National People's Army

The National People's Army (, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) from 1956 until 1990.

The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Border Troops). The NVA belonged to the Ministry of National Defence and commanded by the National Defense Council of East Germany, which was headquartered in Strausberg - east of East Berlin. From 1962, conscription was mandatory for all DDR males aged between 18 and 60 requiring an 18-month service, and it was the only Warsaw Pact military to offer non-combat roles to conscientious objectors, known as " construction soldiers" (). The NVA reached 175,300 personnel at its peak in 1987.

The NVA was formed on 1 March 1956 to succeed the (Barracked People's Police) and under the influence of the Soviet Army became one of the Warsaw Pact militaries opposing NATO during the Cold War. The majority of NATO officers rated the NVA the best military in the Warsaw Pact based on discipline, thoroughness of training, and the quality of officer leadership. The NVA did not see significant combat but participated in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, deployed military advisors to communist governments in other countries, and manned the Berlin Wall where they were responsible for numerous deaths.

The NVA was dissolved on 2 October 1990 with the DDR before German reunification, and its facilities and equipment were handed over to the (the armed forces of West Germany), which also absorbed most of its personnel below the rank of non-commissioned officer.

History

Founding

The German Democratic Republic (DDR) established the National People's Army on 1 March 1956 (six months after the formation of the West German ) from the . This formation culminated years of preparation during which former officers and communist veterans of the Spanish Civil War helped organize and train paramilitary units of the People's Police. Though the NVA featured a German appearance – including uniforms and ceremonies patterned after older German military traditions – its doctrine and structure showed the strong influence of the Soviet Armed Forces.

''Wehrmacht'' Veterans

During its first year, about 27 percent of the NVA's officer corps had formerly served in the ''Wehrmacht''. Of the 82 highest command positions, ex- officers held 61; however, very few of them had served in high ranks. The military knowledge and combat experience of these veterans were indispensable in the NVA's early years, although by the 1960s most of these World War II veterans had retired. (The West German was even more reliant on veterans, who initially comprised the majority of its commissioned ranks.)

Notable former officers in the NVA command

The following list includes the NVA generals who were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in the during the Second World War.

* Wilhelm Adam (17 December 1942 as )
* Otto Korfes (22 January 1943 as )
* Vincenz Müller (7 April 1944 as )

The following list includes the NVA generals who were awarded the German Cross in the ''Wehrmacht'' during the Second World War.

* Rudolf Bamler (12 March 1942 as )
* Bernhard Bechler (28 January 1943 as )
* Otto Korfes (11 January 1942 as )
* Arno von Lenski (21 January 1943 as )
* Vincenz Müller (26 January 1942 as i.G.)
* (25 January 1943 as )

Deployment

The NVA never took part in full-scale combat, although it participated in a support role in the suppression of the Prague Spring of 1968, provided medical support during the Soviet–Afghan War, and NVA officers often served as combat advisers in Africa. Some of the first NVA advisors went to the Republic of the Congo in 1973. During the 1980s at various times the NVA had advisors in Algeria, Angola, Ethiopia, Guinea, Iraq, Libya, Mozambique, South Yemen, and Syria. In 1984, there were 10,000 NVA personnel serving on the African continent, primarily in Angola and Mozambique. However, the NVA general staff limited their role to advisory and technical functions, resisting Soviet pressure to commit regular combat formations to African conflicts.

When the Soviet Union prepared to occupy Czechoslovakia in 1968, the DDR government committed the 7th ''Panzer'' Division and the 11th Motorised Infantry Division to support the intervention (assigned to 20th Guards Army and 1st Guards Tank Army respectively), becoming the first deployment of German troops outside Germany for the first time since the Second World War.Tsouras, "Changing Orders", ''Facts on File'', 1994, 170. But the East German participation raised Czech ire, and the two divisions were "kept out of sight in the Bohemian forests" and allowed to travel only at night. In a few days they were withdrawn.

In the early 1970s the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG) high command assigned to the NVA the wartime mission of capturing West Berlin. The NVA plan for the operation, designated "Operation Centre", called for some 32,000 troops in two divisions, accompanied by the GSFG's Soviet 6th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. The plan was regularly updated until 1988, when a less ambitious plan that simply aimed at containing Berlin was substituted.

In the autumn of 1981 the NVA stood ready to intervene in Poland in support of a possible Soviet invasion, but the declaration of martial law in Poland (13 December 1981) averted the crisis.

The NVA went into a state of heightened combat readiness on several occasions, including the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, and, for the last time, in late 1989 as protests swept through the DDR.

During the Peaceful Revolution that led to the downfall of the DDR's communist government, some NVA forces were placed on alert but were never deployed against protesters. At the same time, the Soviet government ordered its troops in the DDR to remain in barracks. After the forced retirement of SED and state leader Erich Honecker and other conservatives from the ruling Politburo at the height of the crisis in October 1989, the new SED leadership ruled out using armed force against the protesters.

Ideology

Like the ruling communist parties of other Soviet-aligned countries, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) assured control by appointing loyal party members to top positions and by organizing intensive political education for all ranks. The proportion of SED members in the officer corps rose steadily after the early 1960s, eventually reaching almost 95 percent. 'citation needed''">citation_needed.html" ;"title="'citation needed">'citation needed''/sup>

The NVA saw itself as the "instrument of power of the working class" (). According to its doctrine, the NVA protected peace and secured the achievements of socialism by maintaining a convincing deterrent to imperialist aggression. The NVA's motto, inscribed on its flag, read: "For the Protection of the Workers' and Farmers' Power".

The DDR's National Defense Council of East Germany">National Defense Council controlled the armed forces, but the mobile forces came under the Warsaw Pact Unified Command. Political control of the armed forces took place through close integration with the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which vetted all officers. Military training (provided by the school system) and the growing militarization of East German society bolstered popular support for the military establishment. From a Leninist perspective, the NVA stood as a symbol of Soviet-East German solidarity and became the model communist institution – ideological, hierarchical, and disciplined. The NVA synthesized communist and Prussian symbolism, naming its officers' academy, the Friedrich Engels Military Academy, after Karl Marx's co-author Friedrich Engels

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