Increasing the Combat Readiness of the National People's Army
I.
1. The main goal of the German militarists and imperialists is the forcible seizure of the German Democratic Republic and the extension of NATO's sphere of influence as far as the Oder-Neisse border as the first step toward the achievement of their revanchist demands—the restoration of the "Greater German Reich" and the "New European Order"—under the hegemony of German imperialism, which poses at the same time an acute threat to the Soviet Union and all the socialist countries.
The aggressive goals of the occupation of the GDR are especially evident in the DECO II and Outline plans as well as the forced establishment of an aggressive army and its arming with nuclear weapons by 1961.
The Outline plan entails the strategic political conception of "limited war." The DECO II plan is a concrete elaboration of the planned military measures against the GDR.
The Outline plan is envisaged to be realized in three stages:
—first, psychological warfare aimed at softening the GDR and preparing the West German population for aggression,
—second, provocation of counter-revolutionary actions in the GDR with the goal of unleashing a civil war,
—third, aggression against the GDR as a precondition for the realization of aggressive plans against the socialist countries.
These stages are not to be seen as rigid; they can be entirely or partly connected with other intentions or can overlap.
The "Operation DECO II" envisages "a swift coordination of ground, air, and naval forces, propaganda units, and undercover military units, which are to be infiltrated into East Berlin and other strategically important places of the Soviet occupation zone before the onset of military operations." The forces infiltrated by the enemy are to swiftly occupy political, governmental, economic, municipal, communications, and transportation centers, and use radio and press media to appeal to the population of the GDR for support of their measures. Members of the armed forces of the GDR are to be requested "to abstain from any resistance, lay down arms, and stay in their locations until the arrival of the armed forces of the Federal Republic."
It follows that an aggression by West German militarism and its crushing will thus differ substantially from the beginning and course of both last World Wars. The hostilities on German territory will take the form of a civil war, especially during the initial period of the war and will substantially influence the activities of the troops.
In order to prevent surprise by the enemy, intensified intelligence effort and closer cooperation by all intelligence agencies of the GDR are necessary. The training programs of the National People's army are accordingly to be altered, so that the struggle for the liquidation of counter-revolutionary actions—in addition to the main assignment—could be taken into account more that has been the case so far. This requires a close collaboration with other armed organs of the GDR and a clear division of labor among them.
2. An aggression against the GDR must be considered from different points of view: It will bear, especially during the initial period, strong features of civil war. Depending on the political situation, it can also happen that the National People's Army, together with other armed organs of the GDR, may have to fight the aggressor for a brief period alone. . . .
 
["Erhöhung der Gefechtsbereitschaft der Nationalen Volksarmee," 29 July 1959, prepared for Security Commission of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party, session of 3 August 1959, DVW1/39568, Bundesrachiv-Militärarchiv, Freiburg, translated by Vojtech Mastny]