History, Politics And Current Affairs

Here's an Order of Battle for the Western TVD as of 21 April 2005. It's based on a pair of OBs found online, another for a wargame, and some work done by the guys on the Twilight:2000 RPG board. Any mistakes are my own.

ORDER OF BATTLE: WESTERN TVD
21 APRIL 2005


Under direct TVD Control:

23rd Tank Division

Czech 14th Tank Division

7th Guards Air Assault Division

103rd Guards Air Assault Division

Czech 1st Airborne Brigade

47th Tank Brigade

43rd Independent Motor Rifle Regiment

35th Air Assault Brigade

3rd Spetsnatz Brigade

1st Unified Tank Corps

BALTIC FRONT: (HQ Wismar, GDR)

1st Tank Division

149th Artillery Division

14th Air Assault Brigade

336th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade


9th Guards Army:

1st Guards Motor-Rifle Division

3rd Guards Motor-Rifle Division

1st Motor-Rifle Division

40th Tank Division


11th Guards Army:

501st Independent Motor-Rifle Battalion

16th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

40th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

144th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

24th Guards Tank Division

139th Independent Air Assault Battalion


14th Army:

26th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

88th Motor-Rifle Division


1st WESTERN FRONT: (HQ Stendal, GDR)

51st Guards Artillery Division

38th Air Assault Brigade


2nd Guards Tank Army

240th Independent Motor-Rifle Battalion

138th Independent Tank Regiment

352nd Independent Motor-Rifle Regiment

1185th Independent Air Assault Battalion

21st Guards Motor-Rifle Division

94th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

East German 4th Motor-Rifle Division

East German 15th Motor-Rifle Division

9th Guards Tank Division


3rd Shock Army

232nd Independent Motor-Rifle Battalion

97th Independent Tank Regiment

115th Independent Tank Regiment

145th Independent Tank Regiment

10th Guards Tank Division

12th Guards Tank Division

47th Guards Tank Division

East German 7th Tank Division

899th Independent Air Assault Battalion


20th Guards Army

247th Independent Motor-Rifle Battalion

899th Independent Air Assault Battalion

58th Independent Tank Regiment

6th Guards Motor Rifle Division

14th Guards Motor Rifle Division

19th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

30th Motor-Rifle Division

East German 9th Tank Division


2nd WESTERN FRONT: (HQ Leipzig, GDR)

34th Artillery Division

38th Air Assault Brigade

8th Guards Army

227th Independent Motor-Rifle Regiment

119th Independent Tank Regiment

900th Independent Air Assault Battalion

20th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

39th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

57th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

East German 8th Motor-Rifle Division

79th Tank Division


28th Army (Army HQ deployed from Beylorussian MD)

361st Independent Motor-Rifle Battalion

27th Motor-Rifle Division

120th Guards Motor-Rifle Division (Rogachev Guards) (deployed from Beylorussian MD)

207th Motor-Rifle Division

East German 11th Motor-Rifle Division

25th Tank Division


1st Guards Tank Army

221st Independent Tank Regiment

734th Independent Tank Regiment

6th Guards Tank Division

7th Guards Tank Division

9th Tank Division

11th Guards Tank Division

1044th Independent Air Assault Battalion


CENTRAL FRONT: (HQ Milovice, CZ)

Czech 7th Artillery Division

Czech 22nd Air Assault Brigade

10th Army

361st Independent Motor-Rifle Battalion

1319th Independent Air Assault Battalion

30th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

55th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

Czech 15th Motor-Rifle Division

Czech 3rd Motor-Rifle Division

Czech 4th Tank Division


41st Army:

159th Independent Motor-Rifle Battalion

901st Independent Air Assault Battalion

15th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

18th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

48th Motor-Rifle Division

Czech 2nd Motor-Rifle Division

Czech 1st Tank Division


8th Guards Tank Army:

31st Tank Division

51st Tank Division

Czech 9th Tank Division

Czech 13th Tank Division

1156th Independent Air Assault Battalion


BEYLORUSSIAN TANK ARMY GROUP

31st Air Assault Brigade

5th Guards Tank Army:

8th Tank Division

29th Tank Division

3rd Guards Tank Division

27th Guards Tank Division

1318th Independent Air Assault Battalion


7th Guards Tank Army

8th Guards Tank Division

22nd Tank Division

34th Tank Division

47th Tank Division

1151st Independent Air Assault Battalion


Western TVD Reserve:

4th Guards Tank Army (formed from HQ Northern Group of Forces in Poland)

91st Independent Motor-Rifle Battalion

20th Tank Division

38th Tank Division

76th Tank Division

50th Guards Motor-Rifle Division

65th Independent Air Assault Battalion


Berlin Unified Corps:

6th Guards Motor-Rifle Brigade

East German 1st Motor-Rifle Division

East German Border Command Center

East German 40th Air Assault Regiment

24th Motor-Rifle Division (Arrived D+4)

61st Motor-Rifle Division (Arrived D+4)

70th Guards Motor-Rifle Division (Arrived D+7)

It doesn't include the Army- and Front-level assets such as Spetsnatz, air defense, engineers, artillery, etc, but naturally, those units are present.

Equipped with the as yet unseen T-95.




Have been deployed to Zealand.



Now the 3rd Combined Arms Army.



Effectively destroyed during Operation TELIC. Reduced to cadre strength and being rebuilt using reservists and equipment stored in the DDR.



Reduced to 50-60% strength by TELIC; holding static line while replacements are being absorbed.



Destroyed during attempt to capture river crossing during Soviet offensive prior to TELIC.



One battalion suffered 90% losses during attempt to capture RAF Gatow.



One regiment badly mauled by Allied counter-attack.



Saw very little action before West Berlin Garrison surrendered; was used to escort Allied PoWs.

I demand that list of destroyed Soviet Units be made longer!


Other than that, how long would it take to get these two Divisions back to somewhat approaching full strength, and wouldn't that effectively turn them into Cat C Divisions?

I wonder how the Czechslovakians and East Germans felt about fighting in the Warsaw Pact?

I sure that can be arranged, though it would probably be at the cost of several NATO units.
Depends on how long it takes to deploy reservists from the USSR; the replacement equipment comes from stockpiles in the DDR.
The Category system describes how ready a division was, not what it was equipped with, so its possible to have a Cat A division (90-100% strength, IIRC) equipped with T-55s and BMP-1s.



I can't imagine that the Czechs would like it at all; something I've hinted at in NATO intelligence reports of Czech army performance; though the NVA was supposed to be very good, better even than the Soviet Army. IMVHO they would fight well and would perform better than many Soviet divisions deployed from the USSR.

One thing I would add is that we should call NVA divisions by their German names - e.g. 7. Panzerdivision, or 11. Motorisierte-Schützen-Division.

I see.

But just what sort of Equipment do they have stockpiled in the DDR? T-64s and early-model -72 I presume?




I would add "EG" or "East German", if only to avoid confusion if you do that in the narrative.

So the problem with the DDR would be at the top? I know they were fighting with ridiculous constraints in the Battle of Berlin, but I wasn't terribly impressed with their performance.

Those were very much second-line troops, those in W. Germany are of much higher quality.

Maybe I should pay more attention (though in my defense I read those chapters sort of a while back). That makes political sense, since the Politburo would not be amused with the DDR saving their best troops on a symbolic target.

IIRC the 1st MRD and the 40th Air Assault were Cat A and considered good units, along with the Border Command troops. It was the "People's Police" and those "Combat Groups of the Working Class" that were clearly not up for it. You don't send cops and militia after professional soldiers and not expect to pay a price-especially if you're attacking and the pros are defending. Incidentally, all the pre-1989 OBs in various books had 40th Air Assault as a battalion in peacetime. During the Polish Crisis, recalled reservists made the battalion a regiment. It also didn't help that the militia were more interested in looting than fighting.

The Combat Groups of the Working Class were so poor that a company of them was routed by a small number of West Berlin police. After the Soviets took control a large number of the CGWG and the People's Police were executed for looting and other various crimes.

West Berlin was a bit of a culture shock for many East German reservists and the temptation to loot the multitude of consumer goods they encountered was just too much.

Win the battle first, loot at leisure.

I think Kipling said it best:

One unit type that may be added to the OB is the "Independent Disciplinary Battalion", or the old WW II Penal Battalion. Given how poorly 24th MRD performed in West Berlin, and as there's likely Soviet soldiers accused of violating various Soviet Military Laws, this would be a good way for them to "Atone for their crimes against the Motherland with their blood." (taken nearly verbatim from Antony Beevor's book on Stalingrad) They'd be light infantry, granted, but then again, that may not concern Army or Divisional commanders on the Central Front.

Matt, according to Orbat.com the Order of Battle of Byelorussian Group of Tank Armies was:

5th Guards Tank Army.
6th Guards Tank Division (Cat B)
8th Guards Tank Division (Cat A)
22nd Tank Division (Cat B)
29th Tank Division (Cat B)
56th Guards Motorised Rifle Division (Cat B)
5th GTA assets.

7th Guards Tank Army.
3rd Guards Tank Division (Cat B)
34th Guards Tank Division (Cat B)
37th Guards Tank Division (Cat B)
47th Tank Division (Cat B)
58th Guards Motorised Rifle Division (Cat B)
7th GTA assets.

28th Combined Arms Army.
8th Tank Division (Cat B)
45th Guards Tank Division (Cat B)
50th Guards Motorised Rifle Division (Cat B)
120th Guards Motorised Rifle Division (Cat A)
28th CAA assets.

1st Unified Corps (Cat A).
3 Tank Brigades.
Motorised Rifle Regiment.
Artillery Brigade
Air Defence Regiment.
Attack Helicopter Regiment.
Recon Battalion.
Engineer Battalion.

3rd Guards Artillery Division (Cat A)
5th Artillery Division (Cat B).
31st Air Assault Brigade.

However as noted above the 28th CAA is forward deployed as is the 1st Unified Corps.