Officers' college of the land forces "Ernst Thälmann"

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Officers' college "Ernst Thälmann"
- XX -
logo
activity 1962-1990
Sponsorship Emblem of the Ground Forces of NVA (East Germany) .svg NVA , LaSK command
place Löbau and Zittau
country Germany Democratic Republic 1949GDR GDR
last commander Lieutenant General Ulrich Bethmann
Students approx. 2000 course
participants per year

The Land Forces Officers College (OHS of the LaSK) was named Ernst Thälmann and was a military college in the GDR . It served to train officers and ensigns of the National People's Army and other armed organs .

structure

By 1963, various officer schools for individual branches of the NVA land forces were combined and housed together at the Löbau and Zittau locations . The new accommodation locations were the Jägerkaserne (Löbau) and the former König-Ludwig-Kaserne (Zittau) .

Starting in 1987, the graduates of the OHS were awarded a special graduate badge (NVA) .

Military area

Lecture hall training at LaSK, 2nd year of study

The commanding officer and staff of the officers' college were at the Löbau location.

The officer students were divided into companies / batteries , platoons and groups . The company commander / battery chief was an officer in the rank group of staff officers up to lieutenant colonel and carried the functional designation teaching group leader / company commander or teaching group leader / battery chief (LGL / KC or LGL / BC) .

The platoon leaders, who were also subject teachers, were also officers up to the rank of major . At the beginning of their studies, student officers acted as deputy platoon leaders ( StZF) and group leaders (GF). This was evident from two red stripes (for StZF) and one red stripe (for GF) on both shoulder pieces of the service uniform .

The FDJ company secretary could be recognized by a wide blue stripe and the SED company secretary by a wide red stripe on both shoulder pieces. The FDJ and party secretaries were members of the company command from the 4th semester and usually lived with a platoon leader in a room with three of them. At the beginning of the third year of study, the platoon leaders with officer rank ceased to exist.

In every company there was a sergeant major , who was also known colloquially as a "spit". One or two student officers were assigned to him as assistants to replace him when he was absent. In contrast to the Bundeswehr (called company sergeant there), the main sergeant was not a rank, but a position.

There were training areas close to the barracks at both locations . There, the basic military training and the type-specific field training took place. For this purpose, BSA (battalion for ensuring training) and ASA (department for ensuring training), later RSA (regiment for ensuring training), with personnel, equipment, equipment and armament were available at both locations.

After the basic training and the swearing-in , studies began in the individual sections. However, up to the third year of study, the officer students were regularly assigned to the barracks watch, ammunition watch, fire station and patrol patrol. After the second year of study, internships were planned. The officer pupils were also responsible for cleaning the rooms and areas and, in the first two years of study, cleaning the teaching buildings and the outdoor areas. Since - at least in the news section - many officer pupils were involved in radio and microwave readiness within the framework of the Warsaw Pact on duty system and also had to write a "scientific" homework, the outdoor areas were omitted.

The officer students were barracked, with one company of four platoons each occupying a corridor of a barracks block. The individual rooms were occupied by 4 men each. Group leaders, political functionaries (FDJ and party secretary) and deputy platoon leaders were housed separately. Going out, vacation and dress code were regulated in accordance with service regulations and barracks orders, but required the approval of the responsible disciplinary superiors. With increasing study time, relief was granted. Student officers with previous service periods as Portepee NCOs , for example, had permanent permission to wear civilian clothes outside the barracks.

The officer students in their fourth year of study then had the right to go out every day and were given permanent permission to wear civilian clothing outside of the barracks.

At the Zittau location, the fourth year officer students and the female army members were accommodated outside the barracks.

Higher education

Based on the organizational forms of the universities and technical colleges, the training took place first in subject areas , later in sections with several different chairs . During the course, if the required qualifications and examination evidence were provided, classification badges , rifle cord , etc. a. be worn.

With the award of university status from the 1983 academic year, the duration of studies was continuously extended from three to four years. Before that, for example at the former news department , so-called four-year courses were held from 1963 to 1966.

Löbau hunter barracks
In the area of ​​the Jägerkaserne Löbau studies and training took place in the following sections:
King Ludwig Zittau
In the area of ​​the Zittau barracks , studies and training took place in the following sections:
  • Section 01, Social Sciences
  • Section 04, Missile Forces and Artillery (RTA)
  • Section 06, Pioneers (from 1979)
  • Section 08, News (in the sense of telecommunications; also female course participants)
  • Section 09, Rear Services (also female course participants)
  • Section 11, in-depth knowledge of the basics, language training, special technical subjects
  • Section 12, Military Transportation (merged with Section 09 in 1986)

Commanders

Rank, name period of service comment
Major General , Leopold Gotthilf 1963-1974 then MfNV
Lieutenant General , Hans-Georg Ernst 1973-1976
Major General, Helmut Geisler 1976-1977 mdFb
Lieutenant General, Werner Winter 1977-1983
Lieutenant General, Horst Sylla 1983-1985
Lieutenant General, Ulrich Bethmann 1985-1990

resolution

With the decommissioning of the NVA in 1990, the officers' college was dissolved. The legal successor was the Bundeswehr Command East .

literature

  • Bethmann, Donner, Kiewel, Liebig, Wurll and others: Officers' college for the land forces "Ernst Thälmann". A historical summary from 1963–1990. Verlag Graphische Werkstätten Zittau GmbH, Zittau 2009, ISBN 978-3-929744-34-7 .