Atlantic Lion 83
Atlantic Lion 83 was a large German - Dutch - US-American - British FTX -NATO- maneuver in the Netherlands and northwest Germany in 1983. It was part of the Autumn Forge series of maneuvers .
Division of troops
The BLUE exercise force was composed as follows:
- 1st NL division “7 December” , Schaarsbergen
- 4th NL Division, Harderwijk
- 8th Panzer Brigade , Lueneburg
GREEN was structured as follows:
- 13th NL Pantser Brigade
- 17th / 21st Lancers (UK)
This included the following GREEN REFORGER troops:
- 1st US Cavalry Division "The First Team", Fort Hood , Texas
- Parts, 16th Signal Battalion, III. US Corps, Fort Hood, Texas
- 425th Transport Brigade
- 180th Transport Company
- USAR , Fort Sheridan
- 1175th Military Police Co., ARNG , Moberly, Missouri , USA
The exercise leadership provided the I. NL Corps under the commanding General WJ Loos and the high command of Lieutenant General JG Roos.
assignment
The I. NL Corps, as part of the Royal Dutch Army, trained its mission with the Atlantic Lion 83 exercise, which consisted of the defense of Western Europe within the framework of the NATO alliance and the protection of Dutch territory. It was a two-party combat exercise with a series of attack and defense operations (including aspects of patrol and infiltration) with the participation of the US GREEN Armored Division as the enemy representation. An outbreak of hostilities between GREEN and BLAULAND was assumed to be a war situation. BLAULAND provided a mobilization association with modern equipment.
scope
Atlantic Lion 83 took place from September 9 to 22, 1983 in the German-Dutch border area. The area extended from Wesel , Münster , Lingen , Nordhorn , Nordenham , Delmenhorst , Osnabrück , Hamm , German North Sea coast , to the Lippe river . The actual exercise corridor was only about 40 kilometers wide. 40,600 soldiers (24,000 NL soldiers, 11,000 members of the US Army, 5,000 German armed forces and 600 British soldiers), 9,770 wheeled vehicles (6,000 Dutch, 2,600 US American, 1,100 German armed forces and 70 British) and 2,350 tracked vehicles (850 Dutch, 1,000 US, 400 German Armed Forces, 100 British). The deployment phase lasted from September 9 to 16, 1983 with the official start of exercises on September 13, 1983.
procedure
Key data of the Atlantic Lion 83 exercise:
- September 9-14, 1983: Arrival of the REFORGER troops in Europe
- September 12 to 16, 1983: Arrival of the US troops in the control room (VfgR) "Brandy Station"
- September 16-17, 1983: Arrival of the 17th / 21st Lancers Regiment in the Netherlands
- September 17-30, 1983: Operation "Atlantic Lion 83"
- September 19-21, 1983: Operation "Aqua Marine"
For the approach from overseas, the US REFORGER troops used the airports Amsterdam - Schiphol, Brussels , Frankfurt , Düsseldorf , as well as the seaports of Antwerp , Vlissingen and Rotterdam . Large quantities of equipment material were provided from the POMCUS depots.
US REFORGER troops moved into the “Brandy Station” collection and disposal area between Weert , 's-Hertogenbosch and Oss in the south-east of the Netherlands ( North Brabant ) immediately after arriving in Europe and were then placed under Dutch orders. To this end, 8,000 US soldiers were flown in from Texas. One US brigade was stationed at the Budel exercise area and the second at the Oirschot exercise area near Eindhoven . Division staff and division troops were temporarily accommodated at the PIROC center (driving and training center of the PzGrenTr) in Veldhoven and the air force base in Eindhoven. The American troops were reinforced by the 13th NL Tank Brigade and the British 17th / 21st Lancers tank regiment. After the training force was fully assembled, the unit marched into the West German maneuver area.
Bridges were built across the Rhine for 3,100 vehicles and along the Maas .
"Aqua Marine" was a pioneer sub-exercise by Atlantic Lion 83. In the early morning hours of September 19, under war-like and combat-like conditions, water crossings were struck over the Rhine by means of military ferries and over the Maas by means of pioneer bridges, and 14,000 ground troops marched into it Allow practice area.
The ground troops were supported by combat aircraft as part of the NATO air force exercise " Cold Fire " .
media
- The great exercises of the Bundeswehr 2nd DVD. Breucom-Medien, 2011, ISBN 978-3-940433-33-6 .