The Czechoslovak People's Army (Czech: Československá lidová armáda, Slovak: Československá ľudová armáda, ČSLA) was the army of the Czechoslovak State from 1954 until 1990. On March 14, 1990 the Army's name was changed to the Czechoslovak Army removing adjective "People's" from the name. Since 1955 it was a member force of the Warsaw Pact.
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The ČSLA was composed of Ground Forces, Air Forces and Air Defense Forces.
Ground troops were the largest component of the Army. They contained infantry, supported by tanks and armored vehicles. Czechoslovak military doctrine demanded large tank columns spearheading infantry assaults. While the armored columns secured objectives, the infantry would provide close support with mortars, rockets, anti-tank guns and large artillery.
Infantry units could also draw support from engineers, artillery, chemical troops, railway troops and paratroops. Additional services and equipment provided the combat services the necessary technical and material equipment they required.
Engineer troops were equipped with road and earth moving machinery, recovery tanks and equipment for the transportation of troops across rivers and other terrain. Railway troops were unable to provide construction and rehabilitation railway, including bridges and communication and security equipment and maintenance rail vehicle. Railway engineer and army participated in the liquidation of the consequences of natural disasters.
"Of the approximately 201,000 personnel on active duty in the ČSLA in 1987, about 145,000, or about 72 percent, served in the ground forces (commonly referred to as the army). About 100,000 of these were conscripts."[1] There were two military districts, Western and Eastern. A 1989 listing of forces shows two Czech armies in the west, the 1st at Pribram with one tank division and three motor rifle divisions, the 4th at Pisek with two tank divisions and two motor rifle divisions. In the Eastern Military District, there were two tank divisions, the 13th and 14th, with a supervisory headquarters at Trencin in the east of the country.[2] There was also an airborne infantry regiment (brigade-sized prior to 1968), the 22nd, based at Prostějov.[3]
The Air Force was equipped with supersonic jet fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, missile weapons and electronic equipment. Its command formations were the 7th Air Army (air defence, two AD regions) and the tactical 10th Air Army in Hradec Králové.[4]
The Army's air defense (PVOS, Protivzdušná obrana státu) was formed with anti-aircraft missile units, interceptor fighter aircraft, and special services radio-technical units (radar and direction-finding).
The final Report of the Commission of Inquiry of the Federal Assembly for clarification of events November 17, 1989 was characterized by Czechoslovak People's Army as follows: "... the Czechoslovak Army was next to the SNB and LM understood as one of the direct power tools designed for control over the society and for immediate management of internal political problems; the Communist Party by means of a vast staff of the Main Political Administration (HPS) of ČSLA penetrated as far as into the lowest units and in this way virtually ensured its absolute influence on the Army."[5]
During the Velvet Revolution, Communist Minister of National Defense Milan Václavík proposed to use the army against demonstrators, but his suggestion was not heeded.[5]