Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
The Nationale Volksarmee leaves
Warsaw Pact and is dissolved!
The Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) of the GDR ("National Peoples Army") is separated from the Warsaw Pact on September 24, 1990 in view of the looming German unification.
The NVA originally had a peacetime strength of 170,000 men.
Of these, 73,000 were professional soldiers, 52,000 civilian employees, 4,100 officer students and 1,500 officer students in academies.
In addition, 600 members of the NVA served in the Soviet Union, half of them were there with their wives (the families had a total of 432 children living there).
Rainer Eppelmann, Minister for Disarmament and Defense of the GDR, and the supreme commander in the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Army Marshal Pjotr G. Luschew, sign a protocol on September 24, 1990 in East Berlin to leave the military organization of the alliance.
Afterwards they toast with sparkling wine - whereby the mines of the Soviet officers speak volumes...:
The next two pictures show the "deployment" of the two delegations, including all commanders of the Warsaw Pact forces, before the signing - greeted by an honorary company of the "Friedrich Engels" Wachregiment" of the NVA...
... not to be confused with the "Feliks Dzierzynski" Wachregiment, a unit of the GDR-Ministry of State Security!
The text of the agreement stipulates that the NVA will withdraw from the "Warsaw Treaty" when the GDR joins the Federal Republic and that there will no longer be mutual claims.
In addition, it is stipulated that "sensitive" weapon equipment, such as anti-missile defense systems, as well as secret codes and radar equipment, must be handed over to the USSR immediately and confidential documents must be destroyed.
A few days later, on October 3, 1990, the day of German unity, the NVA is dissolved and no longer exists.
The last two commands are: "Truppenfahne einrollen!" ("Roll up the troop flag!")
...and: "Truppenfahne verpacken!" ("Pack the troop flag!")
A wave of layoffs had already rolled over the NVA in the run-up to the events reported here. On October 3, the Federal Minister of Defense was only responsible for almost 90,000 soldiers, less than a third of the original peacetime strength of the NVA....:
Mir der - wie es damals hieß - "Abwicklung" der DDR-Armee wird Bundeswehr Brigadegeneral Jörg Schönbohm...
... beauftragt.
Hier besichtigt er frisch in Bundeswehr-Uniformen eingekleidete...
... Ex-GDR soldiers - they still carry their AK-74 rifles from the old days and show the presentation handle of the NVA - there was no time for new Bundeswehr drill...:
During the first few weeks on duty, GDR and Bundeswehr uniforms are worn mixed up...:
General Schönbohm's order (which is not talked about quite so loudly in public): Sort out as many ex-soldiers of the GDR as possible!
Only a few members of the NVA are accepted into the Bundeswehr - the statistics show the numbers...:
At the end of 1998, around 9,300 Bundeswehr soldiers who had previously served in the NVA will still be in service - from originally 170,000!
Warsaw Pact and is dissolved!
The Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) of the GDR ("National Peoples Army") is separated from the Warsaw Pact on September 24, 1990 in view of the looming German unification.
The NVA originally had a peacetime strength of 170,000 men.
Of these, 73,000 were professional soldiers, 52,000 civilian employees, 4,100 officer students and 1,500 officer students in academies.
In addition, 600 members of the NVA served in the Soviet Union, half of them were there with their wives (the families had a total of 432 children living there).
Rainer Eppelmann, Minister for Disarmament and Defense of the GDR, and the supreme commander in the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Army Marshal Pjotr G. Luschew, sign a protocol on September 24, 1990 in East Berlin to leave the military organization of the alliance.
Afterwards they toast with sparkling wine - whereby the mines of the Soviet officers speak volumes...:
The next two pictures show the "deployment" of the two delegations, including all commanders of the Warsaw Pact forces, before the signing - greeted by an honorary company of the "Friedrich Engels" Wachregiment" of the NVA...
... not to be confused with the "Feliks Dzierzynski" Wachregiment, a unit of the GDR-Ministry of State Security!
The text of the agreement stipulates that the NVA will withdraw from the "Warsaw Treaty" when the GDR joins the Federal Republic and that there will no longer be mutual claims.
In addition, it is stipulated that "sensitive" weapon equipment, such as anti-missile defense systems, as well as secret codes and radar equipment, must be handed over to the USSR immediately and confidential documents must be destroyed.
A few days later, on October 3, 1990, the day of German unity, the NVA is dissolved and no longer exists.
The last two commands are: "Truppenfahne einrollen!" ("Roll up the troop flag!")
...and: "Truppenfahne verpacken!" ("Pack the troop flag!")
A wave of layoffs had already rolled over the NVA in the run-up to the events reported here. On October 3, the Federal Minister of Defense was only responsible for almost 90,000 soldiers, less than a third of the original peacetime strength of the NVA....:
Mir der - wie es damals hieß - "Abwicklung" der DDR-Armee wird Bundeswehr Brigadegeneral Jörg Schönbohm...
... beauftragt.
Hier besichtigt er frisch in Bundeswehr-Uniformen eingekleidete...
... Ex-GDR soldiers - they still carry their AK-74 rifles from the old days and show the presentation handle of the NVA - there was no time for new Bundeswehr drill...:
During the first few weeks on duty, GDR and Bundeswehr uniforms are worn mixed up...:
General Schönbohm's order (which is not talked about quite so loudly in public): Sort out as many ex-soldiers of the GDR as possible!
Only a few members of the NVA are accepted into the Bundeswehr - the statistics show the numbers...:
At the end of 1998, around 9,300 Bundeswehr soldiers who had previously served in the NVA will still be in service - from originally 170,000!
