7th Panzer Division (NVA)
|
7th Panzer Division (7th PD) |
|
|---|---|
| active | August 18, 1956 to October 2, 1990 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} GDR
|
| Armed forces | National Peoples Army |
| Armed forces | Land forces of the NVA |
| Branch of service | Armored force |
| Type | Armored Division |
| structure | structure |
| Strength | Should: 12,750 (war); 9.139 (peace) |
| Insinuation |
Military District III (Peace) 3rd Army (war) |
| headquarters | Dresden ( location ) |
| equipment | equipment |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
The 7th Panzer Division ( 7th PD for short ) was a large unit of the National People's Army of the GDR .
history
background
Already when the barracked people's police were set up, plans were made to set up tank divisions. The decisive demand for this finally came from the Soviet Union , not least because the Bundeswehr began to set up armored divisions in 1955.
Lineup
The 7th Armored Division was created in the Dresden Albert City in September 1956 the mechanized people police readiness Dresden in Military District III . Their structure largely corresponded to that of tank divisions of the Soviet Army , which meant a workforce of 9,139 men in peacetime. In contrast to the armored divisions of the Soviet Army, the armored divisions of the NVA had no combat helicopters and smaller motorized rifle units.
The GDR's land forces were divided into two military districts, V North and III South, each of which had to provide an army in the event of war. From 1972 the Land Forces Command was formed, which replaced the military districts as a training command , including the 7th Panzer Division.
Prague spring
In response to popular pressure, the Czechoslovak Communist Party 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 was worsening, 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 27, 1968, the 7th Panzer Division was relocated to the Nochten military training area and the staff to the vicinity of Boxberg . Together with the 11th Motorized Rifle Division , it was to advance into Czechoslovakia from the northwest as part of Operation Danube . The division remained in this position until August 20, then moved out in columns into the staging area and remained there as the commander-in-chief's reserve. She did not leave the Nochten Training Area. At the end of October 1968 all units of the participating NVA divisions returned to their barracks .
resolution
On October 2, 1990, the NVA was dissolved and the individual units of the 7th Division placed under the command of the Bundeswehr Command East .
assignment
Protection of the territorial integrity of the GDR.
organization
Map with all coordinates: 
- Artillery Regiment 7 " Albert Hößler ", from 1963 in Frankenberg ( Lage )
- Reconnaissance Battalion 7 " Ludvík Svoboda ", from 1963 in Dresden ( location )
- Battalion Chemical Defense 7 " Johann Eggert ", from 1961 in Pirna ( Lage )
- Anti-aircraft missile regiment 7 " Paul Rockstroh ", from 1982 in Zeithain ( Lage )
- Flak department 7, in Döbeln until 1974
- Flak Regiment 7, in Döbeln until 1981
- Command battery chief missile / artillery 7 in Dresden
- Command battery of Chief Air Defense Force 7 in Dresden
- Bullet Launcher Department 7 " Ernst Schneller ", from 1973 in Frankenberg ( Lage )
- Repair battalion 7 "Gustav Schneider", from 1971 in Spremberg ( Lage )
- Artillery workshop 7, until 1971 Dresden
- Motor vehicle workshop 7, until 1971 Dresden
- Tank workshop 7, until 1971 Spremberg
- Motor vehicle school 7, until 1958 Frankenberg
- Training battalion 7, until 1958 Spremberg, until 1961 Löbau
- Battalion material security 7 " Kurt Schlosser ", from 1981 in Dresden ( location )
- Division camp 7, until 1981 in Dresden
- Field bakery company 7, until 1981 in Dresden
- 7th Transport Battalion, in Dresden until 1981
- Motorized Rifle Regiment 7 " Max Roscher ", from 1972 in Marienberg ( Lage )
- News Battalion 7 " Egon Dreger " in Dresden ( location )
- 14th Panzer Regiment " Karol Świerczewski " in Spremberg ( Lage )
- 15th Panzer Regiment " Paul Hornick ", from 1958 in Cottbus ( Lage )
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- Panzer Regiment 16 " Leo Jogiches " in Großenhain ( Lage )
- Pioneer Battalion 7 " Arthur Thiermann ", from 1956 in Pirna ( Lage )
- Missile Department 7 " Alfred Kurella ", from 1963 in Zeithain ( Lage )
- Medical Battalion 7 in Dresden ( location )
- Headquarters Company 7 in Dresden ( location )
equipment
The division was equipped with T-34s and brand-new T-54s when it was set up and was only fully equipped in 1964. In the course of the 1960s, T-55s and in the 1980s T-72s , especially T-72M and T-72M1, arrived.
When they were set up, the division's motorized rifle associations were equipped with SPW-40 and SPW-152 . In the mid-1960s, the SPW-60 and, from 1978, the SPW-70 and BMP-1 were delivered.
The actual stock in 1990 included:
- 4 launch ramps 9K52 Luna-M ,
- 63 T-72 (2 tank battalions),
- 262 T-55,
- 150 BMP,
- 41 SPW,
- 126 artillery pieces and projectiles,
- 15 BLG-60 bridge laying tanks .
Commanders
| Rank at that time | Surname | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Colonel | Werner Pilz | August 18, 1956 - August 31, 1956 |
| Colonel | Heinrich Brandes | September 1, 1956 - August 15, 1958 |
| Colonel | Franz Rös | September 1, 1958 - October 31, 1960 |
| Colonel | Joachim Goldbach | November 1, 1960 - July 31, 1964 |
| Major general | Werner Winter | August 1, 1964 - November 8, 1971 |
| Major general | Hans victory | November 9, 1971 - October 31, 1976 |
| Major general | Walter Müller | November 1, 1976 - October 31, 1979 |
| Major general | Günter Möckel | November 1, 1979 - June 30, 1985 |
| Colonel | Klaus Listemann | July 1, 1985 - September 30, 1987 |
| Colonel | Volker Bednara | October 1, 1987 - 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, 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 16).
Individual evidence
- ^ Copenhagen, Wilfried The land forces of the NVA . Motorbuch-Verlag. Stuttgart 2003. ISBN 3-613-02297-4 , p. 40
- ↑ Copenhagen, Wilfried, p. 41
- ^ A b Hans Frommer: The intervention of the WP troops in Czechoslovakia. The finest hour of the FmElo AufklLw? In: www.traditionsverein.de. Traditional association for telecommunication / electronic reconnaissance Luftwaffe e. V., February 2000, archived from the original on August 14, 2009 ; Retrieved July 5, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Copenhagen, Wilfried p. 179
- ↑ Copenhagen, Wilfried p. 33
- ↑ Note: In 1988 the missile department-7 was converted to the missile complex of tactical determination 9K79 "Totschka" . In 1990 the 7th PD had 4 launch ramps 9P129.