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The German Democratic Republic's Ministry of the Interior (German: Ministerium des Innern, or MdI) maintained the independent Department of the Alert Units of the Volkspolizei (the country's main law enforcement agency) known as the Volkspolizei-Bereitschaften (VPB). It consisted of between 12,000 and 15,000 men in 21 Volkspolizei Alert Units of battalion strength.
Anti-tank platoon with three 45 mm/57 mm anti-tank guns (later ATGMs)
Artillery platoon with three 76.2 mm ZiS-3 field/anti-tank guns
Mortar platoon with three 82 mm mortars
Headquarters and staff company with:
signals platoon
engineer platoon
chemical platoon
reconnaissance platoon
transport platoon
supply platoon
control section
medical section
Equipment
These units were equipped with light and medium infantry weapons, SK-1 wheeled armoured personnel carriers, SK-2water 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.