ORGANIZATION LOCATION AND EQUIPMENT OF BORDER GUARD TROOPS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A006900210002-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 19
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2008
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 16, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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J /
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Lspionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorised person Is prohibited by law.
3 "4L-E-T
NOF 0"
COUNTRY Csechoalovakia
SUBJECT Organisation, Location, and
Bquipment of Border Guard Troops
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE ACQUIRED
REPORT
DATE DISTR. l6 Amt 1955 25X1
NO. OF PAGES 1O
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
ARMY 2* #X
CCNBCTIOB
A report
._ CEN)RAL tNTELLtGENCE AGENCY
captioned as above was distributed on 17 June 1955.
3-Z-CA-3-T
N J
Ala %
AIR FBI AEC I I
(Note: Washington distribution indicated by "X'; Field distribution by
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 CLASSIFICATION 3-E--C-R-E -T
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE A2ENCY REPORT
"r CD NO.
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COUNTRY CzechaelfflVefte
SUBJECT Organization, Location, and Equipment of
Border Guard Troops
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE OF
INFO.
DOCRMtNT;CO ITANN INf'ORNATiOH AfnCTIN* Txt RATIONAL xRltxs[
THIS
Of THE ONITU OTATUO. ISITRIN Tot NRANIRO Of TITLE Is. S!GTIORS 7811
ANS 701. Of TNt U. S. COOS. AS A1010950. ITS TiMRIMIfSION ON RRYSL-
ATION OF ITS CONYINTS To on I ICI$PT St AN ONAUTNORIARD f1RS014
If H10NIINf;O NT LATI Till IWNOY"Q804 Of THIS F0* IS -IroNI ITRO.
CLASSIFICATION
NSRB
The Czechoslo 311 der Guard (Pohranic .StraZ) (PS) is controlled by
the Chief Admi ion of the Border and Interior Guard
located in Prag e-Smichov. This Chief Administration in turn is su or ina-e
to the Ministry of the Interior. It was formerly under the Ministry of
Security until that body was absorbed by the Interior Ministry in September
1953. The Border Guard is under the command of Brigadier General Hlavacka
whose position as Commander-in-Chjef of the Border and Interior Guard was once
more positively confirmed in May 1954. PS officers are trained in special
PS schools, at least one of which is known, the PS officers) school in Olomouc.
In addition, there is supposed to be a Military-Political Officers) school in
Prague.
As of the beginning of;February 1955, 11 brigades of the Czechoslo rder
are given in Annex A to this report. At present, there seem to be 2 brigades
along the Saxon frontier, 5 along the Bavarian, and 3 along the Austrian. In
addition, there is an eleventh brigade Hqs in Komarno; this brigade appears to
have been set up as the PS Danube flotilla. Each of the PS brigades on the
Czech-Bavarian borders appears to have four permanent battalions; those along
the Saxon border have three while of the three alongside the Austrian frontier,two
have four battalions, the third only two. The number of permanent battalions
in the Komarno PS Brigade is unknown. Of the 20 battalions along the Bavarian
frontier, the majority have 5 companies each; a few have 4 and fewer still,
as high as 7 or 8. The location of these companies, 108 in number, as of the
end of April 1954, is also given in Annex A. It is apparent and quite under-
standable that the first consideration of the Czechs, when setting up their
border guard units, was to secure, first of all, those borders closest to
their Western antagonists. Thus,'the Bavarian-Czech frontier has been the
one most hermetically sealed. Here each PS company has a frontier sector of
2.5 - 3 kms in critical areas, 4 kms iii less vital sectors; assuming 5
companies to a battalion, and four battalions to a brigade, this amounts
to a 15 km sector per battalion, a 60 km sector per brigade. Since there are
5 brigades along this border, which is approximately 300 kms long, it can be
seen there is not much leeway for gaps. The Polish, Hungarian (from Levice
east to the Russian border), and USSR frontiers up to the present are either
e n- r- if covered_ the particular PS unite have not ae Yet
n+ covere ca-ca
n
y
DATE DISTR. 17 June 1955
NO. OF PAGES 10
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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from the practice. of the Poles who have a full aoiieMent of border
guards along their side of the Polish-C~eoh bc7radr. Whether, in this
case, these borders will eventually be guarded by PS brigades to be
set up in the future (is not yet known bht is re riled as quite likely
and it appears that the Czechs have up to now si ly not found the time,
manpower, or equipment to ring their entire frontier area with PS brigades.
There is strong probability that the Polish, USSR , and Hungarian borders
from Levice eastwards are at present covered by SNB or customs guards.
At present, the over-all strength of the Czechoslovakian Border Guard
is about 25,000 men. Each Brigade has a strength of approximately
2,200 -2.400 men of which 500 - 700 are assigned to the Brigade IIq
units and the Training Bn; battalions have about 400 - 450; companies
have 40 e 70. A brigade, in addition to brigade headquarters and four
permanent battalions, has directly subordinated to its headquarters
the following units: a reserve and/or training battalion, a guard unit,
signal unit, motor transport unit, and construction unit. In some brigades,
there seem to be both a reserve and a training battalion; this, however,
appears to. be the exception rather than the rule and in the great majority
of brigades the training battalion, is also the relerve battalion. It may
`
I ?x
ev*n be thai %h(9' is she case %WuOut; however, thir p
precise detail, coupled with possibly erroneous information
still leaves open the, chance that there are two separate
battalions. Since 1951, recruits who have been called up have been
enrolled directly into PS brigades and have been trained in the training
battalion of the brigade to which they now belong. These training
battalions are not permanent TO and E organizations; they are set up
each year in each brigade for 3 - 4 months for the purpose of giving
basic training to the recruits who have just been assigned to the brif,_,4de.
Cadres for this are probably furnished by the permanent battalions. At
the end of this period, the recruits are distributed among the permanent
battalions and brigade units, after which the training battalion breaks up.
The following year this process is repeated. The term*of service in the
Border Guard is 27 months, the recruits being called up in the summer
and released in the fall, 21years later.
PS companies live in barracks in the countryside outside of towns and
villages. On the Bavarian-Czech border, brigades, battalions, and companies
are ranged in linear progression along the frontier from NW to SE, a
continuous line of companies along the 300 km-distance, then a line of
battalions hqs, then the five brigade hqs. Within the brigades, battalions
on guard number I to IV from NW to SE; companies, 1 - 20 from TIW to SE.
Battalions having a.higher number than 5 companies may be making reserve
companies out of the surplus units - there is no firm basis for this
supposition, however.
On 1 November 1951, the former 6-8 kilometer deep frontier zone was
divided into a 200 - 500 meter side "Forbidden Zone" and a 5 - 6 km ,?ride
"Border Zone" immediately behind it. All Sifl3 (ordinary police) stations wore
relocated behind the "Border Zone" and the "Forbidden Zone" could only
be entered if accompanied in person by a member of the particular PS
company on duty in that sector. Since 1948 both the Bavarian-Czech and
the GDR-Czech borders have been built up into a formidable system of
obstacles, observation posts, and human traps. The Bavarian-Czech part
of the system seems to be complete while the GDR-Czech sector is. still
under construction. Logically enough, the latter is nearest completion
on its western end; the further the boundary moves away from Free Europe,
the less priority it has and the later it will be fully built up. This
seou.rity system aonsi ets of fixes. meows of wire f enesa, from 2 ~a 2.5
n e t s him with bb tt -
A et
ch wing de ri s,
at inter s there are higk abse!','a on towers with searchlights an
there is also an almost continuous strip of ploughed land, raked smooth
to show footprints. There have also been reports of earth field fortifi-
cations, AT obstacles, and even of mine fields but this has by no means
been irerifiec ,- The system is ma oil by standing guards placed,at intervals,
and by guards in the observation. r&., Q4 of whom are backed up by
mounted patrols wasual1j acg i 1, b ' ' t dogs. The five PS brigades
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along the Bavarian border, with s tee 00 to 12,000 me
are manned almost exclusively , who have
proved to be unreliable, .ave 1%W out. By 1052 only
.NWM
10 of these five brigades wed.
161 ifta s `n= bar .as very
probably been even further reduced at the present date. Jt 1952 report
states. that PS Brigade `qs and Bn ITgs have the following officers:
Commanding Officer, Adjutant. Chief of Staff, Political Officer, DOZ
Officer, Educational Officer, Leader of Youth. Section, Rear Service C -"ef,
I,;otor Transport Officer, Administration Officer, Doc es and Cirhers Oi f"icer,
l.edical Officer,; '-Dri-ade Iq only has an Engineer Officer and a Chief of
Personnel Section. Battalion Iq only has a::m Ordna.i-,ce Off ,cer.
In reEard to communications. all units -'ror_: company tl-.rW brio"ado
PS liq in Prague are connected ;r tele -hone. in addition, companies
stationed on the border are also connected laterally. Radio is a
supplementary means of co1~-ii:Ianicati oli from battalion up, and also between
battalions.. There is telecommunication between atades and Unit 9000
(Chief Administration of the Border and Interior Guard.)
The primary mission of the PS is to keep unauthorized persons f ?on
getting into Czechoslovakia or from leaving it. There is, lowever, also
a secondary mission. This is to , +el- a ned invasion of Czechoslovakia or,
at least, resist long enough in'* area to allow Regular Army
divisions to come to their aid 'a i y "previously selected defensive
positions. To carry out this s~~ #&sion, PS brz"ades of-. the
Bavarian border have direct comma12~C ons with Czech Army divisions
stationed in the border zone, as follows:
with the 12th Itz Rifle Division in 1,arlor.-r Vary
with the 11th Litz Rifle Division in Plzen
with the 2nd Litz Rifle Division in Susice
with the 1st Litz Rifle Division in Ceske Budejovice
In case of an alert on the border, FS brigades have the right to call on
the divisions for immediate and direct help,, These lour (' ivioions,
turn; do not train with other units in those summer training founds
customarily used by the Czech Army but exercise in summer maneuver areas
close to the border ir, order to be available at all times.
The PO wears ", le same Uniforms as t'" e Czech Arm Cr1l " t "_e and
the branch-of-service colors cu t ,e service a..dv parade unifo::r: s are
different. The field uniform, like that of the Czech A r:--;;--, is
the characteristic metal 'dog's heat. iiisiy;::.ia; denoting a i:le i:er of tie
-s -~rorn. on the collar of the field blouse and. the f ielC, c :Tercoat .
I e and parade uniform of El, and 'CO's, lapels cap?r .' only the
:.etal do., ' s :lead .:psi ;nias ,.o~ ficerSa: s:.rvice and ~p,arade an.. forms '_.ave
is i~?si.gniia on --reen lapel. -`'lashes. Colors of si o lc'_or. : t a s and shoulder
boards for all. ranks in the service and parade are _. icat.^d s...
the following tac)le:
Servic
Ollo (1 Z1eby
Stozec
I:ove Udoli
near Tristolicnik Hill
Plesne ?Tezercl
"Na Kaam_a.ie"1
Fraena flora
Horni Pl :.a
Zvonkova (?)
Rae i
Sr ra rye
Plenina
Cehnic+ 1
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S-E-C-R-E-T
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2. Austrian Border
15th Brig
let Bn
2d Bn
3d Bn
4th Bn
4th Brig
let Bn
2d Bn
3d Bn
4th Bn
11th Br,r. 1st Bn
2d Bn
3d Bn
Ceske Budejovice
Loucovice
Kaplice
Suchdol
Nova Bystrice
Cnojmo
Jeaaiice
Znojmo
Erusovany
Breclav
Bratislava
Malacky
Stupava
Bratislava (?)
PS Danube River Flotilla Komarno
3. GDR Border
d3 Brig
let Bn
2d Bn
3d Bn.
19th Brig
three battalions
Karlovy Vary
Kovarska
Nejdek
Luby (?)
(?)
Comment: Not identifiable in available gazeteerc,
Comment: The reference may be either to Vaclav or to Hors.
Svateho Vaclava,
3. Cotmnerxt~ Cerchov Mountain, also known as Cerchov hors na
Sur vey is located at N 49-23, E 12-,47.,
S-F.-C-R-B-T
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