Aleppo secret operation

Display board from the former traditional room of JG-8 with the names of the squadron members involved in the action, today in the Cottbus airfield museum

With the secret operation Aleppo , the GDR made military equipment and personnel available to the Arab side in the Yom Kippur War .

Political situation

Initial situation and development

In the Six Day War , the Arab states including the Sinai Peninsula , the Gaza Strip , the West Bank , the Golan Heights and the Old City of Jerusalem lost control of large areas to Israel . Until 11. June 1967 the final armistice agreement was signed.

However, in the Khartoum resolution of September 1, 1967, the leaders of eight Arab states committed themselves to continuing the fight against Israel.

Relations between the GDR and the Arab states

At the beginning of the 1970s, political and military relations between the GDR and the Arab states deepened. As early as 1971, the Vice President of the United Arab Republic , Ali Sabri , let a GDR delegation know that military actions were planned against Israel. Immediately before the fighting began, the GDR handed over hand weapons, such as Kalashnikov assault rifles, to Syria in the port of Latakia on September 23 .

Attack on Israel

After the Arab states refused to negotiate and decided to regain the territories lost to Israel by military means, the Yom Kippur War broke out on October 6, 1973 with the attack on Syria and Egypt .

Course of war

After the surprise attack, the Arabs achieved initial successes with gains in terrain on the Sinai and the Golan Heights. After the mobilization, the Israeli army succeeded relatively quickly in throwing the attacking troops back behind their original positions.

Attitude of the GDR during the war

The political leadership of the GDR was informed at an early stage about the plans to attack Syria and Egypt against Israel. After the war initially developed in favor of the Arab states, on the initiative of Erich Honecker , anti-Israel protests were called in the GDR . After the military situation changed in favor of Israel and enormous losses of people and material were evident on the Arab side, the political leadership of the GDR thought about support for the attacking states.

execution

A MiG-21M of the NVA

Defense Minister Heinz Hoffmann was asked by Erich Honecker to examine the provision of combat technology from stocks of the National People's Army . Hoffmann thereupon gave the command of the LSK / LV on October 14, 1973 the order to provide twelve MiG-21M interceptor aircraft including armament, on-board equipment and ground equipment. The machines came from the inventory of the JG-8 stationed in Marxwalde and were dismantled for air transport. 63 selected members of the JG-8, including 14 pilots, accompanied the transport. Those affected wore civilian clothes and were given passports that indicated civil professions. The transfers took place from October 18 to 21 by four to six An-12 transporters of the Soviet air force , which were designated as civil Aeroflot aircraft for reasons of secrecy . The An-12 took off in the direction of Hungary, where there was a stopover in Tököl with an overnight stay in Budapest. It was only here that the squadron members were informed of the actual destination, Aleppo Airport with the option of withdrawing from the mission without consequences for the respective person and being able to travel home with an Interflug plane , which was rejected by all those involved. When they arrived at their destination, the technical staff was allocated a shelter to assemble the fighter planes, while they were accommodated in the “Tourism” hotel in Aleppo. Originally, it was planned to fly in the machines in the event of a surprise attack by Israeli fighter planes with defensive armament consisting of air-to-air missiles. However, this instruction was discarded and the pilots took off unarmed, but without any documents for personal identification, on the test flights. On October 28th and 29th, the twelve operational MiG-21Ms were handed over to Soviet instructors who transferred them to their respective locations. Shortly afterwards, the members of the JG-8 were flown back to their squadron location.

GDR military personnel were not deployed in the Yom Kippur War. The assumption that has been repeatedly expressed that the members of the JG-8 were also intended for war missions does not correspond to the facts.

Arms deliveries from other countries

The delivery of NVA combat aircraft to the Syrian armed forces took place as part of an aid program originally initiated by the Soviet Union, in which other Warsaw Pact states were also involved. Hungary, Poland and the ČSSR each delivered twelve MiG-21s of the older F-13 version. The Polish planes came from the 4th PLM (Pułk Lotnictwa Mysliwskiego, Fighter Regiment) in Goleniów , the Hungarian planes were sold in sets of four from the 47th VE (Vadászrepülő Ezred) in Pápa , the 59th VE in Kecskemét and the 31st HVE (Honi Vadászrepülő Ezred, Home Defense Regiment) in Taszár . The eleven to twelve Czechoslovak MiG-21F-13s were mostly license-built Avia S-106s. The final report of the JG-8 members mentions a good relationship and good cooperation between the German and Polish specialist groups in Aleppo.

literature

• Klaus Storkmann: Secret Operation Aleppo 1973. In: Military History. Journal for historical education of the Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr. 2016, Issue 1, p. 22 f., ISSN  0940-4163 ( online , accessed on February 21, 2017)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus Stork man: secret operation Aleppo 1973. In: Military History. Journal for Historical Education H. 1/2016, ISSN  0940-4163 p. 22
2. ↑ Siegfried Lahmer: JG-8 pilots are flying a relief operation in Syria. (Report of a pilot involved) In: Fliegergeschichten. From takeoff to landing. Facts and experiences - written down by members of the NVA aviation forces. Fliegerstammtisch Strausberg (Ed.), Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-9814822-3-2 , pp. 124/125 and 385/386
3. ↑ Stefan Meining : Secret Operation Aleppo: The GDR's Secret Participation in the October War 1973. (PDF; 52 kB) In: report MÜNCHEN. Bayerischer Rundfunk, October 6, 2008, accessed on October 10, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Holger Müller: MiG-21. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-613-03460-0 , pp. 159, 201 and 217