Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment


The Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment was the paramilitary wing of the Ministry for State Security, the security service of the German Democratic Republic.
The Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment was called a regiment, however the elite formation gradually grew to the size of a motorized infantry division with its constituent Kommandos made up of battalions. Its role in the Stasi was the protection of buildings and high-ranking officials of the GDR government and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. It was composed of experienced and ideologically reliable men separate from the National People's Army that could be deployed to suppress rebellion and unrest.

History

The Guards Battalion A at the MfS was founded in early 1951 as an armed force to complement the Ministry for State Security, the security service of the German Democratic Republic, the de facto communist state established on 7 October 1949 from the Soviet Zone of Occupation. The GDR was ruled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany under significant Soviet influence, but despite authoritarian measures to suppress the political opposition, threats of instability remained. The SED followed the Soviet model of creating a dedicated elite and politically allegiant armed force to protect itself. The Guards Battalion A participated in the suppression of the Uprising of 1953 against the SED's Stalinization policies. In November 1954, the Guards Battalion A was set up as the official paramilitary wing of the Stasi and its staff headquartered in Adlershof, East Berlin. In August 1961, units of the Guards Battalion A participated in the construction of the Berlin Wall. In 1967, the Guards Battalion A was officially renamed the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment in honor of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Cheka.
The Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment's major task was the protection of the SED, especially its buildings in the capital of East Berlin, and from 1960 providing security for the party leaders' private residential compound, Waldsiedlung, located north of Berlin near Wandlitz.
The Stasi was dissolved on 13 January 1990 and its facilities and responsibilities taken over by the GDR's Ministry of the Interior but the regiment continued to exist. The Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment was formally dissolved on 2 October 1990, the day before the GDR was dissolved in the German reunification.

Organization

The Regiment was subdivided into the following commands from 1980 to 1989:
The sites were inherited by the Ahrensfelde guard regiment in mid-January 1989. Until then they had formed accommodation facilities for UAV units of the Ministry for State Security. These units were the uniformed as well as the guard and security units of the units of the Stasi, not a subdivision of the guards regiment. Part of these units were merged in January 1989 into the guard regiment, which is why the site was taken over by the Ahrensfelde guard regiment. Until 1989, the guard regiment had no locations in the districts. The service objects there were guarded by the WSE, which were placed under the respective BV.

Personnel Strength

The personnel strength of the regiment:
Commanders of the guards regiment were:
Military service in the Guard regiment was completed as WED. The term of service for conscripts was three years. In contrast to the National People's Army, recruits were inducted in April and September / October, a month earlier.
Recruits were selected from particularly politically reliable families and the express wishes of the conscripts only played a role in some cases.
Many conscripts in Adlershof traditionally decorated the fence of the building next door to them with the padlocks from their lockers when they were dismissed. These locks were removed every year.

Equipment

It received the same training and equipment as the Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft and some of its personnel were paratroopers. It was also equipped with modern armored fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft weapons and mortars.
The guard regiment was equipped with small arms to light armored personnel carriers.
Stationed in the command 3, there was also a battalion of special weapons. It consisted of a company, which was armed with heavy anti-tank recoilless gun SPG-9, a company which is an essential weapon, the heavy machine gun and had the 70mm - anti-aircraft missile armed "Strela-2 'Company. Until 1982 there was also an artillery detachment armed with 122mm D-30 howitzer. Previously they had 85-mm PaK D-44, and 82mm mortars and 120 mm in the stock.
Regulators company RSK was additionally can be equipped with the AKS74 around the shoulder stock to collapse. At least in the 1970s, the former intelligence battalion, the mortar batteries and the I-battalion with Kalashnikovs in the S version were equipped. Specialized units such as the honor companies were fitted in addition to the above-mentioned weapons, rifles and sabers.
The paratrooper company, located in the reconnaissance battalion also used the small Skorpion machine pistol from Czechoslovakia.
For large events, there were as accessories batons, down from 1989 shields and helmets and chains.

Transportation

Personnel transport were mainly prepared by W50 and the Ural trucks. In line with this design the vehicles of the army, however, bore the registration plates of the People's Police, with the letters stacked VP. When events were Ikarus buses used.

Uniforms

Its uniforms were nearly identical to those of the National People's Army and were distinguished primarily by the dark red MfS service color of its insignia and by a cuff title on the left sleeve bearing the regiment's name. Other Stasi officers wore a similar uniform, but without the cuffband. Members were selected from among the most reliable volunteer recruits and had to perform a three-year minimum service tour.
The service or dress uniform of the regiment was an army uniform made of high quality with claret fabric collar and brown leather belt. The left sleeve was fitted with a cuffband and the words "wachregiment F. Dzerzhinsky".
Soldiers of the MOS units typically had the following personal uniforms:
In command 4 - Eberswalde-Finow in Bernau contributed UAZ, professional officers and professional officers uniforms of the regular army with weapons Color black and to camouflage the Wachregimentseinsatzes.
The UAZ wore the army uniform from the rough cloth.

Other guard units

The regiment was one of three guards regiments in the GDR. The other two were units of the regular army: