On June 10, 1945, the Group of Soviet Occupation Troops in Germany began to exercise its functions. In the future, it changed its name twice, but until the beginning of its disbandment process, it remained one of the key links in the system of ensuring the security of the USSR and maintaining the global balance of forces.

To maintain security and order

After the defeat of the Nazi regime in Germany, a significant number of Soviet military units were concentrated. On May 29, 1945, a directive of the Supreme High Command Headquarters was adopted, ordering the creation of a powerful military alliance in Germany to maintain security and order, which was called the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (GSOVG).

According to Andrei Koshkin, a full member of the Academy of Military Sciences, the new group of forces faced several serious tasks at once.

“Not only did the Nazis remain in Germany, who did not come to terms with the new reality, our allies already in May 1945 prepared plans for an attack on the USSR, including using Hitler divisions, which were planned to be armed again for these purposes. We are talking about plans for an operation codenamed “Unthinkable,” the expert said in an interview with RT.

According to the Bet Directive, the Group was created on the basis of the 1st Belorussian Front. In addition, it included parts of the 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts. The Group’s first commander in chief was Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov. The Group’s field office was located in Potsdam, and in 1946 it was relocated to Wünsdorf.

The Group’s troops were tasked with protecting the borders of the Soviet zone of German occupation and participating in activities aimed at eliminating the consequences of the existence of the Nazi regime.

Soviet troops were quickly deployed to their places of permanent deployment and began the preparations necessary to maintain combat effectiveness in peacetime.

“The process was set up in such a way as to minimize any inconvenience to the local population. In many cases, the empty Wehrmacht infrastructure was used to deploy Soviet troops, ”said Koshkin.

  • Soviet soldiers in Berlin in 1945
  • © Yevgeny Khaldei / Global Look Press

“Securing the Western Frontiers”

According to Koshkin, after the Fulton speech in which the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill destructively criticized the Soviet Union, the confrontation between the West and the socialist countries took on an open character - the Cold War began.

In 1949, the German Democratic Republic arose on the basis of the Soviet zone of occupation, and in 1954 Moscow officially recognized its sovereignty. The occupation tasks of the Soviet troops in Germany have exhausted themselves. In the same 1954, the GSOVG was renamed the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.

According to agreements between the USSR and the German Democratic Republic, protection of the state border of the German Democratic Republic was transferred to its border troops, however, Soviet troops controlled the passage of representatives of Western countries to West Berlin.

“The GSVG was the world's largest operational strategic association of the armed forces abroad. Its main purpose was to ensure the protection of the western borders of the USSR from any encroachment from outside. It was a reliable shield of the motherland, equipped with the most advanced and modern military equipment and weapons, including nuclear ones, ”said Stanislav Davydov, a researcher at the Victory Museum, in an interview with RT.

According to the expert, the combat potential of the GSVG was comparable with all the European armies that were part of NATO. The Group included several combined arms and tank armies, an air army, special forces and auxiliary units.

As noted by Andrey Koshkin, the size of the Group fluctuated in different periods. After the war, it was over 2 million people, then - about 1.5 million, in the 1980s - fell to about 500 thousand.

“The GSVG was characterized by the highest combat readiness. These were exemplary troops, which primarily received the latest technology, the latest weapons systems. The exercises in the Group went on continuously, the combat training was organized at the highest level. Serving in its ranks was an honor for Soviet officers. A number of high-ranking Soviet and Russian military leaders left the GSVG, ”the expert emphasized.

  • Soldiers help rebuild economy, 1958
  • © Bundesarchiv

According to him, the GSVG had a sobering effect on the leadership of NATO and helped maintain global balance.

“The group was a sharp dagger aimed at the European states that make up the alliance. NATO understood that in the event of aggression against the Soviet Union, parts of the Northern Fleet within a few days would reach the English Channel, ”said Koshkin.

He emphasized that during its existence the GSVG has turned into a “state in a state”. The group had its own enterprises, a powerful subsidiary farm, educational institutions for children of military personnel, a distribution network, the media, and cultural institutions.

  • Soviet troops in the GDR in 1981
  • © Wikimedia

"The largest geopolitical defeat"

According to Andrei Koshkin, in the late 1980s, under the guise of international detente, the surrender of the geopolitical positions of the USSR began. Soviet leaders, under oral guarantees of representatives of Western states, agreed to transfer allied USSR states to the control of pro-Western forces, which subsequently led to their entry into NATO.

In 1989, the Western Group of Forces was created on the basis of the GSVG. On September 12, 1990, the GDR, the FRG, Great Britain, the USA, the USSR, and France signed the "Final Settlement Treaty for Germany", which provided, among other things, for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Germany before the end of 1994. Details of the withdrawal were specified in the agreement concluded a month later between the USSR and the FRG.

In 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, the Western Group of Forces came under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. At the end of that year, after a joint statement by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on postponing the deadline for withdrawing troops from Germany from December 31 to August 31, 1994, the withdrawal schedule became even denser. At the same time, the financing of the GSVG fell sharply at first, and then completely stopped.

In September 1994, the Western Group of Forces was officially abolished. On September 9, the flag of Russia was lowered at the headquarters of the Western Group of Forces in Wünsdorf.

In less than four years, six armies were withdrawn from Germany to the territory of the former USSR, 546.2 thousand military personnel and civilian specialists returned. 21.1 thousand buildings in 777 military camps were transferred to the German side.

“The abandoned property cost billions of dollars, but the FRG compensated only a few hundred million, since no one in Moscow particularly defended the country's position. Some of the former Soviet property is abandoned, but much is actively used by the Germans today. In turn, the normal base for the deployment of GHA troops in the post-Soviet countries was not prepared, ”said Andrei Koshkin.

  • Loading Soviet military equipment on the ferry "Composer Mussorgsky" in the port of Rostock. Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Germany
  • RIA News

According to political analyst Semyon Baghdasarov, the unilateral withdrawal of Soviet troops from Germany was "the highest form of betrayal."

“Our best tank, artillery, and air units were destroyed. It was a rout, one of our biggest geopolitical defeats. As a result, we have NATO troops near our borders, ”the expert emphasized.

A similar point of view is shared by Andrei Koshkin.

“The point is not only in the highest combat efficiency and armament of the GSVG. Guards units were disbanded, bearing honorary names from the time of the Great Patriotic War. Our army was then deprived of its spirit. It was a hard lesson, and we should always remember about it, ”he emphasized.