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East Germany The Group of Soviet Forces in Germany
The westernmost and most formidable concentration of Soviet
armed might outside the borders of the Soviet Union is the GSFG.
In 1987 this force of about 380,000 men, organized into 20 ground
force divisions and one air army and stationed entirely in East
Germany, was over twice the size of the NVA.
The importance that the Soviets attach to their position in
East Germany is underscored by the disparity in size between the
GSFG and the other Soviet groups of forces in Eastern Europe. The
Northern Group of Forces in Poland, for instance, comprised three
divisions, the Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia numbered
six divisions, and the Southern Group of Forces in Hungary had
four divisions. The other groups totaled slightly more than half
the size of the GSFG. The GSFG dominated not only East Germany
but also the rest of Eastern Europe, not to mention the image
that it projected into Western Europe. In 1987 the GSFG, under
the command of General Valerii Aleksandrovich Belikov, had its
headquarters in the former Wehrmacht command center in
Zossen-Wünsdorf, south of Berlin.
In 1987 the ground forces of the GSFG were organized into
five armies, which had been strengthened continually during the
1980s. These forces were fully motorized, equipped with tactical
nuclear weapons, and provided with high operational mobility. The
ground forces included about 5,000 to 6,000 main battle tanks,
the majority of them T-72s. The First Guards Tank Army,
headquartered at Dresden, included four tank divisions and one
motorized rifle division; the Second Guards Army, at Fürstenberg,
had one tank and two motorized rifle divisions; the Eighth Guards
Army, at Weimar-Nohra, had one tank and three motorized rifle
divisions; the Twentieth Guards Army, at Eberswalde, had three
motorized rifle divisions; and the Third Shock Army, at
Magdeburg, had four tank divisions and one motorized rifle
division. In addition to the necessary artillery units at army
and division levels, artillery support was provided by an
independent division of rocket troops and artillery--the
Thirty-fourth Artillery Division--stationed at Potsdam-Elstal and
directly subordinate to the GSFG. A
Spetsnaz (see Glossary)
company was assigned to each army, and an independent Spetsnaz
brigade was stationed in Neuruppin. Air support was provided by
the Twenty-fourth Air Army, with headquarters at Wünsdorf. It is
considered the best-equipped part of the Soviet air forces. In
1987 about 80 percent of the 1,000 to 2,000 aircraft were
potential carriers of nuclear weapons.
The GSFG conducts its own maneuvers and training
independently of the NVA. There is a program, however, called
Brotherhood-in-Arms, which promotes contacts and cooperation
between the East German and Soviet troops. Both the NVA and the
GSFG participate in the various joint Warsaw Pact maneuvers and
exercises.
Data as of July 1987
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