East German Afrika Korps
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2022
- During the 1960s and '70s thousands of of East German People's Army troops were sent to Africa to help train national armies and black liberation guerrilla groups, earning the nickname 'Africa Korps'. Find out what East Germany was up to, and why...
Dr. Mark Felton FRHistS, FRSA is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Fe...
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Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress
I remember one old spook telling me "If you see a basket ball pitch in satellite images of an 'advisors' camp it means Cubans, if you see a football pitch it's East Germans."
I was in the SADF and fought in Angola in the 80's...All the equipment we captured was east German supplied. .I even have a east German helmet as a souvenir...
the Stasi was not an extension of the Gestapo. Many of the founders of the Stasi were veterans of the Spanish civil war who fought the nazis.
To call the Stasi an extension of the Gestapo is quite wrong, although it sounds sensational. The Stasi was much more an extension of the KGB.
When i was in the Bundeswehr, we faced a lot of East German troops, Soviet bloc troops. The Sargent told us not to worry about thd Polish troopers, they would start shooting RUSSIANS the minute they got live ammo in their guns.. but in 1984 our life expectancy was only minutes if they DID NOT USE NUKES.. Panzergrenadier...
I am from Berlin and personally know an former east german "Fallschirmjäger" (Airborne) who was an advisor in Angola and was involved in some heavy fighting. He still has ptsd to this day, but since east Germany never went to war officially, he never gets any help from the government.
I saw a video of what turned out to be East Germany's 40th and last military parade on 7th October 1989 and noticed the number of African leaders on the reviewing stand along with the Inner circle of those who worked with the General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, SED, Eric Honecker. I did wonder why when I first saw it, this video has provided some explanation of this, thanks Dr Felton 👍
I've read that during the "Prague Spring" of 1968 the Russians considered sending East German troops into Czechoslovakia to assist in crushing Alexander Dubchek's freedom movement but decided against it. They were concerned over what the Czech "Look who's back!" reaction to German troops was likely to be so forgot about that option pretty quickly.
The Cold War in Africa was one big mess that most of us in the West know little about.
Many years ago I read something to the effect that the Russian advisors in Africa, especially when they were drunk, would cause great offense to the Africans with tactless and often blatantly racist comments. So the Eastern Bloc policy became one of sending East Germans instead who were specially trained so as not to offend African sensibilities.
I spoke to several ex east German soldiers and echoed exactly what you said and considered one of the best eastern bloc armies. They all found this highly amusing and said most of their army life was drinking heavily and hiding from duties just to pass the time before demobbing.
I used to serve from 1987 to 90 at the officer school of the GDR air defense forces in the town of Kamenz near Dresden. I remember that there were always students from Mocambique, Angola, North Korea and other nations outside the Warsaw Pact within our compound. Contact with them was actively discouraged but occasionally happened nevertheless. I remember taking one N. Korean student out with our group for some Saturday night enjoyment. It completely unsettled the guy's world view. He was appealing to us to stop this 'capitalist decadence'. But I think he secretly enjoyed. Probably went straight into a 're-education' camp upon his return to his country...
Armchair Historian and Mark Felton doing Africa on back to back days. What a win for all history enthusiasts!
My neighbor down the street was a Brigadier General in the Old South African Army and was part of many military operations in Angola and told me that there were many East Germans and other Eastern European soldiers who they were fighting against in Angola during the Bush War.
One of my friends is a veteran of 32 Battalion in the SADF. He was a lieutenant back then. According to him, they did sometimes encounter East German and Soviet soldiers in ambushes they laid for the Angolans, behind enemy lines. (This unit was responsible for 50% of the casualties South Africa inflicted during the war). He now owns a restored UAZ 4x4. Says he shot up so many of them, he started wanting to get one.
There's a great book by Markus Wolf, who was the head of East German Intelligence services for 34 years, titled The Man Without a Face. Besides the spy versus spy action during the Cold War, he also writes extensively about the DDR's role in African and Middle Eastern countries. He doesn't shy away from harsh truths and provides a unique perspective on life behind the Iron Curtain.
They also had a large presence in Zanzibar, the Stazi having trained the local secret police and the East German government having a consulate/embassy on the island. I believe some of the earlier patrol boats of the revolutionary Zanzibar government were from East Germany. Even today there are strong ties between Tanzania and Germany in regards to military training and support.
In the 1978 war movie 'The Wild Geese', as Richard Burton's mercenaries seize the Zembala airport they encounter an East German army officer. As General Ndofa's 'Simbas' hunt them down, they are guided by East German instructors.
The first and only time the GDR participated in an international peace keeping mission under UN supervision was in Namibia 1989/90. A unit of 30 East German police observers was sent to support the Civil Police Component of UNTAG. West Germany also sent a contingent, and for a few months they served side-by-side with the East Germans at the police station in Ombalantu.
An acquaintance of mine was a former South African Air Force pilot who was involved in the South African covert operations in Angola and he said most of the Mig 21s were flown by Cuban "volunteers " who were utterly incompetent. However, the South Africans had to always be on guard as when flying missions deep in Angola they came up against very competent and aggressive Mig 21 pilots who if you weren't very careful would blow you out of the sky. It turned out that these Mig 21 pilots were East Germans.