Exhibit of the Month - Jan. '25

In fact, the young Bundeswehr recruited 9,600 BGS members who were previously supposed to secure the inner-German border against advances from the east.

An important step in the rearmament of West Germany was the signing of the Paris Agreement on October 23, 1954. This ended the occupation statute and cleared the way for NATO accession, which was completed in May 1955.

The promise to make 90,000 soldiers available to NATO at the end of 1956 meant that time was pressed and it was recognized that there were already trained and armed men. The 9,600 border guards taken on were all volunteers and they brought their uniforms and weapons with them. The cadres of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Grenadier Divisions were formed from them. One of these BGS units was the II. Division of the Border Guard Troop 6 from Dedelsdorf in Lower Saxony, from which the Panzer Battalion 1 was formed on July 1, 1956 for the 1st Grenadier Division in Hanover. In June/July 1957, the Panzer Battalion moved to Augustdorf.

Do you want to know why a powerful Bundeswehr was rebuilt just 10 years after the Second World War? What does the Korean War have to do with it?

Or what equipment and weapons the Bundeswehr had at its disposal in its early days?

Then visit us at the MGS.