Cold War in Europe trivia thread...

[torstenbel]

Ralph, in addition to the info given below...the camps were only held in June...but they were throughout June...as an officer cadet/instructor you spend the first two weeks at one camp and then move for another two weeks to a different camp...so the camps were held for four weeks in June of every year, but only for two weeks per camp...training covered all sorts, from political education (but not that much) to KK shooting (small caliber Kalashnikov machine gun) to ABC training (gas masks, etc.) to orientation and map reading (that took a lot of the time), to marching excersizes (again that took a lot of the time) to military physical education (throwing hand granades, doing a mini-Sturmbahn (assault course) and so on...at the end of it there was a one day competition covering the different things practiced and learned during those two weeks...again, that was great fun and most of that competition was an orientation march through the countryside and forrests...most of the male teachers in the DDR were reserve officers and they got to wear their uniforms for the occassion and I think that the two weeks also counted towards the time they had to serve as reservists and these teachers acted as the Kompaniechefs (Company Commanders) and general camp administration...

and basically, in both camps that I went to, the evenings were spent in huge piss-ups (that means getting drunk...just clearing this up for our US friends... ) between the officer cadets and the teachers...definitely some massive binge drinking problem there...but usually everything was all right again in the morning... Cheers, Torsten.

Once this round is over, could you let us know more about when these encampments were held. For example year round or during the summer and what type of training was involved...thanks!!!

[Ralph P]

Your Welcome...and no problem, because this thread is for all of us to learn from.

Thanks Ralph.

I will find something not to difficult because I'm still learning.

[torstenbel]

Hi Soviet...well with that answer you would have won the round...that Ralph just had to be quicker than you again... damn... it was year 8 that the Wehrlager was done and then it was done again in year 11 at school if you went to the EOS to do the Abitur (that is what I did) and in year 1 of your Berufsausbildung if you did not go to the EOS. But at that later camp there were no officer cadets...so, the camp was only done twice for each GST member...hope this clarifies? Cheers, Torsten.

PS: I think the full name for the camp was actually Wehrausbildungslager.

Is that a GST-Lager or Wehrlager during the Sommer vacation, were the children from 9th till 11th Class had to go for a pre-military Ausbildung.

This is what I found :

Die Schüler wurden während zwei Wochen in einem dafür reservierten Ferienlager in militärischen Fragen ausgebildet. Die Ausbildung und Betreuung der Schüler übernahmen dabei meist Offiziersschüler und NVA-Offiziere der Reserve.

So they are with you to learn how to use and handle a Kalashnikov and Grenade or something like that I presume. They also can lean what is it to live in a Kasern with exercise and everything like that.

[Ralph P]

Hi Soviet...well with that answer you would have won the round...that Ralph just had to be quicker than you again... damn... .

[torstenbel]

Ralph, not sure if you saw post 136...that is where i put a little more extra info...Cheers, Torsten.

Once this round is over, could you let us know more about when these encampments were held. For example year round or during the summer and what type of training was involved...thanks!!!

[Ralph P]

I find your reply interesting in reference to the encampments. Not to de-rail this thread, I believe a new thread can be started to add more discussion about the different encampments in the DDR and the United States.

Thank you very much for the information...

Ralph, in addition to the info given below...the camps were only held in June...but they were throughout June...as an officer cadet/instructor you spend the first two weeks at one camp and then move for another two weeks to a different camp...so the camps were held for four weeks in June of every year, but only for two weeks per camp...training covered all sorts, from political education (but not that much) to KK shooting (small caliber Kalashnikov machine gun) to ABC training (gas masks, etc.) to orientation and map reading (that took a lot of the time), to marching excersizes (again that took a lot of the time) to military physical education (throwing hand granades, doing a mini-Sturmbahn (assault course) and so on...at the end of it there was a one day competition covering the different things practiced and learned during those two weeks...again, that was great fun and most of that competition was an orientation march through the countryside and forrests...most of the male teachers in the DDR were reserve officers and they got to wear their uniforms for the occassion and I think that the two weeks also counted towards the time they had to serve as reservists and these teachers acted as the Kompaniechefs (Company Commanders) and general camp administration...

and basically, in both camps that I went to, the evenings were spent in huge piss-ups (that means getting drunk...just clearing this up for our US friends... ) between the officer cadets and the teachers...definitely some massive binge drinking problem there...but usually everything was all right again in the morning... Cheers, Torsten.

[Soviet]

Ok now itis my turn. <o =""></o>

<o =""></o>#1 On the picture below, please tell me what are they doing and what consist this ritual. <o =""></o>

<o =""></o>#2 And tell me what is the rank of the guy cutting the band and what could be the one standing on the chair.<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>#3 My second question is related a bit on this same topic. So please tell me when was introduce the obligatory military service in the DDR (year and date). <o =""></o>

<o =""></o>#4 How long was the military service in the DDR ?<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>#5 And finally the obligatory military service had to be done between which age ?<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>Hope my English is understandable for these questions, otherwise please tell me and I will elaborate. Who gets the majority of the questions wins !

Good luck !<o =""></o>

<o =""></o><o =""></o>

[torstenbel]

Hi Soviet...great photo... I have a few similar ones of my own... I could answer all of the questions now, but I think that would be unfair to everyone else....I will wait a while and see how everyone else does first...Cheers, Torsten.

Ok now itis my turn. <o =""></o>

<o =""></o>#1 On the picture below, please tell me what are they doing and what consist this ritual. <o =""></o>

<o =""></o>#2 And tell me what is the rank of the guy cutting the band and what could be the one standing on the chair.<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>#3 My second question is related a bit on this same topic. So please tell me when was introduce the obligatory military service in the DDR (year and date). <o =""></o>

<o =""></o>#4 How long was the military service in the DDR ?<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>#5 And finally the obligatory military service had to be done between which age ?<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>Hope my English is understandable for these questions, otherwise please tell me and I will elaborate. Who gets the majority of the questions wins !

Good luck !<o =""></o>

<o =""></o><o =""></o>

[Soviet]

Torsten if you can explain it after that, I guess the explanation about the picture would be 200% better than me if you don't mind.

[Ralph P]

Well over all...I am stumped with the questions...I need to work the others questions...and Torsten, thanks for holding back for a bit...

Right now I think I can answer only question four. Service is three years.

[Soviet]

I have less than 3 years for the Wehrpflicht in my books. You can count it in months.

[torstenbel]

it was less than three years. Three years was the service period for Uffz. (Unteroffizier or NCO), but general conscription was less than that...Soviet, by the way, I am not sure how you want to be certain of the rank for your question two..? From the pics you cannot tell what rank they are actually...you can guess what they are likely to be, but there is no way of telling for sure...Cheers, Torsten.

I have less than 3 years for the Wehrpflicht in my books. You can count it in months.

[Soviet]

What I wanted to say with the rank is : Are they at the same ranks, who's higher and why. Or something like that.

I think this is funny the picture with the candles.

[torstenbel]

I understand...and yes, this really is a very good pic...and I really smiled when I first saw it... there were quite a lot of games that you could play in army barracks for all kinds of occassions, involving steel helmets in various options....gas masks...and all these little games/rituals had their own names...hey, maybe I make that another question in the future...maybe I put down three of the names and people can guess what the 'games' were that went with those names...

Anyhow, don't want to deviate from this question and I would definitely like to see how some of the others answer your questions...and I am sure that someone will get it right... Cheers, Torsten.

What I wanted to say with the rank is : Are they at the same ranks, who's higher and why. Or something like that.

I think this is funny the picture with the candles.

[Ralph P]

Thanks...It will for sure be interesting when other members see this round and add their input to the questions.

it was less than three years. Three years was the service period for Uffz. (Unteroffizier or NCO), but general conscription was less than that...Soviet, by the way, I am sure how you want to be certain of the rank for your question two..? From the pics you cannot tell what rank they are actually...you can guess what they are likely to be, but there is no way of telling for sure...Cheers, Torsten.