"DDR NVA Seating Plan" Topic

Hi all, I thought this might be useful to share. These are a few pages from the 1976 Handbook for Motorized Infantry that was standard issue for East German soldiers, showing the seating plan for a Mot. Schützen platoon. The first page explains the symbols:

Google translate can help you read that, if you don't know German, but essentially it shows in the first column:

Company commander
Company 2iC
Platoon leader
Platoon 2iC
Sgt. Major
Squad leader
Assistant squad leader
Gunnery sergeant
AK-47 soldier
Machinegun soldier
RPG-7 soldier
RPG-7 assistant

And in the second column:
Vehicle gunner
Loader
Anti-air rocket soldier
Driver
Radioman
Field telephone soldier
Medic
Clerk
Scout
Vehicles of the company or battery commander
Vehicles of the platoon leader

The second image has the seating plan for the different platoon types that existed in 1976.

Ignore the top left images: these are from the previous section (dismounted organization of the platoon). Start with the middle of the left page 216 (showing four vehicles). The left page has the seating order for SPW 60 PA (BTR-60 without the turret), SPW 60 PB during maneuver (BTR-60 with the turret) and the same vehicle during attack (PA platoons fought dismounted, while PB fought mounted). The BTR-60PB was the most common APC in 1976 (and indeed right through to the end of the NVA). The four vehicles represent, from left to right, are: squad vehicle, squad vehicle with extra soldier detached from company troop, squad vehicle with either platoon leader or platoon 2iC and finally the company troop vehicle. Note their is only one company troop soldier (KS) in the company troop vehicle… the other KS soldier was regularly allocated to a platoon's squad vehicle, as shown in the diagram. Thus, a 10-man BTR-60 would have room for 2 vehicle crewmen, the 7-man dismounted squad and one seat left over for either platoon leader, platoon 2iC or extra soldier detached from company troop. Before 1972, this would have been a sniper with SWD Dragunov. After 1972, this would be a Strela-2 operator. Since there are only three BTR's in a platoon, there was only ONE free seat for a Strela-2 soldier! Note also, the company troop vehicle shows TWO company 2iC… one is actually the second in command in charge of technical equipment, the other is a political officer of the Socialist Party of East Germany. There is also a master sergeant and a company clerk/driver, not shown here since they rode in the company truck (which pulled a trailer with explosive munitions for the company). The 2iC in charge of technical equipment also had a motorcycle to get around quickly, but this would be carried by the truck when traveling within a combat zone (as indicated, the 2iC would then sit in the company troop APC).

The page on the right side (217) has much the same info for SPW 152 (BTR-152) platoons, BMP-1 platoons and SPW 50 PK (BTR-50PK) platoons. These are all much less common than the BTR-60PB platoons… there is only one BMP-1 battalion in each motorized infantry division and BTR-152's are only used by reserve motor infantry divisions at this time. BTR-50PK were used as the main squad vehicle between 1962 and 1967. The BTR-60 was introduced as its replacement in 1967, but it is still possible main line formations had BTR-50PK companies in the mid to late 1970's (they were complete removed and used only in technical support formations and, I believe, chemical defense units, by the 1980's).

One thing to note is that the BTR-50PK is big enough that a platoon consisted only of two vehicles, each carrying half the platoon. So there were only 6 squad vehicles in the company, with the company troop traveling in a seventh vehicle. The BTR-152 worked like that originally as well, but they had three of those vehicles in each platoon by the 1970's at least (if anyone is interested in exactly when that change from two to three BTR-152 per platoon happened, I'll look it up). It's helpful to keep in mind though that it took a few years for the NVA to mobilize… at the beginning of the NVA in 1956, only 15% of troop transports were BTR-152 (the rest being trucks). By 1961, this was up to 74% BTR-152, with 10% BTR-50P and 50PK when they were introduced a year later.

Anyway, hope that helps!

And just for fun, the seating plan for a squad riding on a T-55:

And to compliment that, a picture of the gorgeous, new 15mm T-55A from PSC (the T-55A was by far the most common tank in the NVA, right up to the end):

Thanks for posting that. Very informative.

So they were based on 4 vehicles and not 3 as I thought. Interesting!

Sorry Keith, I don't want to create any confusion… the Mot. Schützen platoon was indeed three vehicles (except for the BTR-50 platoons, which had only two). Those pictures above are not a vehicle count, rather they are the types of vehicles in the company and platoon.

I've attached another picture showing a full company in formation so everyone can see the total number of vehicles:

MSZ is Motor Infantry Platoon (1, 2 and 3), consisting of three BTR-60PB each. KC is the company commander's BTR-60. The last vehicle on the end of each diagram is the company supply truck.

No
All my bad ! Thanks for verifying it for me!

Great book!

Thank you very much, this is extremely useful!

So, who is going to sculpt East German tank riders for us?

@Nikolas, happy to help. I had trouble finding this kind of info myself so I just did a bit of digging and picked up a small library of books on the matter to help out. If anything else needs clarification or if you are interested in other time periods than the late 70's, please feel free to ask.

Hello Achtung Minen, thank you very much for posting this! A few questions:

1. Can you list off the title and year of each of the handbooks you referenced, in the photo with the model tank on the stack of 3 books I see the top 2 are both Handbooks for the Motorized Infantry, but both covers are different so I assume different years, what are they? And what is the book on the bottom, something Motorized Infantry. Reason is I have been adding original NVA Handbooks to my collection and these look like helpful references so I would like to find them and buy them, but I need to know what they are first.

2. What can you tell me about this company truck? Where would it be in combat, tucked in the back waiting till the fighting ended to come forward? What all was carried in it? Spare ammo?

3. This is kinda a part 2 to the above question. Earlier on in another thread you mentioned you collect NVA gear, I also do, so this is a more detailed question, you might know the answers to. Each soldier had 2 sturmgepacks(backpacks), a Teil 1 and Teil 2:

3a. The Teil 1 contained the mess kit, rations, spare underwear and footwraps, washing and shaving kit, ect. and was kept with the soldier. It would be in the BTR-60 with the soldiers but they left it there and did not fight with it, where at in the BTR-60 was the packs left? Under the seats or where? I know on the BMP there is a fold down shelf and a strap, you set the rucksack on the shelf then strap it up, but i'm not sure about what was done on the BTRs.

3b. The Teil 2 pack contained the uniform not worn(in summer the service uniform, in winter the summer FDA), Emergency clothing pack, and sweater. It not carried by the soldier, I am told it was kept on the so called "unit transport truck", is this the company truck you speak of? If so that means the Teil 2 packs for the whole company(some 90-100 packs) would be on the truck along with what I can assume is spare ammo and other equipment, is that correct?

Oh also is it possible for you to get a close up picture of both page 216 and 217 showing the seating arrangements? Thanks.

Fallout, the books I use are

Handbuch für mot. Schützen (1956)
Handbuch für mot. Schützen I (1976) (I also have vol. II, but it is mostly a technical guide to the SPW)
Die Mot-Schützen der NVA (Wilfried Kopenhagen 1996)
Die Landstreitkräfte der NVA (Wilfried Kopenhagen 2000)

If you are interested in 1970's Bundeswehr, I'd also recommend picking up Panzergrenadiere im Kalten Krieg by André Deinhardt (as well as the Reibert's from that period, of course).

The company truck was the ubiquitous Ural-375D with a weapons trailer attached. The truck itself carried extra small arms ammunition (including boxes of loaded AK magazines and ammo for the LMGs and vehicle weapons), zeltbahns, entrenching tools, the Teil II packs (as you describe) among other things. The trailer carried explosive ammo (fragmentation hand grenades, anti-tank hand grenades, RPG ammo and—in the case of a SPz company—AT-3 missiles). The truck was driven by the company's Schreiber (clerk, essentially) and was to be kept behind the frontlines during a combat situation (there are explicit instructions in how to dig a trench and cover it over with camouflage so the truck cannot be seen from ground or air).

The company commander's SPW/SPz, on the other hand, would lurk behind the battleline formed by the platoons, staying in safe "overwatch" positions so the company commander could observe the battle and issue orders. The crew and passengers were not to dismount under normal circumstances and would remain inside the vehicle throughout the battle. In fact, the vehicle/passengers were not to open fire at all except in emergency situations or by the explicit order of the company commander or the company troop leader. The task of everyone in the company commander vehicle (medic, 2iC for technical equipment, radio operator… everyone) is to be constantly observing the battlefield for new targets. The two company troop infantrymen were tasked, however, with observing the sky (as they were Streka-2 operators after about 1973… prior to that, they were snipers and were instead tasked with engaging targets of opportunity or targets specifically selected by the company commander).

I don't have a source for this, but presumably the function of the commissar was to ensure that the captain was efficiently and effectively carrying out his task of "defending socialism against every adversary." We in the West tend to think of military commissars as fanatical idealogues of an oppressive political regime obsessed with ensuring the loyalty of its own military… this is historically true, but from the worldview of the East Germans, however, it is probably more accurate to think of the commissars as representing a point of "civilian oversight" into military activities. Remember, the civilians make up the society and the society IS the state under Marxist doctrine… there is no political regime because the Marxist social scientists simply collapsed the state into the society and vice versa. Thus every weapon the company uses, every bullet they fire is owned by the civilian populace and must be used only to defend the interests and political power of the workers and farmers of the DDR.

My memory is that Teil I was stored under the seats of the SPW/SPz, but I cannot seem to find that reference right now… there really is no other place to put it in the vehicle, however. Weapons must be kept between the knees and in a sitting position the soldier's helmet easily reaches the ceiling of the vehicle… they weren't very big inside! Teil II, as you mention, was kept in the company truck. I have read that earlier in the 60's there were two trucks in the company, giving a little more room, but there was also additional equipment like two heavy "company" machineguns (the RP-46 on tripod, if I remember correctly… I can look it up if you'd like.

Edit: Here is a direct link to the page 216/217 photo… it should be big enough to be easily legible (you may have to zoom in though): imageshack.com/i/poRX69Llj

tank riders ………you say…..