11th Motorized Rifle Division

11th motorized rifle division (11th MSD)
active	October 22, 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: 14,787 Should peace: 10,996 last: 11,015
Insinuation	Military District III (Peace) 3rd Army (war)
headquarters	Otto Brosowski Barracks Halle (Saale) ( location )
equipment	equipment
Awards	1974 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold 1986 Karl Marx Order
Commanders
list of	Commanders

The 11th Motorized Rifle Division (NVA) , 11th MSD for short , was a large association of the National People's Army of the GDR .

history

The 11th motorized rifle division was set up in October 1956 on the basis of existing commands, units and facilities of the People's Police - readiness hall of the Barracked People's Police (KVP) in Military District III . The A-commandos Halle, Leipzig, Weißenfels, the B-command Weißenfels and the C-command Zeithain were defining the structure. The 11th MSD was already set up in its basic structures when the CIP was set up. The troop flag was handed over to her on October 22, 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.

Up until 1972, the GDR's land forces were divided into two territorial commands, North and South. As part of a restructuring, it became the military districts III, Leipzig and V, Neubrandenburg. At the same time, the Land Forces Command was created. In the event of war, each of the military districts would have recruited an army.

Prague spring

In response to popular pressure, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia under Alexander Dubček began to implement a liberalization and democratization program ( Prague Spring ) in the spring of 1968 , which triggered a reaction from the Warsaw Pact . In June 1968, when the situation in Czechoslovakia came to a head, Walter Ulbricht agreed to the proposal of the commander-in-chief of the Warsaw Pact, Marshal Jakubowski, to also involve NVA troops in a military intervention.

On July 28, 1968, the 11th MSD was relocated near the Hermsdorfer Kreuz and placed under the control of the Soviet troops . Together with the 7th Panzer Division , it was supposed to advance into Czechoslovakia from the north-west as part of Operation Danube .

The division remained in this position until August 20, when it moved in columns to the staging areas at Oelsnitz and Plauen , where it remained as a reserve of the 11th Guard Army . The 11th MSD was not placed under the command of the NVA again until August 31st. At the end of October 1968 all units of the NVA were moved back to their barracks.

resolution

On October 3, 1990, the NVA was integrated into the Bundeswehr and the individual units of the 11th motorized rifle division placed under the command of the Bundeswehr Command East .

The units of the Military District III were in the newly created - since 1991 as Division / Military District Command VII - called Military District Command summarized VII; but renamed in 1995 to WBK VII / 13th Panzer Grenadier Division.

organization

unit	Honorary name	deployment
Motorized Rifle Regiment 16	Robert Uhrig	Bad Frankenhausen ( location )
Motorized Rifle Regiment 17th	Fritz Weineck	Hall ( location )
Motorized Rifle Regiment 18th	Otto Schlag	Weißenfels ( location )
11th Panzer Regiment	Otto Buchwitz	Sondershausen ( location )
11th Artillery Regiment	Wilhelm Koenen	Wolfen ( location )
Anti-aircraft missile regiment 11	Georg Stöber	Weißenfels ( location )
Missile Division 11	Magnus Poser	Hermsdorf ( location )
Missile Launcher Department 11		Wolfen ( location )
Reconnaissance Battalion 11	Heinrich Brandes	Bad Frankenhausen ( location )
Engineer Battalion 11	Willi Gall	Zeithain ( location )
Panzerjägerabteilung 11	Hermann Vogt	Hall ( location )
11th News Battalion	Otto Brosowski	Hall ( location )
Battalion Material Seizure 11	Bernhard Koenen	Hall ( location )
Repair Battalion 11	Albert Funk	Hall ( location )
Battalion Chemical Defense 11	Edwin Hoernle	Bad Frankenhausen ( location )
Medical Battalion 11		Hall ( location )
11th replacement regiment		Hall

equipment

T-55 tanks of the NVA

FROG-7B (Luna-M) of the NVA

The division was equipped with brand-new T-54 tanks when it was set up , but also with T-34 tanks, and it was not until the end of the mid-1960s that it had reached the planned level of equipment.

When they were set up, the division's Mot rifle associations were equipped with BTR-40 (SPW-40) and BTR-152 (SPW-152) armored personnel carriers. In the mid-1960s, BTR-60 (SPW-60) and, from the end of the 1970s, BTR-70 (SPW-70) arrived. In 1975 the 11th MSD, as the first association of the NVA, received the new BMP-1 from the Soviet Union.

The actual stock in 1990 included:

• 4 start ramps FROG-7
• 214 T-55
• 139 BMP
• 282 BTR
• 126 guns and missile launchers
• 13 MT-55 bridge-laying tanks based on the T-55

Commanders

Rank at that time	Surname	Period
Colonel	Hermann Vogt	October 11, 1956–15. August 1960
Colonel	Hans Spallek	August 15, 1960–31. August 1965
Colonel	Erich Dirwelis	September 1, 1965-30. June 1969
Major general	Heinz Handke	September 1, 1969-31. August 1972
Major general	Rudolf Magnitzke	September 1, 1972-31. October 1974
Colonel	Alfred Krause	November 1, 1974-31. August 1977
Major general	Manfred Zeh	September 1, 1977-30. April 1984
Major general	Klaus Wiegand	May 1, 1984-31. October 1986
Major general	Olivier Anders	October 1, 1986-31. December 1989
Colonel	Reinhard Panian	February 1, 1990–2. October 1990

Honors

• 1974 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold
• 1986 Karl Marx Order

literature

• Memories of the 11th Motorized Rifle Division in words and pictures. 1 illustrated text volume. 110 pages. Self-published by Gerold Möller, Halle March 2010 (2nd edition, ibid November 2010).
• 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, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-613-02297-4 ( Motorbuch-Verlag special ).
• Gerold Möller: 11th Motorized Rifle Division Halle. Bad Frankenhausen, Hermsdorf, Sondershausen, Weißenfels, Wolfen, Zeithain. History and tradition. Development and documentation. 2nd revised and expanded edition. Self-published, Halle 2001.
• Gerold Möller: Military-historical sketches over a Prussian-German garrison town. Garrison history of the city of Halle. Self-published, Halle 2005.
• Klaus Naumann (Ed.): NVA. Claim and Reality. According to selected documents. 2nd Edition. Mittler, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0430-8 ( open words ).
• Jörg Siegert : Type compass tanks of the NVA. 1956-1990. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-02954-5 ( type compass. Basic knowledge for tank fans ).
• Walter J. Spielberger, Jörg Siegert, Helmut Hanske: The battle tanks of the NVA. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 3-613-01759-8 ( military vehicles 16).

Web links

• Brief profile of the unit ( Memento from December 3, 2017 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Wilfried Copenhagen: The land forces of the NVA . Motorbuch-Verlag. Stuttgart 2003. ISBN 3-613-02297-4 . P. 177
2. ↑ Wilfried Copenhagen. P. 39
3. ↑ ^{a b} “Traditional Association of Telecommunications / Electronic Reconnaissance Air Force e. V. “ The intervention of WP troops in Czechoslovakia ( Memento of February 5, 2005 in the Internet Archive )" September 24, 2008
4. ↑ " pib-11.de: The 11th Mot-Rifle Division of the NVA (11 MSD) ( Memento of 14 August 2009 at the Internet Archive )." September 25, 2008
5. ↑ Timeline of the military history of the German Democratic Republic 1949-1984 . 1st edition military publishing house of the GDR Berlin 1985. p. 344

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap