A Cardboard Castle?: An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955-1991

Document No. 2: Statute of the Warsaw Treaty Unified Command, September 7, 1955

Document No. 2: Statute of the Warsaw Treaty Unified Command, September 7, 1955 ——————————————————————————————————————————— The Statute of the Unified Command governed the structure and division of authority within the Warsaw Treaty Organization. Like the treaty itself, it was supplied by the Soviets and imposed on their allies. Unlike the treaty, it was kept secret throughout the Cold War, although it was occasionally referred to in public, for example in 1956 and in 1968 when the Poles and Czechoslovaks, respectively, criticized it for assigning all prerogatives to the Soviet Union and all obligations to the East European signatories. In fact, the provisions of the statute were left deliberately vague so that the Soviet Union could interpret them to its advantage. Later, in 1969, the document was revised and the language made more precise. This version of the statute came from the Polish archives. ____________________ Draft TOP SECRET General Provisions of the Warsaw Treaty Armed Forces Unified Command PART I The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces The Supreme Commander chairs the unified armed forces of the members of the Warsaw Treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual aid, adopted on May 14, 1955. The responsibilities of the Supreme Commander are: a) to carry out resolutions of the Political Consultative Committee, which deal directly with the unified armed forces; b) to supervise and direct operational and combat preparation of the unified armed forces and to organize unified exercises of troops, fleets and staff under the command of the Unified Armed Forces; c) to have a comprehensive knowledge of the state of troops and fleets under the command of the Unified Armed Forces, and to take all necessary measures in cooperation with the governments and ministers of defense of the respective countries in order to ensure the permanent combat readiness of the forces; d) to work out and present to the Political Consultative Committee constructive proposals on the further improvement of the qualitative and quantitative state of the available staff. 80 The Chief of Staff has the right: – to evaluate the fighting trim, strategic and fighting readiness of the Unified Armed Forces and to give orders and recommendations based on the results of the evaluations; – to address the Political Consultative Committee and the governments of the Warsaw Treaty states with any questions regarding his activities; – to call periodically, depending on need, meetings with his deputies representing their governments within the Armed Forces, in order to discuss and solve the occurring problems. PART II The Deputies of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces The Deputies to the Supreme Commander carry full responsibility: a) for combat and mobilization readiness, as well as operational, combat, and political preparation of the troops under the command of the Unified Armed Forces; b) for staffing of troops and fleets under the supervision of the Unified Armed Forces; for the available personnel; for supplying armaments, technical equipment and other military items, in accordance with accepted systems of armaments ; as well as for the accommodation arrangements and service of troops. The Deputies to the Supreme Commander are obliged to report systematically on the state of the military and mobilizing readiness as well as the state of the political , strategic and combat instruction of troops and fleets at the disposition of the Unified Command. PART III The Staff of the Unified Armed Forces 1. The Chief of Staff supervises the activities of the Staff subordinated to the Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces. 2. The composition of the Staff of the Unified Armed Forces consists of: a) permanent representatives of the General Staff from the Warsaw Treaty states; b) special bodies responsible for strategic, tactical and organizational issues; c) inspectors of the armed services. 3. The responsibilities of the Staff of the Unified Armed Forces: a) topossescomprehensiveknowledgeofthestateandconditionswithinthetroops and fleets, to take necessary measures in cooperation with the General Staff of the Warsaw Treaty states to ensure permanent combat readiness of the Armed Forces; 81 b) to work out proposals for measures for the further qualitative and quantitative improvement of the Unified Armed Forces; c) to reach conclusions on the system of armaments, and the armaments and military -technical property needs of the troops under the command of the Unified Armed Forces. 4. The Chief of Staff has the right: – to discuss the range of his activities with the deputies of...