4th motorized rifle division

4th Motorized Rifle Division (4th MSD)
active	June 15, 1956 to October 2, 1990
Country	German Democratic Republic
Armed forces	National Peoples Army
Armed forces	Land forces of the NVA
Branch of service	Motorized rifle troops
Type	Mechanized Infantry Division
structure	structure
Strength	Should war: 14,506 Should peace: 10,239 last: 10,277
Insinuation	Military District III (Peace) 3rd Army (war)
headquarters	Erfurt ( location )
equipment	equipment
Commanders
list of	Commanders

The 4th Motorized Rifle Division (NVA) , or 4th MSD for short , was a large association of the National People's Army of the GDR .

history

Lineup

The division was created in June 1956 from the Erfurt infantry readiness of the Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP) in Military District III, initially as the 4th Mechanized Division, but was renamed the 4th Motorized Rifle Division on November 30, 1956.

The land forces of the GDR were divided into two military districts, V North and III South, which each had to provide an army in the event of war. From 1972 it became the Land Forces Command , which replaced the military districts as a training command , including the 4th MSD.

resolution

NVA soldiers in Bad Salzungen received Bundeswehr uniforms in September 1990

On October 3, 1990, the NVA was integrated into the Bundeswehr and the individual units of the 4th motorized rifle division placed under the command of the Bundeswehr Command East .

organization

Their structure largely corresponded to that of the motorized rifle divisions of the Soviet Army . In contrast to these, the NVA divisions had no combat helicopters and fewer battle tanks .

equipment

The division was mainly equipped with T-34 tanks when it was set up and was converted to T-54 tanks by around 1962 . Around 1987 the conversion to T-55 tanks was completed.

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 1978 BTR-70 (SPW-70) and BMP-1 were delivered.

The actual stock in 1990 included:

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

T-55 tanks of the NVA

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

Commanders

Rank at that time	Surname	Period
Colonel	Martin Günther	June 15, 1956 - January 15, 1958
Major general	Hans-Georg Ernst	January 15, 1958 - August 15, 1961
Colonel	Helmut Poppe	August 15, 1961 - August 22, 1962
Colonel	Karl-Heinz Hollstein	October 1, 1962 - September 30, 1966
Major general	Joachim Goldbach	October 1, 1966 - August 31, 1969
Colonel	Heinz Koch	September 1, 1969 - July 31, 1972
Major general	Artur Seefeldt	August 1, 1972 - September 30, 1979
Major general	Egon Gleau	October 1, 1979 - October 31, 1983
Major general	Werner Schulze	November 1, 1983 - August 31, 1985
Major general	Michael Schlothauer	September 1, 1985 - August 31, 1987
Major general	Bernd Leistner	September 1, 1987 - October 2, 1990

structure

unit	Honorary name	deployment
Motorized Rifle Regiment 22nd	Thomas Müntzer	Mühlhausen ( location )
Motorized Rifle Regiment 23	Anton Saefkow	Bad Salzungen ( location )
Motorized Rifle Regiment 24	John Schehr	Erfurt ( location )
4th Panzer Regiment	August Bebel	Gotha ( location )
Artillery Regiment 4	Willi Bredel	Erfurt ( location )
Anti-aircraft missile regiment 4	Hermann Danz	Erfurt ( location )
Missile Division 4	Hugo Graef	Erfurt ( location )
Missile Launcher Department 4	Otto Franke	Erfurt ( location )
Reconnaissance Battalion 4	Wilhelm Girnius	Bad Salzungen ( location )
Engineer Battalion 4	Walter Kaiser-Gorrish	Bad Salzungen ( location )
Panzerjägerabteilung 4	Franz Jacob	Bad Salzungen ( location )
News Battalion 4	Wilhelm Liebknecht	Erfurt ( location )
Battalion Material Seizure 4	Serious plaster	Erfurt ( location )
Repair Battalion 4	Wilhelm Leuschner	Gotha ( location )
Chemical Defense 4th Battalion	Lothar Bolz	Erfurt ( location )
Medical Battalion 4		Erfurt ( location )
Replacement regiment 4
Lead Battery Chief Missile Forces and Artillery 4		Erfurt

References

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, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-613-02297-4 ( Motorbuch-Verlag special ).
• 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 Volume 16).

Web links

• Kersten, Olaf “ NVA Forum: NVA Structure ”. April 30, 2009.
• Samberg, Detlef " Samberg.de: 4th Mot.-Schützen-Division, 4th MSD Erfurt ". April 30, 2009

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Copenhagen, Wilfried The Land Forces of the NVA . Motorbuch-Verlag. Stuttgart 2003. ISBN 3-613-02297-4 . P. 177
2. ↑ Copenhagen, Wilfried p. 41
3. ↑ Copenhagen, Wilfried. P. 39
4. ↑ Copenhagen, Wilfried pp. 31–35

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