page_title: Bereitschaftspolizei
section_title: In the former German Democratic Republic
hierarchical_section_title: Bereitschaftspolizei / In the former German Democratic Republic
caption_attribution_description: English: East German guards wait for the official opening of the Brandenburg Gate.
context_page_description: The Bereitschaftspolizei are the support and rapid reaction units of Germany's police forces. They are composed of detachments from the Federal Police and the State Police forces of Germany.
context_section_description: The East German Ministry of the Interior maintained the independent Department of the Alert Units of the Volkspolizei known as the Volkspolizei-Bereitschaften (VPB). It consisted of between 12,000 and 15,000 men (sources disagree) in 21 Volkspolizei Alert Units of battalion strength. There was usually one unit per district of East Germany but the key districts of Halle, Leipzig and Magdeburg, with their large working class populations, and Potsdam all had two units. The Presidium of the People's Police in East Berlin had three units located in Basdorf.
  Each Alert unit was organized as follows:
  Headquarters section
  Four alert companies:
  One mechanized company in wheeled armored personnel carriers
  Three motorized companies in trucks
  Support company
  Anti-tank platoon with 3x45 mm/57 mm(later ATGM's)
  Artillery platoon with 3x76.2 mm ZiS-3 field/anti-tank guns
  Mortar platoon with 3x82 mm mortars
  Headquarters and staff company with:
  signals platoon
  engineer platoon
  chemical platoon
  reconnaissance platoon
  transport platoon
  supply platoon
  control section
  medical section
  These units were equipped with light and medium infantry weapons, SK-1 wheeled armoured personnel carriers, SK-2 water cannon (both armoured and unarmoured versions) and buses. Their uniform was the standard Volkspolizei grey-green. The political reliability of the Alert Units was of particular importance to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) as they would be used against the population in the event of social disorders such as the strike of 17 June 1953 in the industrial areas of East Germany.
caption: Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft from Basdorf on duty at the Brandenburg Gate before the fall of the Berlin Wall
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