The role and tasks of the 5th East German Army in the strategic offensive operation of the Warsaw Pact troops in the 80s of the 20th century

Abstract

During the Cold War, NATO and the Warsaw Pact faced each other as two hostile political and military blocs with vast arsenals of conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction. Their mutual distrust has kept the world tense for more than four decades. It seems that the Cold War between them was only held by a kind of “balance of fear”. The aim of the article is to show the reader the intention to use the 5th East German Army in an offensive operation of the Warsaw Pact troops. The main research method used during the development of individual theses was the analysis of available publications related directly or indirectly to the topic presented. Due to the lack of access to the original archival sources, the article was prepared mainly on the basis of a review of the available popular science literature and memories of soldiers of the GDR army. The author’s intention is not to unequivocally assess the intention and effects of using this operational relationship and to clearly interpret the correctness (or not) of such an intention. The reason for this approach is the lack of sufficient and reliable data to draw any conclusions. The main reason for this approach is the inability to verify the information obtained in reliable sources.