Page 313 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo II

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Southern African peculiarities were not taken into consideration. Rather, it was impossible to
include them. Apart from Mozambicans, military personnel from many other countries was
trained at the Rügen officer school: the People’s Republic of Congo, Yemen, Syria, Nicara-
gua, to name but a few.

Mozambican military personnel trained by the NVA

Month/ 12/1981 i 11/1983 ii 11/1984 iii 01/1986 iV 01/1987 V 10/1989 Vi total VII
year

Number 178 192 78 40 8 18 263

I BStU, MfS, HA I 13618, f. 34.; HA II 29466, f. 2.
II BStU, MfS, HA I 13695, f. 14.
III BStU, HA II 27555, f. 2.
IV BStU, MfS, HA I 13350, f 2.; HA II 29466, f. 52.
V BStU, MfS, HA I 5869, ff 183, 184; HA I 13618, ff. 11, 12.
VI BStU, MfS, HA I 13280, f 41.
VII Ministry of Disarmament and Defense of the GDR: Information for the Federal Ministry of Defense FRG, Bonn, July
1990 (Records of Werner Ablaß).

In total, 263 Mozambican officers and NCOs were trained in the NVA, mostly for three
or four years. The data vary considerably throughout the years. What is striking, is the strong
beginning with 180 trainees and the subsequent generally sharp decrease in numbers. The
last 18 Mozambicans were sent home in the summer of 1990.
The vast majority of service members trained were army officer students.
In addition, Mozambicans were trained at schools of the People’s Navy (Volksmarine),
the officer school of the air forces and the officer school of the border forces of the GDR.
In advising their partner armed forces in Africa, the Eastern block military personnel natu-
rally relied on their own military doctrine. The guerilla army of FRELIMO was to be trans-
formed into new regular modern armed forces modeled on the armies of the Warsaw Pact.
The transformation of the FRELIMO guerrillas into a regular army of conscripts, named
“People´s Liberation Army (FPLM)” required a heavy change in military hardware.
Tactics and conduct of operations of the Warsaw Pact Armies, or more precisely, of the
Soviet armed forces, were transferred onto the African rebel army FRELIMO. This con-
cerned organizational structures, armament and training.
The Eastern bloc military advised that “modern socialist military technology” would be the
best guarantee for the defense of young national states. A necessary consequence and at the
same time condition for re-equipment and reorganization were the provision of military advi-
sors and an intensified training of Mozambican officers at military schools of the Eastern bloc.
With regard to structure and equipment the now government forces adopted the Soviet
model almost without any changes.