If the cold war got hot

I am curious in wondering that if the cold war got hot on the West/ East German border, how willing were West and East German soldiers to shoot and kill one another in battle?
 
That is a pretty interesting question. I have a cousin that did his conscript time in the East German Army in the 80s and told me lots of stories. He made it sound like most of the people in his unit weren't very motivated to be there and were serving because the only other choice was jail. He also told some stories of doing exercises with Red Army units and he said by comparison their standard of living (which was pretty crappy) was much better than the Soviet soldiers. He had a story of a Soviet soldier breaking into their chow hall in the middle of the night to steal food and they called his superiors who showed up and dragged him off screaming. After that if Soviet soldiers came by they would sneak them some extra food because they felt bad for them.

From that perspective it doesn't sound like the communist forces would be that motivated to fight. However if they are being shot at by the West German and US/UK soldiers they would be forced to defend themselves. They also would have political officers to "encourage" them to fight. However if it looked like the west was going to win I would guess a lot of them would be happy to surrender if the opportunity arose.
 
I've heard lots of East German units in case of war would be specifically tasked to fight Americans or British units in West Germany.
 
That is a pretty interesting question. I have a cousin that did his conscript time in the East German Army in the 80s and told me lots of stories. He made it sound like most of the people in his unit weren't very motivated to be there and were serving because the only other choice was jail. He also told some stories of doing exercises with Red Army units and he said by comparison their standard of living (which was pretty crappy) was much better than the Soviet soldiers. He had a story of a Soviet soldier breaking into their chow hall in the middle of the night to steal food and they called his superiors who showed up and dragged him off screaming. After that if Soviet soldiers came by they would sneak them some extra food because they felt bad for them.

From that perspective it doesn't sound like the communist forces would be that motivated to fight. However if they are being shot at by the West German and US/UK soldiers they would be forced to defend themselves. They also would have political officers to "encourage" them to fight. However if it looked like the west was going to win I would guess a lot of them would be happy to surrender if the opportunity arose.

I would also think that political ideology doesn't really motivate most soldiers but fighting for each other in their units will motivate which gets the objective met.
 
So the soviets do take into account that there is a chance for mutiny within East German ranks. Would that be why they tasked them to fight elsewhere or against non Germans
 

Pangur

Donor
You also have the East German air force to consider. I can see how you can get their army to face off against the US army for example but their flyers is surely near enoughly impossible to keep separate from the West Germans.

How did the West Germans feel about fighting East Germans?
 
How did the West Germans feel about fighting East Germans?

The general opinion in West Germany was that the majority of East Germans were prisoners behind the iron curtain rather than enemies. However if East German soldiers are coming across the border shooting at you then you're obviously going to shoot back.

What some of the previous posters said about the Soviets planning to use the East German Army against non-German opponents make sense, maybe even ship them off to other fronts if possible. If the west started pushing into East Germany I think a lot of the East Germans would have happily surrendered to the west as soon as they got the chance.
 
In the movie The Day After, I think there's a line that says there were mass defections and refusals of orders by East German units. This happens in the war when things get hot, before getting three times the center of the Sun hot.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
This was sort of the plot of the original Twilight:2000 RPG. East German units mutinied at the prospect of being sent to fight in China and West German units intervened to help them.
 
The rebellion by East German military units after a local incident when Soviet troops make a mistake and kill hundreds of East German civilians (I think it was a tank causing a train to derail) was the impetus to the war described in the book "Red Thrust" that examined several aspects of Soviet conventional military power.

It appears that the East Germans rebelling was indeed the "nightmare scenario" for the Soviets.
 
I've heard lots of East German units in case of war would be specifically tasked to fight Americans or British units in West Germany.

That was one method. Similarly, the Poles would be sent against areas of the front held by West German forces rather then British or Americans. The Soviets also made sure to take certain measures to keep certain WARPAC formations from having to fight alongside each other. So Polish formations would never be adjacent to German ones. Largely, though, the intention was to use the minor Warsaw Pact allies as rear echelon troops for mopping up and garrison duties, along with the lower quality Soviet ground forces (Category C and D/V). The bulk of actual fighting would be handled by Soviet Category A and B formations.
 
Last edited:
Would North and South Koreans fight each other? Yes.

It would be interesting to see how indoctrinated the North soldiers really are if a full scale war was going on. Initially they would probably fight hard, but if the US and South Koreans began advancing north I wonder how many North Koreans would fight to the bitter end versus surrendering.

The East Germans I've spoken with all seemed like they were well aware they were on the crappy side of the Iron Curtain before the wall came down. North Korean propaganda is probably a lot more intense, but I still wonder how many North Koreans really believe everything they are told, or merely go along with it since they are stuck there and don't want to end up dead or in a gulag.
 
It would be interesting to see how indoctrinated the North soldiers really are if a full scale war was going on. Initially they would probably fight hard, but if the US and South Koreans began advancing north I wonder how many North Koreans would fight to the bitter end versus surrendering.

North Korean propaganda in this regard is... interesting. They tell their people that, yeah, the West may be better off in some material ways and have regrettably corrupted their southern brothers into such an attitude but spiritually they are far superior. Basically "something something decadent luxuries make them soft something something".
 
I've heard lots of East German units in case of war would be specifically tasked to fight Americans or British units in West Germany.
once BRD mobilized, german would be fighting german no matter where they were deployed. discussed various aspects of the NVA with our intel officer, in the mid 80s. he said they wouldn't deploy as divisions, but would be broken up and attached to russian divisions. don't know if that was reality or bad intel.
 
It would be interesting to see how indoctrinated the North soldiers really are if a full scale war was going on. Initially they would probably fight hard, but if the US and South Koreans began advancing north I wonder how many North Koreans would fight to the bitter end versus surrendering. QUOTE]

the invasion will collapse when they get to munsan and see all the food. and there is no 'if' about the CFC advancing north.
 
Top