The Blue Effect (Cold War)

by Harvey Black

  Way out to the front, probably in excess of 3,500 metres, he watched as a cloud slowly rose up across the horizon. The Lance battalion, subordinated to the heavy artillery brigade, was also showing its teeth in the ongoing battle. The Lance missiles, with their M251 warheads carrying hundreds of sub munitions, sprayed the advancing Soviet forces with a deadly storm. They might not defeat the enemy, but they could sway the forthcoming battle shifting the advantage to the defending US forces. The crew were now quiet as the tank commander settled himself in the fighting compartment. There had been some inane chatter, guessing at the location where the T-64s would appear first, reiterating the tactics they would apply once the fight started. Even families had been a part of the four-way discussion between the crew, and at one point politics came into the frame, at which time they had all laughed, realising they had been babbling about anything and everything for the last thirty minutes. It had helped to ease their nerves, but now they were silent, deep within their own thoughts, preparing themselves in their own way for what was about to transpire. Only the throbbing of the tank’s engine could be heard.

  Hendricks opened the hatch again and pushed himself up for one last look. Somewhere out there, not too far away, a giant, possibly unstoppable, steamroller was heading in their direction.

  The nearest Cobra flared, and a trail of jet exhaust left one of the rails as a TOW anti-tank missile headed towards its target.

  “Tango One-One. The flyboys have contact. Recce, three 64s and two BMP. Over.”

  “Understood, Tango-Zero. Over.”

  “You are clear to engage, you are clear to engage. Hit the big boys first. Leave BMPs to the TOWs. Over.”

  “Roger that, sir. Out.”

  Hendricks switched his comms to internal and pulled the hatch down again, sealing him and his crew in their armoured shell.

  “They’re on their way, boys. Keep your eyes peeled.”

  The gunner, sitting at the feet of the tank commander, watched as another missile left the Cobra. Less than a minute later, the attack-helicopter banked and headed back behind the line of American armour, ready to pick off the enemy tanks as they battled with the Abram’s below.

  The first T-64 rolled into view, and the Abrams’ laser rangefinder detected the enemy tank, the on-board computer determining the correct elevation and angle of the gun.

  “Standby,” called the commander.

  The gunner, with narrowed eyes, peered into his scope.

  “Gunner, sabot, tank, designate,” ordered the Hendricks.

  “Up,” informed the loader after shoving a sabot round into the breech.

  “Fire and adjust.”

  “Away.”

  The barrel shot back as the round left, the hardened penetrator hitting the Soviet tank in just over a second. It hit, but the tank kept moving.

  “Gunner, same target, sabot, designate.”

  “Up.”

  “Fire and adjust.”

  “Away.”

  This time, they were more successful as the enemy tank was struck by the penetrator, turning the steel of the tank to molten metal, igniting the interior, and causing a catastrophic explosion that wrenched the tank apart.

  The commander was already calling out a new target, but soon they would need to move.

  A second T-64 was hit, along with two BMPs. The Soviet recce platoon had just been wiped out. It was time to move.

  “Gunner, take over. Driver, back, back, back.”

  Malone, the driver, reclining in a space that wasn’t much bigger than his frame, accelerated and, under the guidance of his commander, shifted position ready for the inevitable much larger wave of tanks.

  Chapter 8

  0700, 9 JULY 1984. 13TH/18TH ROYAL HUSSARS, RECONNAISSANCE REGIMENT. AREA OF HUSUM, WEST GERMANY.

  THE BLUE EFFECT -2 DAYS

  The two Scimitars, followed by two Scorpions, tore down Route 5, putting aside the risk they were taking in travelling along a road in broad daylight. They had just crossed the water feature of Arlau that cut across from the coast, west to east, for about ten kilometres. The troop was roughly five kilometres from the village of Hattstedt. Their first checkpoint, the town of Husum, a further ten kilometres away. Five minutes behind them, a second troop raced south. Two-Troop, Second Squadron, of the 13th/18th Royal Hussars, part of the British 1st Infantry Brigade, had disembarked from ships docking at Esbjerg in Denmark the previous night. The Brigade, part of the United Kingdom Land Forces and under the command of NORTHAG Landjut, had been sent in to support the Territorial Command Schleswig-Holstein. 6th Panzer Grenadier Division, supported by an array of German Jaeger units, was hard-pressed and there was a real danger of the front line collapsing, threatening the Landjut and eventually Denmark. The Soviet and East German forces had broken the Kiel Canal defence line to the west and were racing to the River Eider. If the East German army crossed that barrier, there was a danger that the Landjut forces would end up in constant retreat, never able to establish a proper defence, eventually being pushed up into Denmark threatening NATO’s northern flank. NATO forces in place along the Kiel Canal had not been expected to hold the line for long, depending on West German reservists to support 6th Panzer Grenadier Division. But the canal had now been breached.

  A new stop-line was being rapidly set up from the west of Rendsburg, following the section of the canal still being held west where it met the River Eider, then north-west to Tonning where Schleswig-Holstein butted up against the North Sea.

  1st Infantry Brigade, led by the reconnaissance regiment, had been given the responsibility of defending the ground between Tonning and Suderstapel. It was a task the Brigade could achieve with its four battalions and tank squadron so long as they had the time to prepare. But, as usual, it was a race against time. The 5th German Army, consisting of the 8th Motor-Schutz Division and 9th Panzer Division, along with the Northern Group of Soviet Forces (NGSF) consisting of the 6th Motor Rifle Division and the 20th Tank Division, were advancing rapidly. NGSF had been reunited with their helicopter attack regiment with its remaining twenty-seven MI-24 Hind and fourteen MI-8 Hip helicopters that had previously been tasked with other duties. The Warsaw Pact forces in this sector were ready for the next big push. Should they cross the stretch of the Kiel Canal between the east of Rendsburg and the east coast, the enemy was confident that the NATO defence would crumble, and their entire northern flank would quickly fold.

  6th Panzer Grenadier Division, part of the German Bundeswehr, although only a division was a significant part of the Northern Army Group’s defence strategy, and had an essential mission: the defence of Schleswig-Holstein. In peacetime, the three brigades, the 16th and 17th Panzer Grenadier Brigades and the 18th Panzer Brigade, came under the command of NORTHAG. But, in the event of an invasion by the Soviets and the Warsaw Pact, the units would revert to the control of the Landjut. This force, known as the Baltic Approaches (BALTAP), headquartered in Karup, Denmark, was created to defend Denmark, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. The current commander, Lieutenant-General Pedersen, a Danish officer, was a worried man. The reinforcements coming into theatre were desperately needed if the General was to prevent the Soviet and East German forces from crossing the Kiel Canal, north of Kiel, along with the River Eider. Although reinforcements were now pouring into the country, it would be touch and go if his depleted force could hold long enough for these additional troops to reach their assigned positions.

  The 1st Infantry Brigade had landed at two ports in the north and were pushing hard to get into position and add to the defending troops desperately battling to prevent the enemy from crossing. Once across those two water barriers, the Warsaw Pact would be difficult to contain.

  Two-Troop, plus three further troops, consisting of a mix of Scimitars and Scorpions, had a long journey ahead of them. Once through Husum, west of the peninsular, they would split up. Two-Troop had been tasked with assisting the defenders of the bridge at Tonning, preventing any crossing of the River Eider at that point. T
hey were also to conduct a reconnaissance of the area and report back to brigade command.

  Three-Troop had been given Friedrichstadt and Four-Troop the north of Suderstapel. One-Troop would cross the river, head for Heide, and establish where the forward elements of the East German army had reached. Equally as important, they were to report back on the condition of the German forces defending the line and the estimated period of time they would be able to hold on. Between Tonning and Suderstapel would be the extent of 1st Brigade’s area of responsibility. From Suderstapel to the north of Kiel, the Allied Command Europe (ACE) Mobile Force, the second reinforcement for the region, along with Jutland Division, would be expected to defend. Behind the British reconnaissance regiment, the 1st Battalion, Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, were powering along the same road as fast as their Saxon armoured personnel carriers would allow. A battalion of the Queen’s Regiment, the 2nd Battalion, the Light Infantry, and a tank squadron would travel at a much more leisurely pace, ready to switch direction or deploy quickly should the enemy suddenly cross the river and attempt to push north as rapidly as possible, striving to encircle the defenders and destroy the Landjut forces in one quick strike. The 1st Battalion, the Wessex Regiment, a Territorial Army unit with its recruitment grounds the south-west of England, was mounted in Bedford 4-ton trucks, and would deploy around Husum and as far as Oster-Ohrstedt, acting as the Brigade’s reserve, either to be called forward to support or to bear the brunt of a Soviet breakthrough should the bulk of the Brigade find themselves on the run.

  The Brigadier was far from happy with the way events were unfolding. It was one thing to split his reconnaissance regiment across a fifteen-kilometre front; it was another to split the four companies of the Devonshire and Dorset’s. He was leaving a fifth of his force behind in Husum.

  0715, 9 JULY 1984. JUTLAND DIVISION, ALLIED LAND FORCES, SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN AND JUTLAND, FLENSBURG, WEST GERMANY.

  THE BLUE EFFECT -2 DAYS

  Eyes peered from behind curtains. German civilians stared through their windows as tank after tank thundered through the town of Flensburg. Leopard 1s, interspersed with M113s, some of the APCs armed with TOW anti-tank missiles, and M109 self-propelled howitzers, travelled at best speed. They moved with urgency, now finally committed to the battle for northern Germany and Denmark. Having left Denmark in the early hours of the morning, they were finally in Germany, on their way to reinforce elements of the Jutland Division already in position. The 3rd Jutland Brigade would act as rear security, ready to block an enemy breakthrough or reinforce parts of the line that were under threat of collapsing. The 1st and 2nd Jutland Brigades were already south of Schleswig, moving into position. They would deploy west of Rendsburg, plugging the gaps that were threatening the security of that part of the front line. They would be responsible for the stretch of the Kiel Canal and River Eider as far as Oldenbuttel, then northwest, covering the River Eider as far as Suderstapel, linking with the British 1st Brigade.

  Danish Military Police, supported by their Bundeswehr counterparts, waved the convoy through, watching nervously for any signs of the Warsaw Pact air force. They had got off lightly so far, but knew the quiet couldn’t last. The Soviets were not going to allow NATO to reinforce this sector so easily. Elements of the ACE mobile force were also starting to make an appearance. One British battalion, along with a strong force from the British Royal Marine Commando, were in the process of landing further north, along with a battalion from Luxembourg. The arrival of the US 6th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, with its six battalions, one of them a tank battalion, was expected within the next twenty-four hours. 9th (US) Infantry Division was at least one week away, if not more. The clock was ticking, and a storm was brewing.

  0730, 9 JULY 1984. 60TH FIELD REPLACEMENT REGIMENT, TERRITORIAL COMMAND, SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN. AREA OF RENDSBURG, WEST GERMANY.

  THE BLUE EFFECT -2 DAYS

  Colonel Faust looked over the shoulder of the battalion commander responsible for the defence of this sector of the city, and followed Leutnant-Colonel Keortig’s eye line. The water in front of them, an extension of the Audorfer Sea and the Kiel Canal, looked black and uninviting.

  “They’re going to try again before the day’s out,” suggested Keortig, commander of the 602nd Field Replacement Battalion (Reserve), 60th Field Replacement Regiment.

  They could hear the sound of distant explosions coming from the direction of Kiel, some thirty kilometres to the east. A major battle was in progress. Just as the Soviet 6th Guards Motor Rifle Division had thought it had succeeded in forcing the German reserves defending the city of Kiel to withdraw, the 612th Infantry Battalion (Reserve), from the 61st Home Defence Brigade, were sent in to bolster the flagging troops. Using their seven Leopard-1s to support the infantry, the German forces counter-attacked, throwing the enemy back, forcing the Soviet infantry into a retreat, street by street, threatening the flank of the motor rifle regiment to the west of the city. The Soviets had got as far as placing a platoon on the opposite bank, crossing under the cover of darkness in BMK bridging boats, but the follow-up forces were stopped midstream, and the stranded infantrymen surrendered when they recognised they were surrounded, separated from their mother unit, and rapidly running out of ammunition. The Soviet troops across the other side of the river were themselves nearly cut off from the main force as security platoons from the Verteidigungskreiskommando (VKK), West German territorial troops from the local sub-regional command, that had been in hiding in the city waiting for such an opportunity, were reinforced and attacked the Soviet regiment’s flank and rear. Their intention, however, was not to hold the ground taken but to keep the Soviet army on edge, and prevent them from establishing a safe area along the southern bank from where they could launch a full-scale assault river crossing.

  “They have no option,” responded Faust. “They’d hoped to take Kiel and cross somewhere along that stretch of the canal.”

  “We can’t hold it forever, sir.”

  “I agree. Soon, they’ll hold the entire length of the southern bank. Then it won’t take them long to find a weak point, and force a crossing somewhere. If they attempt to cross in our sector, I’ve put a company from the 603rd on standby to either act as a blocking force or support you in a counter-attack.”

  “Have the British committed any support for our sector yet?”

  “Not for us personally, but elements of the ACE mobile force have started to land, and a battalion has been allocated as a tactical reserve in this sector.”

  “They have to be at least twenty-four hours away. And a strategic reserve, sir?”

  The senior officer didn’t answer, which said it all.

  0725, 9 JULY 1984. 2ND BATTALION, JYDSKE DRAGONREGIMENT, 2ND JUTLAND BRIGADE. SOUTH OF HORSTEN, WEST GERMANY.

  THE BLUE EFFECT -2 DAYS

  The 2nd Battalion, Jydske Dragonregiment, or Jutland Dragoon Regiment, manoeuvred their tanks into position, ready to react to any attempted assault river crossing by the enemy. Although only Leopard 1s, the twenty main battle tanks could still disrupt any Soviet intentions to expand a bridgehead once they were able to secure a foothold on the northern bank of the Kiel Canal. The small force was split into two units. Half the force was secreted in a large forested area directly south of Horsten; the other half was closer to the canal west of the L126. The tunnel that passed under the canal had been blocked at both ends and booby-trapped, so it would not be passable by enemy soldiers.

  Further forward, infantry companies, transported by their M113s, camouflaged themselves and their vehicles, waiting to pounce when called upon. Close support was provided by four M113s with TOW anti-tank missiles and four Land Rovers also mounted with the TOW anti-tank weapon. Dug in, providing they survived Soviet artillery and air-to-ground strikes, they were the perfect weapon to hit any Soviet armour across the other side of the man-made canal. Although the canal was actually wider than the River Eider, because of its solid, man-made banks, it would actually be easier to cross than the riverba
nks that had been carved by nature.

  The 2nd Jutland Brigade was responsible for the stretch of the canal from the west of Rendsburg where it ran parallel to the River Eider, a mere two to three-kilometre gap at the widest point, to where the river linked up with the canal again near Oldenbuttel. From there, the 1st Jutland Brigade would take over, linking up with the 1st British Brigade at Suderstapel.

  0730, 9 JULY 1984. 17TH PANZER GRENADIER BRIGADE, 6TH PANZER GRENADIER DIVISION. SOUTH OF SUDERSTAPEL, WEST GERMANY.

  THE BLUE EFFECT -2 DAYS

  The Leopard 1 clawed its way across a farmer’s field until it reached the hedge line at the far side. Two hundred metres to the left, a second Leopard manoeuvred into position at the edge of a road, overlooking the open ground to their front. Other main battle tanks of the unit twisted on their tracks until they too were in a position where they could see forward; yet the bulk of their tanks were hidden by foliage at the side or to the front.

  The company commander checked in with his men, getting confirmation that they were ready. This would be the third ambush instigated in the last three hours. He was down to seven tanks after amalgamating two weaker platoons. They had to keep hitting the advancing units if they were to give the rest of their division, and the rest of the army, a chance to dig in along the next stop-line. The British were on their way as, further east, was the ACE mobile force.

  “They’re coming,” the young company commander informed the remnants of his tank company. “As soon as we’ve fired, we’ll pull straight back through you. Acknowledge.”

  “Seven-One-Alpha, understood.”

  “Seven-One-Bravo, understood.”