Compulsory Border Protection Service

Until the 1980s the BGS was organized as a paramilitary force that could be deployed nationwide, either at the inner-German border, but also elsewhere in case of civil disorder.

Furthermore, the member states of the Warsaw Pact maintained a very large number of Internal Troops, mainly staffed by conscript soldiers like the East German Volkspolizei-Bereitschaften (VPB).

Interior troops were a considerable reinforcement of the infantry forces during the arms race of the Cold War period and were not affected by disarmament negotiations as they were not part of the regular military.

The military task was gradually reduced, because in a State of Defence (German: Verteidigungsfall or V-Fall) the Bundeswehr was and still is thereafter empowered in very limited circumstances to be deployed in domestic disturbances.

Nevertheless, the BGS was equipped with light and medium infantry weapons until the mid-eighties and still, now nominated as Bundespolizei maintains armoured personnel carriers like the LAPV Enok or Mowag Eagle.