Watch Regiment), and 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.
[edit] Uniforms
[edit] Rank Insignia
| Generals of the NVA | ||||
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| Marshal of the GDR | General of the Army | Colonel General | Lieutenant General | Major General |
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| Officer Corps of the NVA | ||||||
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| Colonel/Group | Lieutenant Colonel/Wing | Major | Captain | First Lieutenant/Flying Officer | Lieutenant | Sub-Lieutenant |
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| Ensigns of the NVA | |||
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| Staff Ensign 1st Class | Staff Ensign | Ensign 1st Class | Ensign |
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| Non Commissioned Officers of the NVA | ||||
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| Staff Sergeant/Flight Sergeant | Sergeant 1st Class | Sergeant | Sub-Sergeant | Non-commissioned Officer |
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| Team-Ranks of the NVA | ||
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| Staff Private | Private | Soldier |
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[edit] Relics
The former Nazi holiday complex at Prora, on the island of Rugen, contains a number of museum displays. One of these is devoted to the NPA, which had used part of the complex as a barracks.
