Exactly sixty years ago, on January 18, 1956, a decision was made to create the National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic (NNA GDR). Although March 1 was officially celebrated as the Day of the National People's Army, since it was on this day in 1956 that the first military units of the GDR took the oath, in reality, the NPA can be counted from January 18, when the People's Chamber of the GDR adopted the Law on the National People's Army of the GDR. Having existed for 34 years, until the unification of Germany in 1990, the National People's Army of the GDR went down in history as one of the most combat-ready armies of post-war Europe. Among the socialist countries, it was the second after Soviet army in terms of training and was considered the most reliable among the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries.

Actually, the history of the National People's Army of the GDR began after West Germany began to form its own armed forces. The Soviet Union in the post-war years pursued a much more peaceful policy than its Western opponents. Therefore, for a long time the USSR sought to comply with the agreements and was in no hurry to arm East Germany. As you know, according to the decision of the Conference of the Heads of Governments of Great Britain, the USSR and the USA, held July 17 - August 2, 1945 in Potsdam, Germany was forbidden to have its own armed forces. But after the end of World War II, relations between yesterday's allies - the USSR on the one hand, the United States and Great Britain on the other - began to deteriorate rapidly and soon turned into extremely tense. The capitalist countries and the socialist camp found themselves on the verge of armed confrontation, which actually gave grounds for violating the agreements that were reached in the process of defeating Nazi Germany. By 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was established on the territory of the American, British and French zones of occupation, and the German Democratic Republic on the territory of the Soviet zone of occupation. The first to militarize "their" part of Germany - the FRG - were Great Britain, the USA and France.

In 1954, the Paris Agreements were concluded, the secret part of which provided for the creation of West Germany's own armed forces. Despite the protests of the West German population, which saw in the reconstruction of the country's armed forces the growth of revanchist and militaristic sentiments and feared new war On November 12, 1955, the German government announced the creation of the Bundeswehr. Thus began the history of the West German army and the history of the practically undisguised confrontation between the "two Germanys" in the field of defense and armaments. After the decision to create the Bundeswehr, the Soviet Union had no choice but to "give the go-ahead" to the formation of its own army and the German Democratic Republic. The history of the National People's Army of the GDR has become a unique example of a strong military commonwealth Russian and German armies, which in the past fought more with each other than cooperated. Do not forget that the high combat capability of the NPA was due to the fact that Prussia and Saxony, the lands from which the main part of the German officers had come from for a long time, became part of the GDR. It turns out that it was the NNA, and not the Bundeswehr, that inherited the historical traditions of the German armies to a greater extent, but this experience was put at the service of the military cooperation between the GDR and the Soviet Union.

Barracks People's Police - the forerunner of the NPA

It should be noted that in fact the creation of armed units, service in which was based on military discipline, began in the GDR even earlier. In 1950, the People's Police was created as part of the Ministry of the Interior of the GDR, as well as two main departments - the Main Directorate of the Air Police and the Main Directorate of the Marine Police. In 1952, on the basis of the Main Directorate of Combat Training of the People's Police of the GDR, the Barracks People's Police was created, which was an analogue of the internal troops of the Soviet Union. Naturally, the KNP could not lead fighting against modern armies and was called upon to perform purely police functions - to fight sabotage and bandit groups, disperse riots, and protect public order. This was confirmed by the decision of the 2nd Party Conference of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The Barracks People's Police was subordinated to the Minister of the Interior of the GDR, Willy Shtof, and the chief of the CNP was directly in charge of the Barracks People's Police. Lieutenant General Heinz Hoffmann was appointed to this post. The personnel of the Barracks People's Police were recruited from among volunteers who signed a contract for a period of at least three years. In May 1952, the Union of Free German Youth took patronage of the Barracks People's Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR, which contributed to a more active influx of volunteers into the ranks of the barracks police and improved the state of the rear infrastructure of this service. In August 1952, the previously independent Naval People's Police and the People's Air Police became part of the Barracks People's Police of the GDR. The People's Air Police in September 1953 was transformed into the Directorate of the KNP Aeroclubs. It had two airfields Kamenz and Bautzen, training aircraft Yak-18 and Yak-11. The Maritime People's Police had patrol boats and small minesweepers.

In the summer of 1953, it was the Barracks People's Police, along with the Soviet troops, that played one of the main roles in suppressing the riots organized by the American-British agents. This was followed by strengthening internal structure Barracks people's police of the GDR and the strengthening of its military component. Further reorganization of the KNP on a military model continued, in particular, the General Headquarters of the Barracks People's Police of the GDR was created, which was headed by Lieutenant General Vinzenz Müller, a former general of the Wehrmacht. Also, the Territorial Administration "North" headed by Major General Herman Rentsch and the Territorial Administration "South" headed by Major General Fritz Jone were also created. Each territorial administration had three operational detachments under its command, and the General Staff was subordinate to a mechanized operational detachment, which was armed with even 40 armored vehicles, including T-34 tanks. The operational detachments of the Barracks People's Police were reinforced motorized infantry battalions with up to 1,800 personnel. The structure of the operational detachment included: 1) the headquarters of the operational detachment; 2) a mechanized company on armored vehicles BA-64 and SM-1 and motorcycles (the same company was armed with armored water tankers SM-2); 3) three motorized infantry companies (on trucks); 4) fire support company (field artillery platoon with three ZIS-3 guns; anti-tank artillery platoon with three 45 mm or 57 mm anti-tank guns; mortar platoon with three 82 mm mortars); 5) headquarters company (communications platoon, sapper platoon, chemical platoon, reconnaissance platoon, transport platoon, supply platoon, control department, medical department). In the Barracks People's Police, military ranks were established and a military uniform was introduced that differed from the uniform of the People's Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR (if the people's police officers wore a dark blue uniform, then the barracks police received a more "military" uniform of protective color). Military ranks the following were established in the Barracks People's Police: 1) soldier, 2) corporal, 3) non-commissioned officer, 4) headquarters non-commissioned officer, 5) sergeant major, 6) chief sergeant major, 7) non-commissioned lieutenant, 8) lieutenant, 9) chief lieutenant, 10) captain, 11) major, 12) lieutenant colonel, 13) colonel, 14) major general, 15) lieutenant general. When the decision was made to create the National People's Army of the GDR, thousands of employees of the Barracks People's Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR expressed a desire to join the National People's Army and continue serving there. Moreover, in fact, it was in the Barracks People's Police that the "skeleton" of the NPA was created - land, air and sea units, and command staff The barracks people's police, including the top commanders, almost completely became part of the NNA. The employees who remained in the Barracks People's Police continued to perform the functions of protecting public order and combating crime, that is, they retained the functionality of the internal troops.

"Founding Fathers" of the GDR Army

On March 1, 1956, the Ministry of National Defense of the GDR began its work. It was headed by Colonel General Willy Shtof (1914-1999), in 1952-1955. served as Minister of the Interior. A communist with pre-war experience, Willy Stof joined the German Communist Party at the age of 17. Being an underground worker, he, nevertheless, could not avoid service in the Wehrmacht in 1935-1937. served in an artillery regiment. Then he was demobilized and worked as an engineer. During the Second World War, Willy Shtof was again called up for military service, participated in battles on the territory of the USSR, was injured, and was awarded the Iron Cross for his valor. He went through the entire war and was taken prisoner in 1945. While in a Soviet prisoner of war camp, he underwent a special training course at an anti-fascist prisoner of war school. Soviet command prepared future cadres from among prisoners of war to occupy administrative positions in the zone of Soviet occupation. Willy Stof, who had not previously held prominent positions in the communist movement in Germany, made in a few post-war years dizzying career. After his release from captivity, he was appointed head of the industrial and construction department, then headed the Economic Policy Department of the SED apparatus. In 1950-1952 Willy Stof served as director of the economic department of the Council of Ministers of the GDR, and then was appointed Minister of the Interior of the GDR. Since 1950, he was also a member of the Central Committee of the SED - and this despite his young age - thirty-five years. In 1955, as Minister of the Interior of the GDR, Willy Shtof received the military rank of Colonel General. Taking into account the experience of leading the power ministry, in 1956 it was decided to appoint Willy Shtof to the post of Minister of National Defense of the German Democratic Republic. In 1959, he received the next military rank of General of the Army. Lieutenant-General Heinz Hoffmann, who served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs as head of the Barracks People's Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR, also moved from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Ministry of National Defense of the GDR.

Heinz Hoffmann (1910-1985) can be called the second "founding father" of the National People's Army of the GDR, besides Willy Stoff. Coming from a working-class family, Hoffmann joined the Communist Youth League of Germany at the age of sixteen, and at the age of twenty he became a member of the Communist Party of Germany. In 1935, underground worker Heinz Hoffmann was forced to leave Germany and flee to the USSR. Here he was selected for education - first political at the International Lenin School in Moscow, and then military. November 1936 to February 1837 Hoffmann took special courses in Ryazan at the Military Academy. M.V. Frunze. After completing the courses, he received the rank of lieutenant and already on March 17, 1937, he was sent to Spain, where at that time the Civil War was going on between the Republicans and the Francoists. Lieutenant Hoffman was appointed to the post of instructor in handling Soviet in the training battalion of the 11th International Brigade. On May 27, 1937, he was appointed military commissar of the "Hans Beimler" battalion in the same 11th International Brigade, and on July 7 he took command of the battalion. The next day, Hoffmann was wounded in the face, and on July 24, in the legs and stomach. In June 1938, Hoffmann, who had previously been treated in hospitals in Barcelona, ​​was taken out of Spain, first to France and then to the USSR. After the outbreak of the war, he worked as an interpreter in prisoner-of-war camps, then became the chief political officer in the Spaso-Zavodsky prisoner-of-war camp in the Kazakh SSR. April 1942 to April 1945 Hoffmann served as a political instructor and teacher at the Central Anti-Fascist School. From April to December 1945, he was an instructor and then head of the 12th Party School of the Communist Party of Germany in Skhodnya.

After returning to East Germany in January 1946, Hoffmann worked in various positions in the SED apparatus. On July 1, 1949, with the rank of inspector general, he became vice-president of the German Department of the Interior, and from April 1950 to June 1952, Heinz Hoffmann served as head of the Main Directorate for Combat Training of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR. On July 1, 1952, he was appointed head of the Barracks People's Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR and Deputy Minister of the Interior of the country. For obvious reasons, Heinz Hoffmann was chosen when he was included in the leadership of the emerging Ministry of National Defense of the GDR in 1956. This was also facilitated by the fact that from December 1955 to November 1957. Hoffman completed a course of study at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. Returning to his homeland, on December 1, 1957, Hoffmann was appointed First Deputy Minister of National Defense of the GDR, and on March 1, 1958, also Chief of the General Staff of the National People's Army of the GDR. Subsequently, on July 14, 1960, Colonel-General Heinz Hoffmann replaced Willi Stoff as Minister of National Defense of the GDR. General of the Army (since 1961) Heinz Hoffmann headed the military department of the German Democratic Republic until his death in 1985 - twenty-five years.

Chief of the General Staff of the NNA from 1967 to 1985. remained Colonel General (since 1985 - General of the Army) Heinz Kessler (born 1920). Coming from a family of communist workers, Kessler in his youth took part in the activities of the youth organization of the Communist Party of Germany, however, like the vast majority of his peers, he did not escape the call to the Wehrmacht. As an assistant machine gunner was sent to Eastern front and already on July 15, 1941 he defected to the side of the Red Army. In 1941-1945. Kessler was in Soviet captivity. At the end of 1941, he entered the courses of the Anti-Fascist School, then was engaged in propaganda activities among prisoners of war and wrote appeals to the soldiers of the active Wehrmacht armies. In 1943-1945. He was a member of the National Committee "Free Germany". After being released from captivity and returning to Germany, Kessler in 1946, at the age of 26, became a member of the Central Committee of the SED and in 1946-1948. headed the organization of the Free German Youth in Berlin. In 1950, he was appointed head of the Main Directorate of the Air Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR with the rank of inspector general and remained in this post until 1952, when he was appointed head of the Air People's Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR (since 1953 - head of the Flying Clubs Department of the Barracks People's Police Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR). The rank of Major General Kessler was awarded in 1952 - with the appointment to the post of head of the People's Air Police. From September 1955 to August 1956 he studied at the Air Force Military Academy in Moscow. After completing his studies, Kessler returned to Germany and on September 1, 1956 was appointed Deputy Minister of National Defense of the GDR - Commander of the NNA Air Force. October 1, 1959 he was awarded the military rank of lieutenant general. Kessler held this post for 11 years - until his appointment as chief of the General Staff of the NNA. On December 3, 1985, after the unexpected death of Army General Karl-Heinz Hoffmann, Colonel General Heinz Kessler was appointed Minister of National Defense of the GDR and remained in this post until 1989. After the collapse of Germany, on September 16, 1993, a Berlin court sentenced Heinz Kessler to seven half years in prison.

Under the leadership of Willy Shtof, Heinz Hoffmann, other generals and officers, at the very active participation of the Soviet military command, the construction and development of the National People's Army of the GDR began, which quickly turned into the most combat-ready after the Soviet armed forces among the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries. Everyone who was related to the service in Eastern Europe in the 1960s - 1980s noted a significantly higher level of training, and most importantly, the morale of the NPA military personnel compared to their counterparts from the armies of other socialist states. Although initially many Wehrmacht officers and even generals, who were the only military specialists in the country at that time, were recruited into the National People's Army of the GDR, the officer corps of the NNA still differed significantly from the officer corps of the Bundeswehr. Former Nazi generals were not so numerous in its composition and, most importantly, were not in key positions. A system of military education was created, thanks to which it was possible to quickly train new officer cadres, up to 90% of whom were from workers and peasant families.

In the event of an armed confrontation between the "Soviet bloc" and Western countries, the National People's Army of the GDR was given an important and difficult task. It was the NNA that had to directly engage in hostilities with the Bundeswehr formations and, together with units of the Soviet Army, ensure the advance into the territory of West Germany. It is no coincidence that NATO considered the NPA as one of the key and very dangerous adversaries. Hatred for the National People's Army of the GDR subsequently affected the attitude towards its former generals and officers already in united Germany.

The most efficient army in Eastern Europe

The German Democratic Republic was divided into two military regions - the Southern Military District (MB-III) headquartered in Leipzig, and the Northern Military District (MB-V) headquartered in Neubrandenburg. In addition, the National People's Army of the GDR included one artillery brigade of central subordination. Each military district included two motorized divisions, one armored division and one missile brigade. The motorized division of the NNA of the GDR included in its composition: 3 motorized regiments, 1 armored regiment, 1 artillery regiment, 1 anti-aircraft missile regiment, 1 missile department, 1 engineer battalion, 1 material support battalion, 1 sanitary battalion, 1 battalion chemical protection. The armored division included 3 armored regiments, 1 motorized regiment, 1 artillery regiment, 1 anti-aircraft missile regiment, 1 engineer battalion, 1 material support battalion, 1 chemical protection battalion, 1 medical battalion, 1 reconnaissance battalion, 1 missile department. The missile brigade included 2-3 missile departments, 1 engineering company, 1 logistics company, 1 meteorological battery, 1 repair company. The artillery brigade included 4 artillery departments, 1 repair company and 1 material support company. The NPA air force included 2 air divisions, each of which included 2-4 strike squadrons, 1 anti-aircraft missile brigade, 2 anti-aircraft missile regiments, 3-4 radio engineering battalions.

The history of the Navy of the GDR began in 1952, when units of the Naval People's Police were created as part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR. In 1956, the ships and personnel of the Naval People's Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR entered the National People's Army, and until 1960 they were called the Naval Forces of the GDR. Rear Admiral Felix Scheffler (1915-1986) became the first commander of the GDR Navy. A former merchant sailor, since 1937 he served in the Wehrmacht, but almost immediately, in 1941, he ended up in Soviet captivity, where he was until 1947. In captivity, he joined the National Committee of Free Germany. After returning from captivity, he worked as secretary of the rector of the Karl Marx Higher Party School, then joined the naval police, where he was appointed chief of staff of the Main Directorate of the Naval Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR. October 1, 1952 he received the rank of rear admiral, from 1955 to 1956. served as commander of the Naval People's Police. After the establishment of the Ministry of National Defense of the GDR on March 1, 1956, he moved to the post of commander of the GDR Navy and held this post until December 31, 1956. Later, he held a number of important positions in the naval command, was responsible for the combat training of personnel, then for equipment and weapons, and retired in 1975 from the post of deputy fleet commander for logistics. As commander of the GDR Navy, Felix Scheffler was replaced by Vice Admiral Waldemar Ferner (1914-1982), a former underground communist who left in 1935 Nazi Germany, and after returning to the GDR, he headed the Main Directorate of the Naval Police. From 1952 to 1955 Ferner served as commander of the Naval People's Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR, which was transformed into the Main Directorate of the Naval Police. From January 1, 1957 to July 31, 1959, he commanded the Navy of the GDR, after which, from 1959 to 1978. served as head of the Main Political Directorate of the National People's Army of the GDR. In 1961, it was Waldemar Ferner who was the first in the GDR to be awarded the rank of admiral - the highest rank of the country's naval forces. The longest-serving commander of the People's Navy of the GDR (as the GDR Navy was called since 1960) was Rear Admiral (then Vice Admiral and Admiral) Wilhelm Eim (1918-2009). A former prisoner of war who sided with the USSR, Eim returned to post-war Germany and quickly made a party career. In 1950, he began serving in the Main Directorate of the Naval Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the GDR - first as a communications officer, and then as deputy chief of staff and head of the organizational department. In 1958-1959. Wilhelm Eim was in charge of the logistics service of the GDR Navy. On August 1, 1959, he was appointed to the post of commander of the East German Navy, but from 1961 to 1963. studied at the Naval Academy in the USSR. Upon his return from the Soviet Union, Rear Admiral Heinz Norkirchen, acting commander, again gave way to Wilhelm Eim. Aim served as commander until 1987.

In 1960, a new name was adopted - the People's Navy. The Navy of the GDR became the most combat-ready after the Soviet naval forces of the Warsaw Pact countries. They were created taking into account the complex Baltic hydrography - after all, the only sea to which the GDR had access was the Baltic Sea. The low suitability of large ships for operations led to the predominance of high-speed torpedo and missile boats, anti-submarine boats, small missile ships, anti-submarine and anti-mine ships, and landing ships in the People's Navy of the GDR. The GDR had a fairly strong naval aviation equipped with airplanes and helicopters. The people's navy had to solve, first of all, the tasks of defending the country's coast, combating enemy submarines and mines, landing tactical assault forces, and supporting ground forces on the coast. The personnel of the Volksmarine consisted of approximately 16,000 military personnel. The GDR Navy was armed with 110 combat and 69 auxiliary ships and vessels, 24 naval aviation helicopters (16 Mi-8 and 8 Mi-14), 20 Su-17 fighter-bombers. The command of the Navy of the GDR was located in Rostock. The following structural units of the Navy were subordinate to him: 1) a flotilla in Peenemünde, 2) a flotilla in Rostock - Warnemünde, 3) a flotilla in Dransk, 4) naval school them. Karl Liebknecht in Stralsund, 5) Naval School. Walter Steffens in Stralsund, 6) Waldemar Werner Coastal Missile Regiment in Gelbenzand, 7) Kurt Barthel Naval Combat Helicopter Squadron in Parow, 8) Paul Wiszorek Naval Aviation Squadron in Lag, 9) Johann Vesolek Signal Regiment in Böhlendorf, 10) a communications and flight support battalion in Lag, 11) a number of other units and service units.

Until 1962, the National People's Army of the GDR was completed by hiring volunteers, the contract was concluded for a period of three years. Thus, for six years the NPA remained the only professional army among the armies of the socialist countries. It is noteworthy that conscription for military service was introduced in the GDR five years later than in the capitalist FRG (there the army switched from contract to conscription in 1957). The number of NPA was also inferior to the Bundeswehr - by 1990, 175,000 people were serving in the ranks of the NPA. The defense of the GDR was compensated by the presence of a huge contingent in the country Soviet troops- ZGV / GSVG (Western Group of Forces / Group of Soviet Forces in Germany). Preparation officers The NPA was carried out at the Friedrich Engels Military Academy, the Wilhelm Pieck Higher Military-Political School, specialized military educational institutions types of troops. An interesting system of military ranks was introduced in the National People's Army of the GDR, partly duplicating the old Wehrmacht ranks, but partly containing obvious borrowings from the military rank system of the Soviet Union. The hierarchy of military ranks in the GDR looked like this (analogues of ranks in the Volksmarine - the People's Navy are given in brackets): I. Generals (admirals): 1) Marshal of the GDR - the rank was never assigned in practice; 2) General of the Army (Admiral of the Fleet) - in the ground forces the rank was awarded to senior officials, in the navy the rank was never awarded due to the small number of Volksmarine; 3) Colonel General (Admiral); 4) Lieutenant General (Vice Admiral); 5) Major General (Rear Admiral); II. Officers: 6) Colonel (Captain zur See); 7) Lieutenant Colonel (Frigate Captain); 8) Major (Corvette captain); 9) Captain (Lieutenant Captain); 10) Oberleutnant (Oberlieutenant zur See); 11) Lieutenant (Lieutenant zur See); 12) Unter-lieutenant (Unter-lieutenant zur See); III. Fenrichs (similar to Russian ensigns): 13) Ober-Staff-Fenrich (Ober-Stabs-Fenrich); 14) Headquarters Fenrich (Staff Fenrich); 15) Ober-fenrich (Ober-fenrich); 16) Fenrich (Fenrich); IV Sergeants: 17) Staff Sergeant Major (Staff Obermeister); 18) Ober-sergeant major (Ober-meister); 19) Feldwebel (Meister); 20) Unter sergeant major (Obermat); 21) Non-commissioned officer (Mat); V. Soldiers / sailors: 22) Headquarters corporal (Headquarters sailor); 23) Corporal (Ober-sailor); 24) Soldier (Sailor). Each branch of the military also had its own specific color in the edging of shoulder straps. For generals of all branches of the military, it was scarlet, motorized infantry units - white, artillery, missile troops and air defense units - brick, armored troops - pink, landing troops- orange, signal troops - yellow, military construction troops - olive, engineering troops, chemical troops, topographic and motor transport services - black, rear units, military justice and medicine - dark green; air Force(aviation) - blue, anti-aircraft missile troops of the Air Force - light gray, navy - blue, border service - green.

The sad fate of the NPA and its military personnel

With good reason, the German Democratic Republic can be called the most faithful ally of the USSR in Eastern Europe. The National People's Army of the GDR remained the most combat-ready after the Soviet army of the Warsaw Pact until the end of the 1980s. Unfortunately, the fate of both the GDR and its armies turned out badly. East Germany ceased to exist as a result of the policy of "unification of Germany" and the corresponding actions of the Soviet side. In fact, the GDR was simply given to the Federal Republic of Germany. The last Minister of National Defense of the GDR was Admiral Theodor Hofmann (born 1935). He already belongs to the new generation of officers of the GDR, who received military education in military educational institutions of the republic. On May 12, 1952, Hoffmann entered the service as a sailor in the Naval People's Police of the GDR. In 1952-1955, he studied at the Officer School of the Naval People's Police in Stralsund, after which he was assigned to the post of combat training officer in the 7th Flotilla of the GDR Navy, then served as a commander of a torpedo boat, studied at the Naval Academy in the USSR. After returning from the Soviet Union, he held a number of command positions in the Volksmarine: Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the 6th Flotilla, Commander of the 6th Flotilla, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Navy for Operations, Deputy Commander of the Navy and Chief of Combat Training. From 1985 to 1987 Rear Admiral Hofmann served as Chief of Staff of the Navy of the GDR, and in 1987-1989. - Commander of the Navy of the GDR and Deputy Minister of Defense of the GDR. In 1987, Hoffmann was awarded the military rank of vice admiral, in 1989, with the appointment to the post of Minister of National Defense of the GDR - admiral. After the Ministry of National Defense of the GDR was abolished on April 18, 1990 and replaced by the Ministry of Defense and Disarmament, which was headed by the democratic politician Rainer Eppelmann, Admiral Hofmann, until September 1990, served as Assistant Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the National People's Army of the GDR . After the dissolution of the NPA, he was dismissed from military service.

The Ministry of Defense and Disarmament was created after in the GDR, under pressure from the Soviet Union, where Mikhail Gorbachev had long been in power, reforms began that also affected the military sphere. On March 18, 1990, the Minister of Defense and Disarmament was appointed - it was 47-year-old Rainer Eppelman, a dissident and pastor in one of the evangelical parishes in Berlin. In his youth, Eppelman served 8 months in prison for refusing to serve in the National People's Army of the GDR, then received a spiritual education and from 1975 to 1990. served as a pastor. In 1990, he became chairman of the Democratic Breakthrough Party and in this capacity was elected to the People's Chamber of the GDR, and was also appointed Minister of Defense and Disarmament.

October 3, 1990 happened historical event- The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic are reunited. However, in fact, this was not a reunification, but simply the inclusion of the territories of the GDR into the FRG, with the destruction of the administrative system that existed in the socialist period and its own armed forces. The National People's Army of the GDR, despite the high level of training, was not included in the Bundeswehr. The German authorities feared that the generals and officers of the NPA were maintaining communist sentiments, so a decision was made to actually disband the National People's Army of the GDR. Only privates and non-commissioned officers of military service were sent to serve in the Bundeswehr. Regular military personnel were much less fortunate. All generals, admirals, officers, Fenrikhs and non-commissioned officers of the cadre were dismissed from military service. The total number of dismissed - 23155 officers and 22549 non-commissioned officers. Almost none of them managed to recover in the service in the Bundeswehr, the vast majority were simply fired - moreover military service was not counted by him either in the length of service of the military, or even in the length of civil service. Only 2.7% of officers and non-commissioned officers of the NPA were able to continue serving in the Bundeswehr (basically, these were technical specialists capable of serving Soviet technology, which after the reunification of Germany went to the FRG), but they received ranks lower than those they wore in the National People's Army - the FRG refused to recognize the military ranks of the NNA.

Veterans of the National People's Army of the GDR, left without pensions and without taking into account military experience, were forced to look for low-paid and low-skilled work. The right-wing parties of the FRG also opposed their right to wear military uniform National People's Army - the armed forces of the "totalitarian state", as assessed in modern Germany GDR. With regard to military equipment, the vast majority was either disposed of or sold to third countries. So, combat boats and ships of the Volksmarine were sold to Indonesia and Poland, some were transferred to Latvia, Estonia, Tunisia, Malta, Guinea-Bissau. The reunification of Germany did not lead to its demilitarization. Until now, American troops are stationed on the territory of Germany, and Bundeswehr units are now taking part in armed conflicts around the world - ostensibly as peacekeeping forces, but in reality - protecting US interests.

Currently, many former servicemen of the National People's Army of the GDR are members of public veteran organizations engaged in protecting the rights of former officers and non-commissioned officers of the NPA, as well as the fight against discrediting and denigrating the history of the GDR and the National People's Army. In the spring of 2015, in honor of the seventieth anniversary Great Victory, over 100 generals, admirals and senior officers of the National People's Army of the GDR signed a letter - an appeal "Soldiers for Peace", in which they warned Western countries from the policy of escalating conflicts to modern world and confrontation with Russia. “We do not need military agitation against Russia, but mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence. What we need is not military dependence on the United States, but our own responsibility for the world,” the appeal says. Under the appeal, among the first are the signatures of the last ministers of national defense of the GDR - General of the Army Heinz Kessler and Admiral Theodor Hoffmann.

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After the division of Germany into the FRG and the GDR, the city of Berlin was entirely on the territory of the GDR, but was also divided into Soviet and Anglo-American-French regions.buying sectors.In 1948, the allies, ignoring the opinion of the Soviet administration, began to carry out a monetary reform. The reform is carried out on rather strict conditions, and the inhabitants of West Berlin, usingcase, merchandise money to the east noah part of the city, wherethey had a walk. Food and essential goods quickly began to disappear from the shelves. Soviet administration, shockedfrom this turn of events and introducesa ban on movement between the western and eastern parts of the city.The reaction of the Western leadership was unequivocal - the Russians want to arrange a famine in Berlin, and we prevented them - and called not toget foodin the Soviet

sector, and wait for the bombardment of raisin hawks of democracy. It got to the point that the Western administration persecuted those citizens who received food in the east, and the British created wire fences on the border of the British and Soviet sectors - 13 years before the appearance ofconcrete wall. And after all, until now, both among them and among us, it is widely believed that

if not for the air bridge, then the unfortunate berl would have died Indians from hunger.

After the defeat of Germany in World War II, by the decision of the Conference of the Heads of Government of Great Britain, the USSR and the USA, held in Potsdam from July 17 to August 2, 1945, it was forbidden to have the Armed Forces and the Wehrmacht was dissolved. However, with the fall of the Nazi regime, the common political goals of yesterday's allies also disappeared. The USSR, on the one hand, and the coalition represented by the United States, Great Britain and France, on the other hand, began to pursue their own policy towards Germany. As a result, by 1949, two German states emerged on the territory of the former Third Reich. The Federal Republic of Germany (DBR) is formed from the American, British and French zones of occupation. The Soviet occupation zone becomes the German Democratic Republic (DDR).

The Paris Agreements of the USA, Great Britain and France of 1954 and the decision of the May 1955 Session of the NATO Council of the Federal Republic of Germany allow the creation of the Armed Forces. By the end of the year, the German army under the name Bundeswehr (Die Bundeswehr) already exists in reality.

In response, the USSR in 1956 allowed the GDR to recreate its Armed Forces. These forces are called the National People's Army (Volksarmee der DDR). Years of existence: March 1, 1956 - October 2, 1990. On November 12, 1955, the German government announced the creation of the Bundeswehr.

Having learned about the creation of the Bundeswehr, the East German comrades were also forced to create their own army in 1956. On January 18, 1956, the People's Chamber of the GDR adopted the Law on the Creation of the National People's Army (NPA) and the formation of the Ministry of National Defense. March 1, 1956, when the first units of the NPA took the military oath, was celebrated as the Day of the National People's Army (NPA). Until 1962, it was recruited and the NPA formations were not present in East Berlin.

Its main part consisted of former Wehrmacht soldiers and officers who had undergone denazification. The Bundeswehr basically copied uniforms, ranks and other orders from the West, in its own

Part of the orders in the NNA of the GDR, including uniforms and paraphernalia (shoulder straps, cockades, belts, etc.), remained from the Wehrmacht or from the old Prussia, the rank system was partially borrowed from the USSR.

NNA was formed in 1956 from the so-called. The "barracks police", which was part of the structure of the People's Police and consisted of three types of troops:

Ground Forces (Landstreitkräfte);

Navy (Volksmarine);

Air Force (English) Russian (Luftstreitkräfte der Nationalen Volksarmee)

Article 7.2 of the 1968 GDR Constitution read:

The German Democratic Republic organizes the defense of the country, as well as the protection of the socialist system and the peaceful life of citizens. The National People's Army and other organs of the country's defense protect the socialist gains of the people from all encroachments from without. In the interests of maintaining peace and ensuring the security of the socialist state, the National People's Army maintains close military fraternity with the armies of the Soviet Union and other socialist states.

As of 1987, the Ground Forces of the NNA of the GDR consisted of 120,000 troops.
employees. They included 2 armored divisions, 4 motorized divisions, 2 ground-to-ground missile brigades, 10 artillery regiments, 9 air defense regiments, 1 air support regiment, 2 anti-tank battalions and other support units. The training of the officers was carried out at the higher officer schools and at the Military Academy. Friedrich Engels. In 1973, according to social origin, about 90% of officers and generals came from workers and peasants.

Structure

The territory of East Germany was divided into two military districts - MB-III (South, headquarters in Leipzig) and MB-V (North, headquarters - Neubrandenburg) and one artillery brigade that was not part of any of the military districts, in each of which included two motorized divisions (motorisierte schützendivision, MSD), one armored division (panzerdivision, PD) and one rocket brigade (raketenbrigade, RBr).

Each armored division consisted of 3 armored regiments (Panzerregiment), one artillery regiment (Artillerieregiment), 1 motorized rifle regiment (Mot.-Schützenregiment), 1 anti-aircraft missile regiment (Fla-Raketen-Regiment), 1 engineer battalion (Pionierbataillon), 1 material support battalion (Bataillon Materielle Sicherstellung), 1 battalion

chemical protection (Bataillon Chemische Abwehr), 1 sanitary battalion (Sanitätsbataillon), 1 reconnaissance battalion (Aufklärungsbataillon), 1 missile department (Raketenabteilung).

Each motorized rifle division consisted of 3 motorized regiments (Mot.-Schützenregiment), 1 armored regiment (Panzerregiment), 1 artillery regiment (Artillerieregim

ent), 1 anti-aircraft missile regiment (Fla-Raketenregiment), 1 missile department (Raketenabteilung), 1 engineer battalion (Pionierbataillon), 1 material support battalion (Bataillon Materielle Sicherstellung), 1 sanitary battalion (Sanitätsbataillon), 1 chemical defense battalion ( Bataillon Chemische Abwehr), 1st Logistics Battalion (Bataillon Materielle Sicherstellung).

Each missile brigade consisted of 2-3 missile departments (Raketenabteilung), 1 engineering company (Pionierkompanie), 1 material support company (Kompanie materielle Sicherstellung), 1 meteorological battery (meteorologischen Batterie), 1 repair company (Instandsetzungskompanie).

The artillery brigade consisted of 4 departments (Abteilung), 1 repair company (Instandsetzungskompanie), 1 material support company (Kompanie materielle Sicherstellung).

The air force consisted of 2 divisions (Luftverteidigungsdivision), each of which consisted of 2-4 shock squadrons (Jagdfliegergeschwader), 1 anti-aircraft missile brigade (Fla-Raketenbrigade), 2 anti-aircraft missile regiments (Fla-Raketenregiment), 3- 4 radio engineering battalions (Funktechnisches Bataillon).

Navy of the GDR

Of all the small fleets of the allied countries of the USSR under the Warsaw Pact, the Navy of the National People's Army of the GDR in the late 1980s. was the most capable. It was based on modern ships that entered service in the 1970s and 1980s. In total, by the time of German reunification in 1990, it included 110 warships of various classes and 69 auxiliary ships. The naval aviation included 24 helicopters (16 of the Mi-8 type and 8 of the Mi-14 type), as well as 20 Su-17 fighter-bombers. The number of personnel of the Navy is about 16 thousand people.

The largest ships in the Navy of the GDR were three patrol ships (SKR) of the Rostock type (project 1159), built in the USSR at the Zelenodolsk shipbuilding plant in 1978, 1979 and 1986, respectively.

The basis of the anti-submarine forces were 16 small anti-submarine ships (MPK) of the Parchim type, pr.133.1. The ships were built from 1980 to 1985 at the Peenewerft shipyard in Wolgast according to a project developed in the GDR with the help of Soviet specialists based on the MPK pr.1124. In 1986-1990. 12 MPKs of this type were built for the USSR according to the modernized project 133.1-M.

An example of cooperation between the Soviet Union and East Germany in the field of military shipbuilding was the construction in the GDR according to the Soviet project (project 151) of missile boats (RKA) with a total displacement of 380 tons, which were planned to be armed with eight of the latest anti-ship missiles (ASM) "Uranus" (production of anti-ship missiles according to Soviet license was planned to be deployed in the GDR). It was assumed that this RCA would go into service with the fleets of the countries participating in the Warsaw Pact. Before the reunification of Germany, only two boats of this type were built, four more were found.
were in varying degrees of readiness. To replace the obsolete RCA pr.205 (at the end of the 1980s, all 12 RCA of this project were put into reserve), the GDR Navy received five missile boats pr.1241-RE from the USSR. Since 1980, these boats (developed by Almaz Central Design Bureau on the basis of Project 1241.1-T) have been built for export by the Rybinsk and Yaroslavl shipyards. In total, 22 RCAs were built for Bulgaria, the GDR, India, Yemen, Poland and Romania. The GDR Navy also included six large torpedo boats, Project 206, built in the USSR in 1968-1976.

Only in the Navy of the GDR there was such a class of ships as ultra-small (with a displacement of 28 tons) TKA of the Libelle type (a further development of the TKA of the Iltis type) with chute torpedo tubes for 533-mm torpedoes. The torpedo was fired backwards - just like the Soviet G-5 TKAs did in 1930-1940. The East German fleet had thirty TKAs of the Libelle type.

The amphibious forces included 12 amphibious assault ships (DK) of the "Noerswerda" type (with a total displacement of 2000 tons), designed and built in 1974-1980. in the GDR. Two more ships of this type were converted into supply transports.

The Navy of the GDR had quite numerous mine-sweeping forces. Since 1969, the construction of basic minesweepers (BTShch) of the Greiz (Kondor II) type has been underway. The East German fleet received 26 ships of this type, another 18 units were completed in the border TFR version (Kondor I type) for the Coast Guard (Grenzebrigade Kuste). Five BTShch were converted into rescue and training ships.

The auxiliary fleet included 69 ships of various purposes. Basically, these were modern vessels of relatively small displacement, built at national shipyards, as well as in the USSR and Poland.

As of October 3, 1990, the NPA consisted of 88,800 people (among them 23,155 officers and 22,549 non-commissioned officers). On October 3, 1990, the reunification of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany took place. However, the GDR army was not included in the Bundeswehr, but was actually disbanded.

On the territory of the former GDR, a temporary unified command of the Bundeswehr "Ost" (East) was formed, which assumed the role of a liquidation commission. The military ranks of NPA officers were not recognized by the Bundeswehr, which actually stripped them of their ranks, and service in the GDR army was not recognized for either military or civilian seniority. The conscripts were gradually fired, a certain number of officers after the corresponding pro Werks were accepted into service in the Bundeswehr. The NPA officers accepted for service in the Bundeswehr received lower ranks. The NPA generals were dismissed by the Minister of Disarmament and Defense of the GDR, Rainer Eppelmann, from service on 2 October.

Weapons and equipment, with rare exceptions (in particular, MiG-29 fighters), were supposed to be sold to other countries or disposed of. The entire fleet of the former GDR was concentrated in Rostock and was waiting for its fate. The oldest and most in need of repair ships immediately went for scrapping. The German government was intensively looking for buyers, hoping to profitably sell the most modern combat units.

All 16 Parchim-type MPKs were bought by Indonesia in 1992, the ships, after re-equipment and crew training, gradually moved to the Indonesian port of Surabaya (in 1996, the Zelenodolsk Design Bureau proposed to the command of the Indonesian Navy a project to upgrade these ships to the level of MPK pr.133.1-M) . In addition, Indonesia has acquired 9 Kondor II-class amphibious assault ships and all 12 Hoyerswerda-class DPs, as well as two supply vehicles converted from DPs.

Of all the inheritance inherited by the FRG, the RCA pr.1241-RE aroused the greatest interest. Considering that among the buyers of Soviet weapons there are unfriendly US governmental states, the command of the US Navy decided to thoroughly study the boat. The choice fell on the RCA "Hiddensee" (formerly "Rudolf Egelhofter"). In December 1991, on the deck of a transport ship, he arrived in the United States and was assigned to the US Navy Research Center in Solomon (Maryland). The boat was subjected to comprehensive tests under a special program. American experts highly appreciated the design of the ship's hull, its running and maneuvering qualities, however, there was an insufficient (by American standards) resource of marching and afterburning gas turbines, and electronic weapons were traditionally criticized. The low combat effectiveness of the P-20 missiles (export modification of the P-15 Termit) was also noted, the six-barrel gun AK-630 received a good assessment. In general, it was concluded that RKA of this type, armed with more modern anti-ship missiles "Mosquito" (Project 12411, 12421) or "Uranus" (Project 12418) pose a rather serious danger to the ships of the US Navy and their allies.

The remaining four RCAs remained in Rostock. From time to time there were reports about the desire of Poland, which has four similar boats, to purchase two more from the FRG. Having profitably sold most of the modern ships to Indonesia, the German government began to actually give away the rest. So, in 1993-1994. it was decided to transfer three to Latvia, and Estonia - nine converted boats pr.205 (they removed the launchers of the P-15 anti-ship missiles). Some of the boats have already been transferred. Latvia also got two BTSCs of the Kondor II type. Germany also generously distributed border TFRs of the Kondor I type: four units - to Tunisia, two - to Malta, one - to Guinea-Bissau, two (in 1994) - to Estonia.

The least fortunate were the three TFR pr.1159 - having not found a buyer, the command of the Bundesmarine sold them for scrap.

Not a single warship of the Navy of the GDR became part of the German navy. Three of the newest boats, pr.151 (one was already completed in the FRG, three in an unfinished state were sold to Poland) were re-equipped and included in the Coast Guard (Bundesgrenzschutz-See) of the FRG, along with three border TFRs of the Kondor I type.

This is how the fleet of the GDR ended its existence, the ships of which now sail under the flags of eight states.

The National People's Army (NPA) of the GDR was one of the most combat-ready armies not only of the Eastern Bloc of the Warsaw Pact, but of all of Europe during the Cold War. An army that instilled awe not only in its Western counterparts from Germany, but also in the entire NATO bloc. In 1973, by social origin, about 90% of officers and generals came from workers and peasants. From the point of view of the intellectual training of personnel, the NPA also stood on high level: by the mid-80s, in its ranks, 95 percent of the officer corps had a higher or secondary special education, about 30 percent of officers graduated from military academies, 35 percent from higher military schools.

The coming of Mikhail Gorbachev to power in 1985 complicated relations between the two countries - Honecker, being a conservative, reacted negatively to perestroika. And this is against the background of the fact that in the GDR the attitude towards Gorbachev as the initiator of reforms was of an enthusiastic nature. In addition, at the end of the 80s, a mass exodus of citizens of the GDR to the FRG began. Gorbachev made it clear to his East German counterpart that Soviet aid to the GDR directly depended on Berlin's reforms.

In 1989, Honecker was removed from all posts, a year later West Germany absorbed the GDR, and a year later the Soviet Union ceased to exist. The Russian leadership hastened to withdraw from Germany almost half a million troops equipped with 12,000 tanks and armored vehicles, which became an unconditional geopolitical and geostrategic defeat and accelerated the entry of yesterday's allies of the USSR under the Warsaw Pact into NATO.

But all these are dry lines about relatively recent past events, behind which is the drama of thousands of NPA officers and their families. With sadness in their eyes and pain in their hearts, they looked at the last parade Russian troops August 31, 1994 in Berlin. Betrayed, humiliated, useless, they witnessed the departure of the once allied army, which lost the cold war with them without a single shot.

After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the fate of the NPA officers turned out to be unenviable. The army of the GDR did not become part of the Bundeswehr, but was actually destroyed. The NPA generals were fired. The military ranks of NPA officers were not recognized by the Bundeswehr, in fact they were stripped of their ranks, and service in the East German army was not recognized for either military or civilian seniority. And subsequently, many specialists who served the Bundeswehr adopted by the Armed Forces were fired. military equipment formerly owned by the NNA. Officers were given lower ranks. And most of the personnel of the NPA were not accepted into the Bundeswehr at all. In this way, guidance new Germany insured itself against ideological dissent in the ranks of the "renewed" Bundeswehr.

And after all, just five years earlier, Gorbachev promised not to leave the GDR to its fate. After the removal of Honecker, the leadership of the GDR showed neither the will nor the determination to preserve the country and take truly effective measures for this that would allow Germany to be reunited on an equal footing.At the same time, neither France nor Great Britain considered the issue of German reunification to be urgent. INParis was afraid of a strong and united Germany, which had crushed the military power of France twice in less than a century, and didn't want to see a united and strong Germany at its borders.

In turn, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher adhered to a political line aimed at maintaining the balance of power between NATO and Warsaw Pact, as well as compliance with the terms of the Helsinki Final Act, the rights and responsibilities of the four states for post-war Germany. Against this background, it does not seem accidental that London's desire to develop in the second half of the 80s cultural and economic ties with the GDR, and when it became obvious that the unification of Germany was inevitable, the British leadership proposed to stretch this process for 10-15 years. Moreover, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl did not initially initiate the takeover of his eastern neighbor by West Germany, but advocated the creation of a confederation, putting forward a ten-point program to implement his idea. Thus, in 1990, the Kremlin and Berlin had every chance to realize the idea once proposed by Stalin: the creation of a single, but neutral and non-NATO Germany. The preservation of a limited contingent of Soviet, American, British and French troops on the territory of a united Germany would become a guarantor of German neutrality, and the armed forces of the FRG created on an equal basis would not allow the spread of pro-Western sentiments in the army and would not turn former NPA officers into outcasts.

personality factor

All this was quite feasible in practice and met the foreign policy interests of both London and Paris, as well as Moscow and Berlin. So why did Gorbachev and his entourage, who had the opportunity to rely on the support of France and England in the defense of the GDR, did not do this and easily went for the absorption of their eastern neighbor by West Germany, ultimately changing the balance of power in Europe in favor of NATO? One thing is the reunification of two independent German states, the other is the Anschluss, that is, the absorption of the GDR by the Federal Republic. It is one thing to overcome the split in Germany as a cardinal step towards eliminating the split in Europe. Another is the transfer of the leading edge of the split of the continent from the Elbe to the Oder or further to the east.

crash GDR, and the socialist camp as a whole,like the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is a vivid example of the fact that the determining factor in history is not some objective processes, but the role of the individual. This is undeniably evidenced by the entire past of mankind. The French would never have brought most of Europe to their knees had Napoleon not been their emperor. And there would be no October coup in Russia, the most shameful in the history of the country of the Brest peace,the Bolsheviks would not have won civil war, if not for the personality of Vladimir Lenin. All these are just the most striking examples, indisputably testifying to the determining role of the individual in history.

Nothing like thiscould not have happened in Eastern Europe if Yuri Andropov had been at the head of the Soviet Union. A man with a strong will, in the field foreign policy he invariably proceeded from the geopolitical interests of the country, and they demanded the maintenance of a military presence in Central Europe and the comprehensive strengthening of the combat power of the NPA, regardless of the attitude of the Americans and their allies to this. The scale of the personality of Gorbachev and his inner circle did not correspond to the complex of the most complex domestic and foreign policy problems that the Soviet Union faced. One of the characteristics of weak politicians is inconsistency in following the chosen course. So it happened with Gorbachev: in December 1989, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, he unequivocally declared that the Soviet Union would not leave the GDR to its fate. A year later, the Kremlin allowed West Germany to carry out the Anschluss of its eastern neighbor. Kohl also felt the political weakness of the Soviet leadership during his visit to Moscow in February 1990, since it was after that that he began to more energetically pursue a policy of German reunification and, most importantly, began to insist on maintaining its membership in NATO.

And as a result: in modern Germany, the number of American troops exceeds 50,000 soldiers and officers stationed, including on the territory of the former GDR, and the NATO military machine is deployed near Russian borders. And in the event of a military conflict, the well-trained and trained officers of the former NPA will no longer be able to help us. And they probably don't want to...

As for England and France, their fears about the unification of Germany were not in vain: the latter quickly took a leading position in the European Union, strengthened its strategic and economic position in Central and Eastern Europe, gradually ousting British capital from there.

Compilation documentaries dedicated to the army of the GDR. All films are in German.

1. Der Schlag hat gesessen 1961

2. Auf Wacht an der Staatsgrenze 1979

National People's Army (NPA, Volksarmee, Nationale Volksarmee, NVA) - the armed forces of the GDR, which were created in 1956 and consisted of three types of controls:

• ground forces (Landstreitkräfte);
• navy (Volksmarine);
• air Force (English) Russian(Luftstreitkräfte), and branches of troops, special forces and services.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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✪ Nationale Volksarmee DDR 1956-1990 | National People's Army of the GDR 1956-1990

✪ Präsentiermarsch der Nationalen Volksarmee

Subtitles

Creation

On November 12, 1955, the German government announced the creation armed forces Germany (Bundeswehr).

In 1959, the F. Engels Military Academy began its work.

In 1961, the first command and staff exercises of the NNA of the GDR and the Soviet Army of the Armed Forces of the USSR were held.

Until 1962, it was recruited and the NPA formations were not present in East Berlin.

In October 1962, the first NPA maneuvers took place in the territories of the GDR and Poland, in which Polish and Soviet troops took part.

On September 9-12, 1963, the Quartet international military exercises were held in the south of the GDR, in which the NNA of the GDR, Soviet, Polish and Czechoslovak troops took part.

Despite the relatively small number, the National People's Army of the GDR was the most combat-ready army in Western Europe.

Doctrine

official position leadership of the GDR in matters of defense was formulated as "the denial of all the traditions of the Prussian-German military", and was based on further strengthening the defense capability of the socialist system of the GDR, as well as on close cooperation with the armies of the socialist countries. The NPA continued the traditions of the armed struggle of the German proletariat, as well as the liberation movement of the era of the Napoleonic wars. However, in fact, Germany was not completely broken with the classical military tradition.

Correspondence of the colors of the edging of shoulder straps to the combat arms:

Land forces (Landstreitkräfte)

Air Force (Luftstreitkräfte)

Navy (Volksmarine)

Border Troops (Grenztruppen)

An old photo already: November 1989, the Berlin Wall, literally saddled with thousands of jubilant crowds. Sad and confused faces are only in a group of people in the foreground - the border guards of the GDR. Until recently, formidable to enemies and rightly aware of themselves as the elite of the country, they suddenly turned into superfluous extras at this holiday. But this was not the worst thing for them ...

“Somehow I accidentally ended up in the house of a former captain of the National People's Army (NPA) of the GDR. He graduated from our higher military school, a good programmer, but for three years he has been toiling without a job. And around the neck is a family: a wife, two children.

From him for the first time I heard what I was destined to hear many times.

You betrayed us ... - the former captain will say. He will say calmly, without strain, gathering his will into a fist.

No, he was not a “political commissar”, he did not cooperate with the Stasi, and yet he lost everything.”

These are lines from the book of Colonel Mikhail Boltunov "ZGV: Bitter Road Home".

The problem, however, is much deeper: having left the soldiers and officers of the army created by us to the mercy of fate, have we betrayed ourselves? And was it possible to save the NPA, albeit under a different name and with a modified organizational structure, but as a true ally of Moscow?

Let's try to figure it out, of course, as far as possible, within the framework of a short article, especially since these issues have not lost their relevance to this day, especially against the backdrop of NATO's eastward expansion and the spread of US military and political influence in the post-Soviet space.

Disappointment and humiliation.

So, in 1990, the unification of Germany took place, which caused euphoria on the part of both West and East Germans. It's done! A great nation regained its unity, the much hated Berlin Wall collapsed at last. However, as is often the case, unbridled joy was replaced by bitter disappointment. Of course, not for all residents of Germany, no. Most of them, as opinion polls show, do not regret the unification of the country.

The disappointment affected mainly a certain part of the inhabitants of the GDR that had sunk into oblivion. Quite quickly, they realized: in essence, the Anschluss had taken place - the absorption of their homeland by the western neighbor.

The officer and non-commissioned officer corps of the former NNA suffered the most from this. He did not integral part Bundeswehr, but was simply dissolved. Most of the former servicemen of the GDR, including generals and colonels, were fired. At the same time, they were not credited for service in the NNA for either military or civilian seniority. Those who were lucky enough to put on the uniform of recent opponents were demoted in rank.

As a result, East German officers were forced to stand for hours in lines at the labor exchange and roam around in search of work - often low-paid and unskilled.

And worse than that. In his book, Mikhail Boltunov cites the words of the last Minister of Defense of the GDR, Admiral Theodor Hoffmann: “With the unification of Germany, the NPA was disbanded. Many professional soldiers have been discriminated against.”

Discrimination, in other words - humiliation. And it could not be otherwise, for the well-known Latin proverb says: "Woe to the vanquished!". And doubly woe if the army was not crushed in battle, but simply betrayed by both its own and the Soviet leadership.

The GDR army was one of the most professional in Europe.
And it is by no means accidental that the German leadership tried to eliminate it as quickly as possible.

However, many will consider the latter statement disputable and will note the irreversibility and even spontaneity of the process of unification of the two Germanys. But the point is not that the FRG and the GDR were bound to unite, but how this could happen. And the absorption of the eastern neighbor by West Germany was far from the only way.

What was the alternative that would allow the NPA officer corps to take a worthy position in the new Germany and remain loyal to the USSR? And what is more important for us: did the Soviet Union have real opportunities to maintain its military-political presence in Germany, preventing the expansion of NATO to the east? To answer these questions, we need to make a short historical digression.

In 1949, a new republic appeared on the map - the GDR. It was created as a response to education in the American, British and French occupation zones of the FRG. It is interesting that Joseph Stalin did not seek to create the GDR, taking the initiative to unify Germany, but on condition that it did not join NATO.

Heinz Hoffmann - Minister of Defense of the GDR until 1985.
During the Great Patriotic War - anti-fascist

However, the former allies refused. Construction proposals Berlin Wall acted to Stalin at the end of the 40s, but the Soviet leader abandoned this idea, considering it discrediting the USSR in the eyes of the world community.

Remembering the history of the birth of the GDR, one should also take into account the personality of the first chancellor of the West German state, Konrad Adenauer, who, according to the former Soviet ambassador to the FRG, Vladimir Semenov, “cannot be considered only a political opponent of Russia. He had an irrational hatred of the Russians."

Konrad Adenauer is one of the key figures in the history of the Cold War.
First Federal Chancellor of Germany

The birth and formation of the NPA

Under these conditions, and with the direct participation of the USSR, on January 18, 1956, the NPA was created, which quickly turned into a powerful force. In turn, the navy of the GDR became the most combat-ready along with the Soviet in the Warsaw Pact.

This is not an exaggeration, because the Prussian and Saxon lands, which once represented the most warlike German states with strong armies, were included in the GDR. This is especially true, of course, of the Prussians. It was the Prussians and Saxons that formed the basis of the officer corps, first of the German Empire, then the Reichswehr, then the Wehrmacht and, finally, the NNA.

The traditional German discipline and love for military affairs, the strong military traditions of the Prussian officers, the rich combat experience of previous generations, multiplied by advanced military equipment and the achievements of Soviet military thought, made the GDR army an invincible force in Europe.

The army of the GDR really enjoyed popular love in their country.
At least at first.

It is noteworthy that in some way the dreams of the most far-sighted German and Russian statesmen on turn of XIX-XX centuries, dreaming of a military alliance between the Russian and German empires.

The strength of the army of the GDR was in the combat training of its personnel, because the number of the NNA has always remained relatively low: in 1987 it had 120 thousand soldiers and officers in its ranks, yielding, say, to the Polish People's Army - the second largest army after the Soviet one in the Warsaw Pact .

However, in the event of a military conflict with NATO, the Poles had to fight on secondary sectors of the front - in Austria and Denmark. In turn, the NPA was given more serious tasks: to fight in the main direction - against the troops operating from the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, where the first echelon was deployed ground forces NATO, that is, the Bundeswehr itself, as well as the most combat-ready divisions of the Americans, British and French.

Tanker of the GDR army under the state flag

Army of the GDR on exercises

Trusted by the Soviet leadership to the German brothers by weapon. And not in vain. The commander of the 3rd Army of the Western Group of Forces in the GDR and later the deputy chief of staff of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, General Valentin Varennikov, wrote in his memoirs: “The National People's Army of the GDR actually grew before my eyes in 10-15 years from zero to a formidable modern army equipped with everything necessary and capable of acting no worse than the Soviet troops.

This point of view is essentially confirmed by Matvey Burlakov: “Peak cold war was in the early 80s. It remained to give a signal - and everything would have rushed. Everything is ready, the shells are in the tanks, it remains to shove them into the barrel - and forward. Everything would have been burned, everything would have been destroyed there. Military installations, I mean - not cities. I often met with NATO Military Committee Chairman Klaus Naumann. He once asks me: “I saw the plans of the GDR army that you claimed. Why didn't you attack?" We tried to collect these plans, but someone hid them, made copies. And Naumann agreed with our calculation that we should be in the English Channel within a week. I say: “We are not aggressors, why are we going to attack you? We have always expected you to be the first to start.” That's how they explained it."

Note: Naumann saw the plans of the GDR army, whose tanks were among the first to reach the English Channel and, according to him, no one could effectively interfere with them.

In the event of a NATO attack, this army would be in the English Channel in a week.
NATO strategists sincerely wondered why, with such power at hand,
we didn't hit. A simple thing just can't fit in their heads
that the Russians really didn't want war.

From the point of view of the intellectual training of the personnel, the NPA also stood at a high level: by the mid-80s, 95 percent of the officer corps in its ranks had a higher or secondary specialized education, about 30 percent of the officers graduated from military academies, 35 percent - higher military schools.

In a word, at the end of the 80s, the GDR army was ready for any test, but the country was not. Unfortunately, the combat power of the armed forces could not compensate for the socio-economic problems that the GDR faced by the beginning of the last quarter of the 20th century. Erich Honecker, who headed the country in 1971, was guided by the Soviet model of building socialism, which significantly distinguished him from many leaders of other Eastern European countries.

Honecker's key goal in the socio-economic sphere is to improve the well-being of the people, in particular, through the development of housing construction and an increase in pensions.

Alas, good undertakings in this area led to a decrease in investment in the development of production and the renewal of outdated equipment, the wear and tear of which was 50 percent in industry and 65 percent in agriculture. In general, the East German economy, like the Soviet one, developed along an extensive path.

Defeat without firing a shot

Mikhail Gorbachev's coming to power in 1985 complicated relations between the two countries - Honecker, being a conservative, reacted negatively to perestroika. And this is against the background of the fact that in the GDR the attitude towards Gorbachev as the initiator of reforms was of an enthusiastic nature. In addition, at the end of the 80s, a mass exodus of citizens of the GDR to the FRG began. Gorbachev made it clear to his East German counterpart that Soviet aid to the GDR directly depended on Berlin's reforms.

What followed is well known: in 1989, Honecker was removed from all posts, a year later West Germany absorbed the GDR, and a year later the Soviet Union ceased to exist. The Russian leadership hastened to withdraw from Germany almost half a million troops equipped with 12,000 tanks and armored vehicles, which became an unconditional geopolitical and geostrategic defeat and accelerated the entry of yesterday's allies of the USSR under the Warsaw Pact into NATO.

But all these are dry lines about relatively recent past events, behind which is the drama of thousands of NPA officers and their families. With sadness in their eyes and pain in their hearts, they looked at the last parade of Russian troops on August 31, 1994 in Berlin. Betrayed, humiliated, useless, they witnessed the departure of the once allied army, which lost the cold war with them without a single shot.

M.S. Gorbachev lost the Cold War without firing a shot

And after all, just five years earlier, Gorbachev promised not to leave the GDR to its fate. Did the Soviet leader have grounds for such statements? On the one hand, it would seem not. As we have already noted, in the late 1980s, the flow of refugees from the GDR to the FRG increased. After the removal of Honecker, the leadership of the GDR showed neither the will nor the determination to preserve the country and take truly effective measures for this that would allow Germany to be reunited on an equal footing. Declarative statements not supported by practical steps do not count in this case.

But there is another side of the coin. According to Boltunov, neither France nor Great Britain considered the issue of German reunification to be urgent. This is understandable: in Paris they were afraid of a strong and united Germany, which had crushed the military power of France twice in less than a century. And of course, it was not in the geopolitical interests of the Fifth Republic to see a united and strong Germany at its borders.

In turn, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher adhered to a political line aimed at maintaining the balance of power between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, as well as observing the terms of the Final Act in Helsinki, the rights and responsibilities of the four states for post-war Germany.

Against this background, the desire of London to develop cultural and economic ties with the GDR in the second half of the 80s does not seem accidental, and when it became obvious that the unification of Germany was inevitable, the British leadership proposed extending this process for 10-15 years.

And perhaps most importantly, in the matter of containing the processes aimed at unifying Germany, the British leadership counted on the support of Moscow and Paris. And even more than that: German Chancellor Helmut Kohl himself did not initially initiate the absorption of his eastern neighbor by West Germany, but advocated the creation of a confederation, putting forward a ten-point program to implement his idea.

Thus, in 1990, the Kremlin and Berlin had every chance to realize the idea once proposed by Stalin: the creation of a single, but neutral and non-NATO Germany.

The preservation of a limited contingent of Soviet, American, British and French troops on the territory of a united Germany would become a guarantor of German neutrality, and the armed forces of the FRG created on an equal basis would not allow the spread of pro-Western sentiments in the army and would not turn former NPA officers into outcasts.

Soviet and German brothers in arms. Photo from the 1950s
The day will come when the descendants of some will renounce both their country and their allies.
And the heirs of others will suddenly find themselves without a livelihood

personality factor

All this was quite feasible in practice and met the foreign policy interests of both London and Paris, as well as Moscow and Berlin. So why did Gorbachev and his entourage, who had the opportunity to rely on the support of France and England in the defense of the GDR, did not do this and easily went for the absorption of their eastern neighbor by West Germany, ultimately changing the balance of power in Europe in favor of NATO?

From Boltunov’s point of view, the personality factor played a decisive role in this case: “... Events took an unplanned turn after the meeting of foreign ministers, at which E. A. Shevardnadze (the USSR Foreign Minister) went into direct violation of Gorbachev’s directive.

One thing is the reunification of two independent German states, the other is the Anschluss, that is, the absorption of the GDR by the Federal Republic. It is one thing to overcome the split in Germany as a cardinal step towards eliminating the split in Europe. Another is the transfer of the leading edge of the split of the continent from the Elbe to the Oder or further east.

Shevardnadze gave a very simple explanation for his behavior - I learned this from Anatoly Chernyaev, an aide to the president (USSR): “The Generalsher asked about it so much. And Genscher is a good man."

"Good man" Eduard Shevardnadze - one of the main culprits of the tragedy of the GDR

Perhaps this explanation oversimplifies the picture associated with the unification of the country, but it is obvious that such a rapid absorption of the GDR by West Germany is a direct consequence of the short-sightedness and weakness of the Soviet political leadership, which, based on the logic of its decisions, is more focused on the positive image of the USSR in the Western world, rather than on the interests of their own state.

Ultimately, the collapse of both the GDR and the socialist camp as a whole, as well as the collapse of the Soviet Union, provides a vivid example of the fact that the determining factor in history is not some objective processes, but the role of the individual. This is undeniably evidenced by the entire past of mankind.

After all, there were no socio-economic prerequisites for entering the historical arena of the ancient Macedonians, if not for the outstanding personal qualities of the kings Philip and Alexander.

The French would never have brought most of Europe to their knees had Napoleon not been their emperor. And there would have been no October coup in Russia, the most shameful in the history of the country of the Brest Peace, just as the Bolsheviks would not have won the Civil War, if not for the personality of Vladimir Lenin.

All these are just the most striking examples, indisputably testifying to the determining role of the individual in history.

There is no doubt that nothing like the events of the early 1990s could have happened in Eastern Europe if Yuri Andropov had been at the head of the Soviet Union. A man with a strong will, in the field of foreign policy, he invariably proceeded from the geopolitical interests of the country, and they demanded the preservation of a military presence in Central Europe and the comprehensive strengthening of the combat power of the NPA, regardless of the attitude of the Americans and their allies to this.

Heinz Kessler - Minister of Defense of the GDR after 1985 - did everything that depended on him,
to keep the country from destruction. But there was nothing he could do about the rising
a lump of social problems, nor with the betrayal of the Soviet elite.
Others had to solve these problems - but they did not have the will.

The scale of Gorbachev's personality, as, indeed, of his inner circle, objectively did not correspond to the complex of the most complex domestic and foreign policy problems that the Soviet Union faced.

The same can be said about Egon Krenz, who replaced Honecker as SED General Secretary and was not a strong and strong-willed person. This is the opinion of General Markus Wolff, who headed the foreign intelligence of the GDR, about Krenz.

One of the properties of weak politicians is inconsistency in following the chosen course. So it happened with Gorbachev: in December 1989, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, he unequivocally declared that the Soviet Union would not leave the GDR to its fate. A year later, the Kremlin allowed West Germany to carry out the Anschluss of its eastern neighbor.

Kohl also felt the political weakness of the Soviet leadership during his visit to Moscow in February 1990, since it was after that that he began to more energetically pursue a course towards the reunification of Germany and, most importantly, began to insist on maintaining its membership in NATO.

And as a result: in modern Germany, the number of American troops exceeds 50,000 soldiers and officers stationed, including on the territory of the former GDR, and the NATO military machine is deployed near Russian borders. And in the event of a military conflict, the well-trained and trained officers of the former NPA will no longer be able to help us. And they probably don't want to...

As for England and France, their fears about the unification of Germany were not in vain: the latter quickly took a leading position in the European Union, strengthened its strategic and economic position in Central and Eastern Europe, gradually ousting British capital from there.

In 1990, the new united Germany inherited a rich and completely unnecessary weapons dowry of the former GDR. The zealous Germans rolled up their sleeves and began to rake up the good.

Dowry and final sale

On October 3, 1990, the GDR ceased to exist, and with it its army, one of the most combat-ready and well-armed among the Warsaw Pact countries. New Germany inherited a huge and completely unnecessary weapons legacy of the army disbanded. Germany received more than 2,500 tanks, 6,600 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 2,500 artillery pieces (including self-propelled ones), about 180 helicopters, almost 400 aircraft and 69 warships. All this was crowned with one and a half million firearms and 300,000 tons of ammunition.

All this arsenal was divided into three categories.

The first, rather small, got what the Bundeswehr was going to use personally - for example, MiG-29 fighters or passenger Tu-154s. In the second category - what the Germans wanted to try and, possibly, keep or attach to some border guards or foresters. Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters, as well as part of caterpillar and marine equipment, got here. In the third, most numerous category, they identified what was required to get rid of.

Among the reasons are technical obsolescence, non-compliance with NATO standards and the need to purchase spare parts from foreign countries.

There was another, not particularly advertised fact: the more GDR weapons remain, the more GDR members themselves will remain in the army - which no one wanted.

While the Germans were engaged in accounting and control, some very annoyed people waving contracts impatiently knocked on the door. It turned out that right before the end, on October 1–2, 1990, the GDR people signed a wide variety of weapons contracts at bargain prices and buyers were wondering where the goods were!

The Poles expected 11 MiG-29 aircraft with air-to-air missiles, 2,700 anti-tank missiles for the Fagot complexes, and much more. The Hungarians did not lag behind, claiming that they bought 200 T-72 tanks, 130 thousand anti-tank mines and a whole list on three sheets.

MiG-29 at Preshen airfield, August 1990

Future NATO allies were asked to wait a bit, because multilingual businessmen with far more fantastic documents pulled ahead.

Thus, the American company CIC International claimed to be the owner of three project 151 small missile ships, 12 project 205 missile boats, several dozen MiG-21 and MiG-23 aircraft, and also (hold on to your chair!) 1200 tanks T-55, 200 T-72 and 170 rocket launchers. Representatives of the Panamanian "Beij-MA" waved papers over their shoulders, asking where their 32 Mi-24 helicopters, one hundred T-72 tanks and tens of thousands of firearms were. Behind them tried to squeeze representatives of half a dozen more companies with more modest requests - mainly in the field of firearms and ammunition.

Most of the contracts were eventually declared invalid. But, let's say, one minesweeper sold to a certain company MAWIA nevertheless sailed extremely illegally - as far as African Guinea.

"Desert Storm" and helping friends

For a number of reasons, the FRG refused to participate in Operation Desert Storm, but offered the participants financial and logistical assistance - after all, thanks to the GDR reserves, it cost them nothing. The Germans sent more than 1,500 pieces of equipment for rear services and many supplies like tents, flasks, blankets and other things to the Middle East.

But the main requests concerned the opportunity to look at the Soviet high-tech, which had never before fallen into the hands of NATO.

It was primarily about combat aircraft and their weapons, anti-aircraft missile and anti-tank systems, as well as naval innovations. Of the local German curiosities, everyone was interested in anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.

Many of these transfers were not recorded as a sale, but were carried out as part of military-technical cooperation and the transfer of materiel for training.

East German MiG-23

Hits were MiG-23 and Su-22 aircraft with air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, anti-ship missiles of the P-15 family, SET-40 anti-submarine torpedoes and Osa anti-aircraft missile systems.

The United States was the most active, acting on the principle of “wrap only two”. They received, among other things, 14 MiG-23 aircraft, two Su-22s, one MiG-29, three Mi-24 helicopters, 86 T-72 tanks, 19 BMP-1 and 15 BMP-2, 17 MT-LB (multipurpose light armored transporter), as well as three batteries of the Osa air defense system with ammunition. A large part of this equipment was intended for arming OPFOR (Opposing Force) units, which portray “bad guys” during exercises.

The Americans even stole a project 1241 small missile ship for testing. The East Germans called it Rudolf Egelhofer, after the unification, it briefly ended up in the West German fleet, where it was renamed Hiddensee. Six months later he was sent to the USA - now you can see him in maritime museum Battleship Cove in Massachusetts.

Former "Rudolf Egelhofer" - now "Hiddensee" - at the Massachusetts Maritime Museum

Not everyone got what they wanted. Israel, which had warm, although not cloudless, relations with the FRG in the field of military cooperation, tried - like the United States - to ask for everything at once. The Germans, however, were more cautious, not wanting too much noise in the Middle East. Israel was denied many things, and received some in the form of individual elements rather than the whole complex. So, the Israelis were given the radar from the MiG-29 - but not the entire aircraft; missiles from air defense systems - but without control cabins, and so on.

Surprisingly, communication systems, radio intelligence and electronic warfare do not appear in any open documents. Either everyone thought that there was nothing to see there, or they were transmitted through secret channels.

Grand Bazaar

They decided to sell the bulk of the weapons, if possible, at a big discount or even give them away for free - as help. The storage and disposal of all this wealth still cost a pretty penny.

One of the first to ask the price was the Scandinavians, who had long professed the principle of "we would have something cheaper" in military spending.

The Finns, who possessed an impressive Soviet arsenal, bought on a wide front: 97 T-72s, 72 Gvozdika self-propelled guns, 36 RM-70s (Czech versions of the Grad), 140 BMP-1s, 218 D-30 howitzers and 166 M-46 guns .

Gedairovsky T-72

The Swedes also reached out for their share. Looking in surprise at the penny prices and not really haggling, they purchased more than 800 (!) MT-LBs and 400 BMP-1s. About a quarter of them were bought for the sake of spare parts, but the rest, having undergone modernization in Poland and the Czech Republic, went to serve in the troops.

The Poles and Hungarians also got smart, but in a pinpoint and high-tech way. The Hungarians received three MiG-23 aircraft, two dozen Czech L-39 training aircraft and six Mi-24 helicopters. The Poles took away small missile ships contracted back in the GDR, and also received two Su-22s and a MiG-23 each. A little later, they rowed 18 Mi-24s for free. And the Poles received the main gift in 2004 - in the form of 14 free MiG-29s with four hundred missiles in addition.

Unexpectedly, Greeks became the main visitors of the German military second-hand.

One of the poorest countries in NATO rowed good with both hands. Among the received were three batteries of the Osa air defense system with 900 missiles, 11,500 missiles for the Fagot anti-tank missile system, five hundred BMP-1s, 120 Shilka ZSU and 156 Grads with a 200,000-strong stock of missiles! Most of the Germans gave away for free as part of the military aid program, but some deliveries still fell through - the Greeks did not have the money to pay for transportation.

The Greeks did not fail - "Wasp" still serves them faithfully

The Turks, after a proper bargaining, took three hundred BTR-60s, and then focused on light weapons, buying five thousand RPG-7s with 200 thousand shells, 300 thousand Kalashnikov assault rifles and 2500 machine guns with 83 million rounds of ammunition.

But the most impressive was the deal with Indonesia.

The fleet of the GDR was small and was built for specific tasks in the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea. Germany did not expect a crowd of customers, but they were also surprised by the complete lack of interest. Indonesia rescued. The country of many islands wanted to get more ships "cheaply", and the Germans were only too glad to get rid of the burden. The Indonesians took all 16 Project 133.1 small anti-submarine ships, a dozen tank landing ships, two supply ships and nine minesweepers. The deal turned out to be so unusual that only the lazy did not look for the corruption component in it.

Indonesian corvette "Chut Nyak Din" - former "Lubz" - in 1994

Germany gave the ships for a ridiculous amount of 14 million US dollars - however, the Indonesians had to pay another 300 million for the repair and demilitarization of ships in German shipyards. Their reverse remilitarization after distillation was to cost another 300 million, plus 120 million was required for the modernization of shipyards and 180 for the construction of a new basing point. Surprisingly, in German shipyards, most of the high-tech weapon systems were forgotten to be removed from ships, but then in Indonesia, judging by the documents, they were installed in the second round.

It is noteworthy that the second major buyer of marine equipment (three minesweepers, a rescue ship, a supply ship and a tug) was Uruguay, which is just as far from the Baltic Sea.

New markets

Thanks to the legacy of the GDR, throughout the first half of the 1990s, the FRG was one of the three world arms suppliers. However, then the intensity subsided and they began to actively trade in this segment former countries USSR and Eastern European neighbors. In addition, the main consumers were countries from a list that the German government would never have officially approved.

Unsold items were simply cut up quietly.

The great sale of the name of the GDR - in addition to the fact that many countries got hold of technology almost for free - there was another side. Germany has managed to enter many new markets. And soon she was able to offer newer toys there - and much more expensive.

We betrayed the GDR

After the reunification of Germany, hundreds of officers of the GDR were left to fend for themselves.

An old photo already: November 1989, the Berlin Wall, literally saddled with thousands of jubilant crowds. Sad and confused faces are only in a group of people in the foreground - the border guards of the GDR. Until recently, formidable to enemies and rightly aware of themselves as the elite of the country, they suddenly turned into superfluous extras at this holiday. But this was not the worst thing for them ...


“Somehow I accidentally ended up in the house of a former captain of the National People's Army (NPA) of the GDR. He graduated from our higher military school, a good programmer, but for three years he has been toiling without a job. And around the neck is a family: a wife, two children.

From him for the first time I heard what I was destined to hear many times.
- You betrayed us ... - the former captain will say. He will say calmly, without strain, gathering his will into a fist.
No, he was not a “political commissar”, he did not cooperate with the Stasi, and yet he lost everything.”

These are lines from the book of Colonel Mikhail Boltunov "ZGV: Bitter Road Home".
And then the author turns to himself and to all of us: “So it is. We betrayed the GDR, the NNA, this captain? Or is it just the emotions of an offended person?

The problem, however, is much deeper: having left the soldiers and officers of the army created by us to the mercy of fate, have we betrayed ourselves? And was it possible to keep the NPA, albeit under a different name and with a changed organizational structure, but as a faithful ally of Moscow?

Let's try to figure it out, of course, as far as possible, within the framework of a short article, especially since these issues have not lost their relevance to this day, especially against the backdrop of NATO's eastward expansion and the spread of US military and political influence in the post-Soviet space.

Disappointment and humiliation

So, in 1990, the unification of Germany took place, which caused euphoria on the part of both West and East Germans. It's done! A great nation regained its unity, the much hated Berlin Wall collapsed at last. However, as is often the case, unbridled joy was replaced by bitter disappointment. Of course, not for all residents of Germany, no. Most of them, as opinion polls show, do not regret the unification of the country.

The disappointment affected mainly a certain part of the inhabitants of the GDR that had sunk into oblivion. Pretty quickly they realized: what happened in essence was the Anschluss - the absorption of their homeland by the western neighbor.

The officer and non-commissioned officer corps of the former NNA suffered the most from this. It did not become an integral part of the Bundeswehr, but was simply dissolved. Most of the former servicemen of the GDR, including generals and colonels, were fired. At the same time, they were not credited for service in the NNA for either military or civilian seniority. Those who were lucky enough to put on the uniform of recent opponents were demoted in rank.

GDR paratroopers on exercises

As a result, East German officers were forced to stand for hours in lines at the labor exchange and roam around in search of work - often low-paid and unskilled.
And worse than that. In his book, Mikhail Boltunov cites the words of the last Minister of Defense of the GDR, Admiral Theodor Hoffmann: “With the unification of Germany, the NPA was disbanded.

Many professional soldiers have been discriminated against.”
Discrimination, in other words, humiliation. And it could not be otherwise, for the well-known Latin proverb says: "Woe to the vanquished!". And doubly woe if the army was not crushed in battle, but simply betrayed by both its own and the Soviet leadership.

The former commander-in-chief of the Western Group of Forces, General Matvey Burlakov, directly spoke about this in an interview: "Gorbachev and others betrayed the Union." And didn’t this betrayal begin with the betrayal of his faithful allies, who, among other things, ensured the geopolitical security of the USSR in the western direction?

However, many will consider the latter statement disputable and will note the irreversibility and even spontaneity of the process of unification of the two Germanys. But the point is not that the FRG and the GDR were bound to unite, but how this could happen. And the absorption of the eastern neighbor by West Germany was far from the only way.

What was the alternative that would allow the NPA officer corps to take a worthy position in the new Germany and remain loyal to the USSR? And what is more important for us: did the Soviet Union have real opportunities to maintain its military-political presence in Germany, preventing the expansion of NATO to the east?

To answer these questions, we need to make a short historical digression.
In 1949, a new republic appeared on the map - the GDR. It was created as a response to education in the American, British and French occupation zones of the FRG. It is interesting that Joseph Stalin did not seek to create the GDR, taking the initiative to unify Germany, but on condition that it did not join NATO.

However, the former allies refused. Proposals for the construction of the Berlin Wall came to Stalin at the end of the 40s, but the Soviet leader abandoned this idea, considering it discrediting the USSR in the eyes of the world community.

Remembering the history of the birth of the GDR, one should also take into account the personality of the first chancellor of the West German state, Konrad Adenauer, who, according to the former Soviet ambassador to the FRG, Vladimir Semenov, “cannot be considered only a political opponent of Russia. He had an irrational hatred of the Russians."

The birth and formation of the NPA

Under these conditions, and with the direct participation of the USSR, on January 18, 1956, the NPA was created, which quickly turned into a powerful force. In turn, the navy of the GDR became the most combat-ready along with the Soviet in the Warsaw Pact.

This is not an exaggeration, because the Prussian and Saxon lands, which once represented the most warlike German states with strong armies, were included in the GDR. This is especially true, of course, of the Prussians. It was the Prussians and Saxons that formed the basis of the officer corps, first of the German Empire, then the Reichswehr, then the Wehrmacht and, finally, the NNA.

The traditional German discipline and love for military affairs, the strong military traditions of the Prussian officers, the rich combat experience of previous generations, multiplied by advanced military equipment and the achievements of Soviet military thought, made the GDR army an invincible force in Europe.

It is noteworthy that in some way the dreams of the most far-sighted German and Russian statesmen at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, who dreamed of a military alliance between the Russian and German empires, came true in the NPA.


The strength of the GDR army was in the combat training of its personnel, because the number of the NNA has always remained relatively low: in 1987 it had 120 thousand soldiers and officers in its ranks, yielding, say, to the Polish People's Army - the second largest army after the Soviet one in the Warsaw Pact .

However, in the event of a military conflict with NATO, the Poles had to fight on secondary sectors of the front - in Austria and Denmark. In turn, the NNA was given more serious tasks: to fight in the main direction - against the troops operating from the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, where the first echelon of NATO ground forces, that is, the Bundeswehr itself, was deployed, as well as the most combat-ready divisions of the Americans, British and French.

The Soviet leadership trusted the German brothers in arms. And not in vain. The commander of the 3rd Army of the Western Group of Forces in the GDR and later the deputy chief of staff of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, General Valentin Varennikov, wrote in his memoirs: “The National People’s Army of the GDR actually grew before my eyes in 10-15 years from zero to a formidable modern army equipped with everything necessary and capable of acting no worse than the Soviet troops.

This point of view is essentially confirmed by Matvey Burlakov: “The peak of the Cold War was in the early 80s. It remained to give a signal - and everything would have rushed. Everything is ready, the shells are in the tanks, it remains to shove them into the barrel - and forward. Everything would have been burned, everything would have been destroyed there. Military installations, I mean - not cities.

I often met with NATO Military Committee Chairman Klaus Naumann. He once asks me: “I saw the plans of the GDR army that you claimed. Why didn't you attack?" We tried to collect these plans, but someone hid them, made copies. And Naumann agreed with our calculation that we should be in the English Channel within a week.

I say: “We are not aggressors, why are we going to attack you? We have always expected you to be the first to start.” That's how it was explained to them. We can’t say that we were the first to start.”
Note: Naumann saw the plans of the GDR army, whose tanks were among the first to reach the English Channel and, according to him, no one could effectively interfere with them.

From the point of view of the intellectual training of the personnel, the NPA was also at a high level: by the mid-80s, 95 percent of the officer corps in its ranks had a higher or secondary specialized education, about 30 percent of the officers graduated from military academies, 35 percent - higher military schools.


In a word, at the end of the 80s, the GDR army was ready for any test, but the country was not. Unfortunately, the combat power of the armed forces could not compensate for the socio-economic problems that the GDR faced by the beginning of the last quarter of the 20th century. Erich Honecker, who headed the country in 1971, was guided by the Soviet model of building socialism, which significantly distinguished him from many leaders of other Eastern European countries.

Honecker's key goal in the socio-economic sphere is to improve the well-being of the people, in particular, through the development of housing construction and an increase in pensions.

Alas, good undertakings in this area led to a decrease in investment in the development of production and the renewal of outdated equipment, the wear and tear of which was 50 percent in industry and 65 percent in agriculture. In general, the East German economy, like the Soviet one, developed along an extensive path.

Defeat without firing a shot

The coming of Mikhail Gorbachev to power in 1985 complicated relations between the two countries - Honecker, being a conservative, reacted negatively to perestroika. And this is against the background of the fact that in the GDR the attitude towards Gorbachev as the initiator of reforms was of an enthusiastic nature. In addition, at the end of the 80s, a mass exodus of citizens of the GDR to the FRG began.

Gorbachev made it clear to his East German counterpart that Soviet aid to the GDR directly depended on Berlin's reforms.
What followed is well known: in 1989, Honecker was removed from all posts, a year later West Germany absorbed the GDR, and a year later the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

The Russian leadership hastened to withdraw from Germany almost half a million troops equipped with 12,000 tanks and armored vehicles, which became an unconditional geopolitical and geostrategic defeat and accelerated the entry of yesterday's allies of the USSR under the Warsaw Pact into NATO.


Demonstration performances with the special forces of the GDR

But all these are dry lines about relatively recent past events, behind which is the drama of thousands of NPA officers and their families. With sadness in their eyes and pain in their hearts, they looked at the last parade of Russian troops on August 31, 1994 in Berlin. Betrayed, humiliated, useless, they witnessed the departure of the once allied army, which lost the cold war with them without a single shot.

And after all, just five years earlier, Gorbachev promised not to leave the GDR to its fate. Did the Soviet leader have grounds for such statements? On the one hand, it would seem not. As we have already noted, in the late 1980s, the flow of refugees from the GDR to the FRG increased. After the removal of Honecker, the leadership of the GDR showed neither the will nor the determination to preserve the country and take truly effective measures for this that would allow Germany to be reunited on an equal footing.

Declarative statements not supported by practical steps do not count in this case.
But there is another side of the coin. According to Boltunov, neither France nor Great Britain considered the issue of German reunification to be urgent.

This is understandable: in Paris they were afraid of a strong and united Germany, which had crushed the military power of France twice in less than a century. And of course, it was not in the geopolitical interests of the Fifth Republic to see a united and strong Germany at its borders.

In turn, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher adhered to a political line aimed at maintaining the balance of power between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, as well as observing the terms of the Final Act in Helsinki, the rights and responsibilities of the four states for post-war Germany.

Against this background, the desire of London to develop cultural and economic ties with the GDR in the second half of the 80s does not seem accidental, and when it became obvious that the unification of Germany was inevitable, the British leadership proposed extending this process for 10-15 years.
And perhaps most importantly, in the matter of containing the processes aimed at unifying Germany, the British leadership counted on the support of Moscow and Paris.

And even more than that: German Chancellor Helmut Kohl himself did not initially initiate the absorption of his eastern neighbor by West Germany, but advocated the creation of a confederation, putting forward a ten-point program to implement his idea.

Thus, in 1990, the Kremlin and Berlin had every chance to realize the idea once proposed by Stalin: the creation of a single, but neutral and non-NATO Germany.