ORANIENBURG KVPD, I MECZ COMMAND OF THE BERLIN VPB.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A002700170008-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 2002
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: October 6, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2002/07/22 : CIA-RDP80-00810A00270017001
CLASSIFICATION 25X1A
East Germany.
SECURITY IJF0RT': T
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COUNTRY- _~.
f
T NO.
Oranienburg KVPD, I Peft Command of. the Berlin VPBP 25X1
TOPIC
EVALUATION
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DATE OF CONTE
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DATE OB~'AINED
, October 1953
PARED
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1. On 20 August 1953, the former Sacheenhausen concentration camp near
Oranienburg was occupied by a KVPD of 1,500 men, whose designation was
the I Mecz Command and which included infantry, artillery and tarok units.
S^urce observed one engineer battalion of soldiers wearing light-'blue
service colors; one tank battalion of soldiers wearing dark-blue service
colors;ane signal battalion of soldiers wearing yellow-bordered black
epaulets; and three infantry battalions of soldiers wearing ruby service
coiors,Administrati--e Members of the unit wore dark-green service color.
2. Prior to 2 August, Lieutenant Colonel Strelitz (fnu), was commander of
the I Mecz Command. He later was reassigned to the Ministry of the
Interior and was succeeded by Major Schroeder (fnu).3 Chief of staff
was Captain F?erger (fnu), Officers assigned to the II Inf Fn included
Captain Gloge (fnu), commander; Senior Lieutenant Schumacher (fnu), deputy
commander; and Senior Lieutenant Vetter (fnu), political officer,
3. At the time of information, the II Inf Bn was organized into three rifle
companies of 55 men each; one heavy machine gun platoon of 25 men and 5
machine guns; one AT gun platoon of 18 men and three 76.2-mm guns; one
medium mortar platoon of 18 men and 5 mortars; and .one signal platoon of
one officer and 12 enlisted men. Each rifle squad numbered seven men and
was equipped with one machine gun, three submachine guns and three rifles,
4. Practices held by the troops besides border guard service included moving
up to assembly area and assembly, attack and defense at company level. 1
5. It was rumored that the mechanized cor'rands were scheduled to receive,new
uniforms, The NCOs in charge of clothing said that the new uniforms would
also be equipped with certain army insigniao 2
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6, On 1 September 1953, source noted that the new designation of the
Oranienburg KVPD was Berlin Volkspolizeibereitschaft (VP Alert Force),
I Mee. Corr"and Oranienburg o nd was
commanded by Major Schroeder nu , At the time of information, the II
Mecz Command was stationed at Potsdam and the III Mecz Command was
stationed at Klietz-- 3
1 ~ 0 Comment. The term of border guard service probably refers to
commitment on the sector border in Berlin or in the ring around Berlin.
2. Comment, Deserters also indicated that new uniforms would be
n roduceda
30 ~] Cor:ment. The apparent renaming of the Oranienburg alert force
into I Mecz Command is indicative of a reassignment of the unit o The
alert force was subordinate directly to the Ministry of the Interior:, The
Potsdam alert force also seems to have been renamed into mechanized command.
This unit had also been subordinate directly to the Ministry of tha Interior.
It may be noted that the Hohenstueckgn alert force, which is or was also
subordinate directly to the Ministry of the Interior, is not mentioned in
connection with the Berlin VP alert force, which seems to have been recently
organized. Since it would have been possible to integrate the Hohenstuecken
alert force as III Mecz.Commandd into the Berlin VP alert force, it appears
strap n at instal::`, the Klietz alert force, which was subordinate to the
Ilat Schwerin, and tioned as III Necz
Command, The Oranienburg unit Source probably erred--
Major Schroeder was the previous corgi-antler of the Sternbuchholz alert force,
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Approved For Release 2002/07/22 : CIA-RDP80-00810A002700170008-6