Central Guardian 85

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U.S. main battle tank crews during Exercise Central Guardian 85

Central Guardian 85 ( en. "Wächter der Mitte" ) / REFORGER 85 was an American , German and Luxembourgish FTX - winter maneuver in Hesse at the beginning of 1985.

Division of troops

The BLUE exercise force was composed as follows:

The following REFORGER associations belonged to BLAU:

  • 197th Infantry Brigade (Separate), Fort Benning , Georgia
  • a battalion of the 175th Infantry Brigade (ARNG, Maryland )
  • 1st Battalion / 75th US Ranger Regiment, Fort Stewart, Georgia
  • 26th U.S. Infantry Division, ARNG, Mississippi
    • 1st Battalion / 110th US Armored Regiment
    • 2nd Battalion / 181th U.S. Infantry Regiment
  • 339th Reserve Hospital, Pittsburg
  • 14th Psychological Operation Battalion, USAR, California
  • 20th Psychological Operation Company, Portland , Oregon
  • 12 Army Units, 35 ARNG and USAR Units
  • 947th Medical Company, ARNG, Colorado

ORANGE was structured as follows:

  • 3rd US Armored Division
    • 503rd Aviation Battalion, Hanau
    • 533rd Military Intelligence Battalion (ID number ORANGE 59)
  • 3rd US Infantry Division
  • 41st U.S. Field Artillery Brigade
    • 2-83th US Field Artillery Regiment (ID number ORANGE 78)
  • Panzergrenadierbrigade 13 , Wetzlar (first week of training with 3,500 men and 900 wheeled and tracked vehicles for ORANGE)

The following REFORGER associations also belonged to ORANGE:

  • Headquarters, 4th US Infantry Division (Mech), Ft. Carson, Colorado
    • 1st U.S. Brigade
    • 2nd U.S. Brigade
  • 30th Armored Brigade, ARNG, Tennessee
    • 1st Battalion / 199th US Armored Regiment

The other troops included the Feldjäger Battalion 740, Mainz

scope

Central Guardian 85 under the exercise direction of the V US Corps and the maneuver center in Wettenberg took place from January 11 to February 28, 1985 in the Kassel area , Homberg / Efze , Neukirchen , Schwalmstadt , Vogelsbergkreis , Frankenberg , Battenberg , Marburg , Biedenkopf , Gießen , Lauterbach , Neuenkirchen, Grebenhain , Bad Hersfeld , Lahntal and Wetzlar . 65,000 soldiers (17,300 US soldiers with 1,900 wheeled and tracked vehicles, 700 trailers and 41 helicopters flown in from the USA), 15,000 wheeled and 6,000 tracked vehicles and 600 helicopters took part in the large-scale exercise. For the REFORGER measure, Mönchengladbach served as an airport (JHQ Rheindahlen) for the deployment. The advance detachment of 500 men arrived there on January 11, 1985. In addition, there were 300,000 tons of equipment, some of which also went ashore in the port of Antwerp . The 197th US Infantry Brigade (Mech. Brig. Or Separate Brig.) From Fort Benning, Georgia was unloaded by ocean ship in Amsterdam and then transported by rail to the training area. 12,000 men from the Bundeswehr were involved.

Weather conditions

The weather varied depending on the geographical location in the exercise area. While in the second week of the exercise only solid dirt roads and country roads could be used in the north due to the mild weather conditions, severe winter conditions prevailed in the south, which hindered marching movements due to frost and required the use of snow plows, which in some cases led to driving bans.

procedure

At Central Guardian 85, the Air-Land-Battle System 2000 was practiced. In this context, the "Division 86" structure was tested. The ground troops were supported by combat aircraft missions in the air force exercise " Cold Fire 85".

The area around Frankenberg , Kirtorf , Battenberg , Gießen , Lauterbach , Schwalmstadt , Homberg , Wetzlar , Bischoffen , Butzbach , Lautertal , Langgöns , Vogelsberg , Gemünden , Gilserberg , Treysa , Heidelbach , Ulrichstein , Sieckendorf , Cölbe , Sarnau , Goßfelden , served as a conurbation . Runzhausen and Frohnhausen .

Disposal areas were:

After the end of the exercise and before moving back, 6,000 soldiers and 2,000 wheeled and tracked vehicles of the 4th US Infantry Division gathered as a REFORGER unit in the Hanau area . The 4th US Infantry Division was relocated from Erlangen Airport. Another 2,500 soldiers were transferred from the Rhein-Main Air Base in Frankfurt am Main to the USA.

Central Guardian was divided into the following phases:

  • Deployment advance command from January 11, 1985
  • March into the disposal areas: January 17-19, 1985
  • Start of exercise: January 21, 1985
  • End of exercise: January 30, 1985 (originally planned for January 31, 1985)
  • March 1 to 2, 1985
  • Return of the REFORGER troops: by February 28, 1985

Bridges were built across the Lahn using the M-4T6 Floating Aluminum Bridge. Air landings were planned in two places: on January 19, 1985 by 1-75 US Infantry Battalion (400 rangers) after a ten-hour overseas flight from the USA over Grafenwoehr using C-141 transport aircraft (the jump was canceled due to bad weather), and on January 28, 1985 at Frohnhausen / Frankenberg by a light Luxembourg infantry battalion, which was deposited with UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. Around 150 helicopters were stationed at Fritzlar airfield during the exercise.

Used device

Among other things, M60 , M1 Abrams main battle tanks and M113 personnel carriers were used as large military equipment.

Web links

Commons : REFORGER 1985  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

media

  • The great exercises of the Bundeswehr 2nd DVD. Breucom-Medien, 2011, ISBN 978-3-940433-33-6 .
  • Walter Böhm and Diego Ruiz Palmer: REFORGER 85 Central Guardian - major maneuvers for the winter war against the Warsaw Pact. Tankograd Publishing. 2020.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Field Training Exercise, free-running exercise for the full force
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Central Guardian 85 - REFORGER 85 on M136
  3. ^ Airland Battle 2000. 1982 version
  4. ↑ Army 86 on Global Security