The East German Army - The New Wehrmacht?
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- Опубліковано 2 гру 2018
- The Nationale Volksarmee or East German Army looked very similar to the old Wehrmacht. In this film I explore why this happened and what kind of identity East Germany tried to create for its People's Army and how much it actually took from older German armies. The end result was a fascinating miss-mash of German military traditions and uniforms and a surprisingly efficient army.
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One cannot reduce the uniform style only to Nazi. Because the style of uniform and marching of east-German forces is older than nazi. It is Prussian.
As ugly as Bundeswehr uniforms might have been, they served a free and prosperous society. The DDR's NVA served a repressive communist regime that had very limited independence from the Soviet Union and ultimately acted as a puppet state.
There is a deeper layer to this: the GDR wanted to present itself not primarily as independent, but as the ‘true’ german state - as opposed to the ‘fascist’ and Americanised Bundesrepublik. To break with the nazi past, the state actively supported a socialist variant of patriotism. Wich meant, among other things, that they adopted an altered, but still visably German look for their armed forces.
International socialist Comunist germany was inspire by national SOCIALIST Germny? No shock for me.
@@xyzxxxc5365 Hurr durr the name has socialist in it, they are all the same. Please protect my freedom by increasing control!
@@xyzxxxc5365 The GDR was not inspired by Nazi Germany. The military symbolism was German that pre-dated the Nazis.
@@xyzxxxc5365 lmao we got a neocon here. Muh ebil nazis
The East German goverment wanted to use Soviet styled Uniforms at first but the Soviet goverment said that "you're germans, dress accordingly!".
ursa41 i agree
I’m a huge fan of Germany’s culture and traditions and admire their military ways...
JK and thank god for that
@@ursa41 It was not a loss, it was a self sacrifice forced not only by inevitability of war, but by corruption of globalism that was set deep into USSR right after Stalin was assassinated.
USSR did not lose the cold war, USSR won the Great Patriotic War, but lost WWII.
America won WWII, a win which created baby boomer generation, while USSR/Russia never recovered from loss of generations that were wiped out by non stop war.
BigSmartArmed
Pretty much...
I do not think the NVA was a "new" Heer. I think they were a continuation of the German Heer and of Prussian doctrine. I was stationed in (West) Germany twice, during the mid-1970's and the early 1980's. I was constantly struck by how much respect the West Germans had for the NVA, even expressing pride that certain of their relatives had been in the NVA. The pride was especially strong when the relative had ben an officer. Apparently, the GDR found something that struck a chord with all Germans.
correct ! As a westgerman we all were aware, that the "Bundeswehr" with its motto "Staatsbürger in Uniform" = "citizen in unifrom" could be compared to Athen versus Sparta in ancient Greek. Bundeswehr beside some really eagerly engaged paratroopers were some lame ducks compared to extremely well trained and drilled east german army (Nationale Volksarmee =NVA) with excellent leaders like the late Generaloberst Horst Stechbarth and others. As an officer from Israel Defense Forces, which as a native german was trained first in the Bundeswehr and later became citizen of Israel politely stated, he rated his training in his time in Bundeswehr as 3+ ( from 6=worsest to 1= almost perfect) compared to IDF.
I think the East German helmets could have inspired George Lucas in designing the rebel helmets in the Star Wars saga
a freind of mine was an officer in the army in western europe in the 70's. He said if you encountered a soviet patrol of their side of the border, they were cool and you could even have a snow ball fight, but the east germans were terminally uptight.
The M35 was hardly "nazi inspired." It was a barely updated WW1 helmet, quite prior to nazism, obviously.
Christopher McKeon And also the uniform that updated from Weimar era. Uniform of NVA is very German but very German doesn’t mean Nazi inspired
EXACTLY... and the current US helmet was inspired by the German helmet of WWII.
The helmets always reminded me of the Goombas from Super Mario Bros.
No, the emperial guard from star wars
An officer in the Bundeswehr, who had served in the Wehrmacht, observed them in training as part of an Observer's group, said "they train like we did in the old Army". When asked what that meant, he said that they went over and over every step of a drill or task until it was ingrained into the troops so that in combat, reactions became automatic. Every man was expected to be able to do the task of the man above him, if a superior rank holder was lost and not replaced. The use of the old Wehrmacht uniforms was because they were already able to mass produce it after the war, because the people who made it in the factories were still around and there were still stocks of it available, so the Nazi symbols were taken off them and the uniform was modified to suit the DDR. The helmet is said to have been shown to Hitler as a replacement for the older M-series in 1944, as it required less manufacturing procedures to make, but it has been said that he rejected it and they were not issued. When the NVA was formed, they did not want the Russian helmet and were planning on using the old M-series initially but this was rejected as being too closely associated with Nazism, so the new helmet was produced instead. The NVA were regarded as the most efficient of all the Warsaw Pact armies because they had the best of all the kit issued to them from Russia, especially aircraft and tank technology, which was almost but not quite as good as the stuff used by the best Russian units. They also trained very hard and put in the most hours, because they were expected to be the spearhead of any invasion of the West.
East Germany was the richest and most efficient economy in the eastern block. The kit of the army just reflects that simple fact.
eh, so apparently Hugo Boss was still the boss.
Panzergruppe22 Hugo Boss maybe made some Ausgehrock for Nazi high rank officers but he is not the designer of German army uniform.The first uniform is M19 then M20->M27-> M28 and finally M33. Uniform design is a systematic progress. It is not created by one or two designer.
.
From what I remember from my NVA army service, I would say that this is a very true video. There was a high attention for accurateness, discipline, training and shooting precision. I am happy that the cold war is over and I pray that there will be no hot war.
Besides being an outstanding army, the Germans always had an impressive uniform.. and equipment.
The West German Bundeswehr is basically a discount US army
Discount US Army,hah they wish!
The Bundeswehr coulnd't even invade their own back yard.
The modern Bundeswehr is a joke.Most of their helicopters don't work,same with their Submarines and they have less armoured vehicles and tanks,in service,then Greece,which is de facto bankrupt while Germany is the richest EU state.
Hell,their infantry soldiers are so badly trained,they were claiming,that their HK G36 rifles were ''faulty'' and are ''melting away'',which led to a big ''scandal'' and the Defense Deparment suing Hechtler & Koch .Turned out,the idiots were firing these rifles in full-auto,like if they were LMG's,plus they used cheapo ammo. Hechtler & Koch actually sued them back,for ''tarnishing their products''.
doubleP I can asure you No BW Soldier had any Complaints about the G36, it was just a Bulls.. political Stunt
@@doublep1980 we got an american here
wants to know your location
@@doublep1980 This is true for many Western European country's now. For instance the Belgian army doesn't have a single tracked vehicle anymore and for artillery they only have about 25 towed 105mm howitzers and a few mortars. They are gonna replace their F16's with F35's but only can afford 35 examples. The Dutch army has only 18 main battle tanks, Leopard 2's they lease from Germany. Due to budget restrictions there often is no blank rifle ammo so during training soldiers havo to shout "bang"..
The only country which has managed to maintain its Prussian Military Tradition, is the Chilean Army at every level, including the discipline.
Viva Chile, truly the greatest South American State
Sweden aswell
The Chilean army couldn't fight its way out of a wet paper bag.
@@rapier1954 The Chilean army is undefeated in combat. It has a powerful navy for it's region, an even more powerful Air Force and a modern and well equipped army. The Chilean Army can definetely defend itself agaisnt ita neighboura whom pose the greateat threat to Chile.
AirShark95 they never
Fough anyone of merit- please - they look like children in the prusso - germanic uniforms - get real- average mestizo is 5'6" max- a joke and no threat- do u know WHY they wear these uniforms? OR DID YOU NOT know of Ernst rohm and other military advisors that went to south america in the '20's to train for money to rebuild germanys new wermacht?
The East German army was basically the Wehrmacht with better weapons, was trained harder than any western military. It’s a good thing we never had to fight them and I say that as a ( then) west German.
Really interesting, as an historian and a U.S. Marine veteran I appreciated this presentation. I recall a French colleague (Army general) saying at dinner in the mid-1980s - regretfully, oddly enough! - that (I paraphrase) the Russians got the Prussians and we got the Germans the Prussians beat.
My father and Grandfather were both in the NVA and I was in the Bundeswehr and after my Service i am defenitly sure taht the NVA was much better
The discussions about the west and East German armies could fill a library of books. It was a uniqueness unlike any other during the cold war.
The M56 helmet was based on a 1945 design that was never produced.
The M42 helmet was an M40 with the edges turned out instead of rolled to increase production.
The helmet was from an design Werhmact invented,but did not take in use.
Mark, your documentaries are excellent. I tend to find them as I'm playing UA-cam videos...but once playing I can't turn them off. You are a first class researcher and narrator. Thank you for posting.
God bless the Germans, no matter east or west.
A good people !
I always though the NVA DDR helmet looked like SSh-40 soviet helmets, took me years to find they where actually Wehrmarcht helmets.
Its quite a nice bit of history.
When US intelligence first saw them, they even thought it was a derivative of the Soviet helmet.
Mark your videos are always so educational I look forward to seeing everyone you always discuss topicsand historical facts that nobody else talks about great job thank you so much
Mark you have an uncanny knack of producing videos on subjects I have always wondered about.
The camouflage uniform shown at 2:25 is referred to as 'Blumentarn' or "flowers pattern". Worth mentioning perhaps that the more common East German camouflage pattern - 'strichtarn' or raindrop - took that element from the 1935 Wehrmacht Splintertarn pattern which was used on shelter quarters (zeltbahnen). A variation of that pattern was used by the Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger for their smocks. As for weaponry, I think some East German force, perhaps Military police, were armed with the StG 44 briefly.
Thanks very much
A lot of soldiers in the NVA or Bundeswehr started their "career" in the Wehrmacht
We had a former East German Antonov-26 come into the Irish Air Corps base at Baldonnel, County Dublin and the head of the crew was a former EGAF Major and the other six were BundesLuftwaffe. Naturally, we were very keen to have a look around this aircraft and the major gave a bunch of us mechs a tour. The other Germans drifted away and avoided contact with the major, apart form the basic necessities. I noticed a bomb sight which was set beside a domed window on the left side of the aircraft. I asked him about it; he said that aircraft could carry a 500 kilo bomb under each wing and he said "we used them in Mozambique". They would fly over rebel-held territory at height and drop them on suspected enemy villages or camps. Later, he said that East Germans routinely went to Africa to assist in maintenance and training for local forces on Russian aircraft, tanks, guns and so on. When we asked him about his future, he said that they were offered a tour in the new united Luftwaffe to assist with reclaimed aircraft like the An-26 and the Migs, that the BundesLuftwaffe wanted to examine and keep, so he knew he had a job, whereas thousands of the NVA people were given a few months wages and let go.
Angola was aided by Cuba. Cuba is a third-world-country. From what should it possess the means to maintain a war in Africa?
Looking forward to another excellent cast!
Truly the last German army. A shame when Germany unified they didn't adopt the East German aesthetic.
@Poilu. The aesthetics only. The NVA was too dependent on the SED. More than a DDR army it was an Army of the party. Well trained and well equipped? yes. But that's it.
What did BRD adopt from DDR at all?
@@MrSpamaccount the complete intelligence aparatus
@@MrSpamaccount nothing the GDR was completely Destroyed ... if you visit the former GDR today you will see what i mean ... there is nearly no Company who is older than the German Reunification
Poilu the WW2 tradition is important in most countries for ceremonies, fking merkel
Man, this is FASCINATING!!!
THANK YOU!
Absolutely fascinating Mark and I think they look superb!
Brilliant mini documentary and also brilliantly narrated Mr Felton: 🌟🌟🌟⭐⭐
Very well done mark. I must point out that, feldgrau became the standard for the German army around 1910 and was in use until 1945. Although very similar the DDR used Steingrau and the BRD used ( uses ) hellgrau for some it's service uniforms. It's also up for debate whether or not DDR soldiers ever saw combat. They were deployed ( in limited numbers) to Africa, specifically Mozambique , rc ( Brazzaville ) and Angola. There's a well know cover by Spiegel calling the Nva Honecker's Afrika Corps.
Thanks for the update - I wasn't quite sure if it was field grey or some slightly different shade. The general impression though was decidedly Wehrmacht.
At 3:20, Imperial Death Star Troopers. LOL...
Great video. Thanks for putting all of these together and doing such detailed researched, it’s uncommon to find this thoroughly presented information.
It's sad what west german army had became. It's like British Army's clone in all of their colonies. West Germany army a clone of US army. But those old german spiked helmet of WW1 were so cool. I love them. And SS uniform in WW2 were the most badass uniform ever. Even after 80 years
If I'm not mistaken the soviets used Polish (maybe chzech as well) formations as well as Russian ones to put down the Hungarian uprising. I wonder if they used any german ones or would that have been just really bad PR. I remember feeling very briefly some sympathy for East German officers after unification. Their army was disbanded and no provision was made to integrate officers and nco's into the bundeswehr, that's gotta suck if ur say thirty something and just completed ur 13th year of service.
My understanding is that anyone below major could enter the Bundeswehr (I think they did lose their pensions, though). This is why in 2015 the Bundeswehr had a tatoo in front of the Bundestag to celibrate the 60th anniversary of its founding, and the 25th anniversary of the "unified army". It's on YT.
The NVA was not involved in the hungarian uprising.
Most high ranking officers were COMMUNIST polititians -thats why they were disbanded .
They almost participate in crushing the Prague spring but the East German leadership afraid that it would resemble the Nazi German invasion of Czechoslovakia, So they pull out the last second.
This topic sounds like a good subject for a video.
Definitely looked better than their West German counterparts.
You are quickly becoming one of my favorite history channels, keep it up!
love the content dude keep up the good work.
I am Russian and I have diffirent theory. I think that EGA kept the goose step and sabres becouse they were in use in Red army aswell. Red Army copied them from Germany.
I wish they still used this uniform it looks damn fine
Very informative piece.
Great use of footage!
Thanks once more 👍
A pleasure
Your videos are a breath of fresh air
Just got home thanks for the vid
My pleasure
The Danish helmet was even funnier.
Baby Führer nah fuck off we'll keep our 'funny' helmet bitch
I always find your videos informative and very interesting.
I'm glad this is being explained because I've always wondered this for the last 20 years
The drill of the NVA was actually not Prussian but taken over by the Red Army. Only the lenght of the step and the speed were altered so that they could use prussian marches.
The Bundeswehr does actually use the prussian drill for light infantry.
@comsubpac: Thank you, you are 100% right.
Yes, but who taught the Russians drill? Hmmm?
The NVA used prussian drill for it's common soldiers . Training was maintained by Soviet- and late german tactics .
It also needs to be said that West Germany doesn't include much territory that is "traditonally" part of Prussia. Rhineland and Westphalia both didn't like Prussia much, Hanover had a political movement to become Independent again in the 19th century. Not to mention southern Germany.
What are you talking about? Everything the soldiers in the video does looks like classic Prussian drill to me. The goosestep, the swords, the marching band.
Another great video! I always found the DDR to be very interesting as I considered it to be a "freak of history". It's use of the Prussian uniform seemed very unusual. Once the National Volksarmee became so much surplus, I bought 5 pairs of NVA jackboots for the crazy price of 18 dollars apiece. I added Swiss Triconi cleats to them and had hiking boots for life. The average East German citizen might of had shoes with cardboard soles but the army had nice boots, the officer's being even nicer.
They still managed to eat well in 1962 and to sell the most delicious "black forest" cakes. I know I was there.
Nice that you are covering these Topics!
Greetings from Germany!
Thanks. Greeting from Norwich!
my friends and I love your videos Mark! entertaining, well made, and informative!
Cheers~
Glad to hear it!
I have allways found the NVA very interesting, knew alot of this. But learned alot of new stuff, thanks again Mark
Glad you enjoyed it
"Liberated? I'd rather say under new management."
great video answered a lot of my questions
Excellent Work!
Just stumbled across this channel....watched, liked, subscribed! 👍🏻👌🏻
That's great - welcome aboard.
Thanks for explanation of the M-56 helmet! I don't know much about military gear and the Volksarmee helmet always looked silly to me. (Doesn't appear to provide any neck protection.) But, your video explains some of its good points.
Love What you do Mark.
Another fantastic video Mark. 🇬🇧😎
Let people celebrate their culture
And allow them to make vague statements to test the waters.
There were besides russians,east german advisers during the bush war in angola plus,a few may have died there
One can hope.
What a piece Mark. Excellent channel!
Thank you
Always interesting Mark. I look forward to your videos.
Thanks
The country that gave us Rammstein can't have been all that bad ;-)
What is it people say...first..another great video mark
I started a new trend replying to messages like this, with First Wanker Yes you are. Since you are unsure I will let you off the hook. It's funny to see people's reactions.
Thanks
I love this channel. Great stuff, Mark
Thanks for your kind words
Great work, Mark. Would love for a run down of military vehicles, post war, for both sides. Would be great to also include things like prototypes and how the big manufacturing companies (Krupp, Thyssen, Henschel, Rheinmetall, etc.) worked, given the split.
You gotta admire the precision of the drill there, the goosestepping in such coordination, not taking away from our own drill which is quite awe inspiring in its own right but them Germans would goosestep for miles at a time as it made moving of foot troops very rapid and caught a fair few out just how quick they could go.
If you compare late 1920s-mid 1930s Reichswehr uniforms to the NVA uniform, you'll see a lot of similarities between the two. The bellowed lower pockets were an adaptation that was already made before the wehrmacht replaced the reichswehr. The M56 in it's original version is for all intents and purposes, a direct evolutionary step from the M33/M34 prototype tunics that would go on to create the M36.
Also Steingrau =/= Feldgrau ;)
Awesome, many thanks
Please make more NVA videos
This is some seriously good content
Why are the wearing salad bowls on their heads?
East German troops did use those iconic Prussian helmets but only specific units such as chemical warfare, flame-thrower troops etc
mate you kill it ....
i work making toy solders and your works is second to none and just perfect keep it up
Fantastic mark
Love the information
Great video 😊
Many thanks
I spent two years pulling duty on the east west German border in the early 80's at Fulda. Dismal place that border. It seemed so perminant, to this day it's hard for me to comprehend that fence being gone.
The uniform design of the German army came from WW1 Reichswehr, and even before it from the Prussian army. So, the design was pretty much unchanged for over 200 years.
This channel reminds me of the older documentaries from the 70s. I remember my father owning a dvd collection of 70+ hours called "World At War," and your voice reminds me of the narrator.
We shall watch your career with great interest.
"The World at War" was a British documentary series produced in 1973 and 1974, and narrated by the famous English actor Laurence Olivier. I remember watching episodes as a kid on one of local New York television stations in the mid/late 1970's.
Very informative!
I allways feel bad about anglo people knowing so many wrong things about German affairs because its impossible to know when you dont speak the language (same with every other country) and so many US and UK press correspondents cant get a way in the German society because the people also dont say them the same things they would say to another native.
Especially about that East Germany thing there are still many tensions who cant be read up on Wikipedia, the newspaper or the nearest tourist information.
Deswegen habe ich deutsch gelernt (na ja!) und ein Haus in Meck-Pom gekauft Geschichte besser zu verstehen-es hat sich gelohnt.
The GDR sent troops to Angola in the cold war to fight the Mighty South African Defence force.
@Youri van Steeg the SADF couldn't hold a candle to the Rhodesian security forces.
@@Dischingo SADF did preform very well against the Cubans and MPLA in Anglo, but lets be honest that's not exactly the hardest thing to do.
Another video up already?! Awesome!
I like to keep busy!
Amazing video folk
I don't really like communism, but at least the NVA of East Germany had successfully preserved the traditions of Prussian/German armed forces; while the Bundeswehr of West Germany, or united Germany (since 1990) did not.
Yet more excellence!
Thanks
Cool thanks for sharing
I'm willing to bet this channel will have 100k subs within six months. great content keep it up old boy!
I'm hoping that you are right!
People also forget the Poland preserve the original uniform style that was used right before the Nazi invasion of 1938 same thing with the Czechs
Please make a video about the Bundeswehr! I always wanted to know what their origins were and what they were like during their inception.
Most useful info. Thanks.
Thanks
This is fantastic!
I do not care how ballistically efficient that model m56 helmet is, its not a patch on looks and iconic style as the m35 etc. East Germany was 100% more German than the US of west Germany.
And not one word on how Ulbricht and Honecker coined the term "Socialist Prussia" to describe the GDR? For shame, it was THE key phrase to use in this video.
Plus, neither the M35 Stahlhelm or the NVA tunic are Nazi-inspired. They're German, and are inspired by German designs that date back to the WW1 Imperial German Army for the helmet, and back to pre-German unification Prussian tradition for the uniform.
And then, the NVA did adopt more than ideology from the Soviet army: they had lots of Soviet military marches with the lyrics translated to German, used the SKS as a ceremony rifle while the Bundeswehr kept using the Kar98K, and used Soviet-inspired names for their units (for example, Motorisierte Schützen, which is a direct translation of the Soviet term for "Motor Rifles", instead of the traditional German name "Panzergrenadier" that was kept by the Bundeswehr)
Keep up the great videos
I certainly will
well done Mark
The Nationale Volks Armee ( NVA) of the German Democratic Republic,id est, East Germany, was a German- speaking , Soviet- style Army whose Soldiers, NCOs and Commissioned Officers never saw Action and Active Combat Operations downrange.
They look like the Romanian helmets from WW2.
Which were purchased from the Dutch.
Great video
Thanks
Very interesting. Well researched. I learned details I didn't know about so far. Could you maybe do a video about the East German camouflage suit called "Ein Strich kein Strich" ?
Many thanks - I'm very interested in East Germany