8th Motorized Rifle Division
|
8th motorized rifle division (8th MSD) |
|
|---|---|
| active | June 30, 1956 to October 2, 1990 |
| Country |
 German Democratic Republic
|
| Armed forces | National Peoples Army |
| Armed forces | Land forces of the NVA |
| Branch of service | Mechanized infantry |
| Type | Mechanized Infantry Division |
| structure | structure |
| Strength | Should war: 14,746 Should peace: 10,954 |
| Insinuation |
Military District V (Peace) 5th Army (war) |
| headquarters | Schwerin ( location ) |
| equipment | equipment |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
The 8th Motorized Rifle Division (NVA) , or 8th MSD for short , was a large association of the National People's Army of the GDR .
history
Lineup
The division was created on June 30, 1956 as the 8th Infantry Division from the Schwerin Infantry Readiness of the Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP) in Military District V and was renamed the 8th Motorized Rifle Division on November 30, 1956.
Their structure largely corresponded to that of the motorized rifle divisions of the Soviet Army . In contrast to these, the divisions of the NVA had no combat helicopters and a smaller battle tank component.
The land forces of the GDR were divided into two military districts, V and III (in the north and south of the country), each of which had to provide an army in the event of a defense . From 1972 it became the Land Forces Command , which replaced the military districts as a training command , including the 8th MSD.
The 28th Motorized Rifle Regiment (MSR-28), which was also trained for sea landings , was detached from the land forces on February 28, 1990 and placed under the People's Navy as Coastal Defense Regiment 18 (KVR-18) .
Construction of the wall
As part of the construction of the Berlin Wall , the 8th MSD was deployed in 1961 together with the 1st MSD and forces from the Group of the Soviet Armed Forces in Germany (GSSD) as a second "security team" at a depth of approx. 1,000 m behind the border. The first security squadron directly at the border consisted of units of the working class combat groups , the border police and the people's police . The forces were briefed on their duties on the evening of August 12, 1961 by the Minister for National Defense, Army General Heinz Hoffmann, and ordered with order 01/1961 “to secure the sector border and the outer ring of West Berlin”. The 8th MSD was involved in the security measures with 3,150 men, 100 tanks and 120 armored personnel carriers. The 28 and 29 motorized rifle regiments, the 8th tank regiment, the 8th artillery battalion and the 8th engineer battalion were deployed from the division's inventory. The command post of the 8th MSD was located in the lean cattle yard in Berlin-Lichtenberg during this deployment . The relocation of the bulk of the forces deployed by the division to the locations took place in accordance with the order 03/1961 issued by the Minister for National Defense on September 20, 1961 by September 22, 1961.
resolution
On October 3, 1990, the NVA was integrated into the Bundeswehr and the individual units of the 8th MSD were placed under the command of the Bundeswehr Command East .
organization
| unit | Honorary name | deployment |
|---|---|---|
| Motorized rifle regiment 27 | Hans Kahle | Schwerin - Sternbuchholz ( location ) |
| Motorized Rifle Regiment 28 | Wilhelm Florin | Rostock ( location ) |
| Motorized Rifle Regiment 29 | Ernst Moritz Arndt | Hagenow ( location ) - formerly in Prora on the island of Rügen |
| 8th Panzer Regiment | Artur Becker | Goldberg ( location ) - formerly in Prora on the island of Rügen |
| Artillery Regiment 8 | Erich Mühsam | Rostock ( location ) - earlier than AR 16 in Prora on the island of Rügen |
| Anti-aircraft missile regiment 8 | Willi Schröder | Schwerin-Sternbuchholz ( Lage ) - formerly in Prora and Rostock |
| Missile Division 8 | Herman Schult | Goldberg ( location ) |
| Missile Launcher Department 8 | Mathias theses | Schwerin-Sternbuchholz ( location ) |
| Reconnaissance Battalion 8 | Otto Moritz | Hagenow ( Lage ) (until 1981 Schwerin) |
| Engineer Battalion 8 | Tudor Vladimirescu | Hagenow ( Lage ) (until 1982 Goldberg) - formerly in Prora on the island of Rügen |
| Panzerjägerabteilung 8 | Heinrich Dollwetzel | Schwerin-Sternbuchholz ( location ) |
| News Battalion 8 | Kurt Bürger | Schwerin ( location ) |
| Battalion Material Seizure 8 | Herbert Tschäpe | Karow ( location ) |
| Repair Battalion 8 | Wilhelm Bick | Karow ( Lage ) (until 1989 Stern-Buchholz and Rostock) |
| Chemical Defense Battalion 8 | Erich Siebert | Goldberg ( Lage ) (until 1982 Schwerin-Sternbuchholz) |
| Medical Battalion 8 | Hans Rothenberger | Karow ( location ) - formerly in Prora on the island of Rügen |
| Replacement regiment 8 |
equipment
The division was equipped with T-34 tanks when it was deployed, and they were used well into the 1960s. On March 1, 1968, of 190 Division 92 tanks were of the type T-34 and only 35 of the type T-54 and 62 of the type T-55 . In the 1970s and 1980s, the conversion was continued and completed with the complete equipment with T-55 tanks at the end of the 1980s.
And in establishing the mot. Rifle Associations Division with were BTR-40 (SPW-40) and - BTR-152 - armored personnel carriers (APC-152) equipped. Mid-1960s ran then BTR-60 (SPW-60) and from 1978 BTR-70 (SPW-70) and BMP-1 - infantry fighting vehicle to.
The actual stock in 1990 included:
- 4 launch ramps Luna-M
- 214 T-55
- 137 BMP
- 271 BTR
- 126 guns and missile launchers
- 13 MT-55 bridge-laying tanks based on the T-55
Commanders
| Rank at that time | Surname | Period | comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colonel | Karl Nacke | June 30, 1956 - January 31, 1959 | |
| Colonel | Werner Kruger | February 1, 1959 - October 31, 1960 | |
| Colonel | Gerhard Amm | November 1, 1960 - December 31, 1962 | |
| Colonel | Anton Hotzky | January 1, 1963 - August 31, 1965 | |
| Major general | Nikolaus Klenner | September 1, 1965 - August 10, 1972 | |
| Major general | Günther Malewsky | August 10, 1972 - September 30, 1976 | |
| Colonel | Manfred Graetz | October 1, 1976 - August 31, 1978 | later lieutenant general in the MfNV |
| Colonel | Ulrich Bethmann | September 1, 1978 - August 31, 1982 | later Lieutenant General a. Kdr. OHS of the LaSK |
| Major general | Hans Unterdörfel | September 1, 1982 - August 31, 1986 | |
| Major general | Manfred Jonischkies | September 1, 1986 - August 31, 1990 | |
| Colonel | Rolf Zander | September 1, 1990 - October 2, 1990 |
literature
- Guntram König: The great book of the National People's Army. History, tasks, equipment . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-360-01954-7 .
- Wilfried Copenhagen : The land forces of the NVA (= Motorbuch-Verlag special ). Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-613-02297-4 .
- Klaus Naumann (Ed.): NVA. Claim and Reality. According to selected documents (= open words ). 2nd Edition. Mittler, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0430-8 .
- Jörg Siegert : Type compass tanks of the NVA. 1956–1990 (= type compass. Basic knowledge for tank fans ). Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-02954-5 .
- Jörg Siegert, Helmut Hanske: Main battle tanks of the NVA . Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03294-1 (208 pages).
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Wilfried Copenhagen: The land forces of the NVA (= Motorbuch-Verlag special ). Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-613-02297-4 , p. 179 .
- ↑ Copenhagen 2003, p. 39
- ↑ Copenhagen 2003, p. 41
- ↑ Klaus Naumann (Ed.): NVA - Claim and Reality, according to selected documents . Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1996. p. 102
- ↑ On the combat units from Prora cf. the foreword by Stefan Wolter , In: Wolfgang Repke: Prora, Block V, TH 4. (Series Denk-MAL-Prora, Vol. 5), Projekt-Verlag Halle, 2013, ISBN 978-3-95486-388-4 , Pp. 5-24
- ↑ Copenhagen 2003, pp. 31–35
Web links
- NVA structure. In: nva-forum.de. Retrieved October 30, 2017 .
- Detlef Samberg: 8th Motorized Rifle Division. (No longer available online.) In: samberg.de. Archived from the original on January 5, 2008 ; accessed on April 7, 2018 .
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