Certain Rampart 80

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Outline of PzGrenBrig 35 during combat exercise CERTAIN RAMPART (from Truppendienst magazine 1980)
Liaison organization during NATO exercise Certain Rampart. To ensure interoperability, liaison officers GE-US and US-GE were deployed (from Truppendienst magazine 1980)

Certain Rampart 80 ( German "Safe Protection Wall" ) / REFORGER 80 was a German - US American - Canadian - REFORGER -FTX- military maneuver in Bavaria , which took place in the autumn of 1980 and in which a total of 41,000 NATO soldiers took part.

Division of troops

The BLUE exercise force was composed as follows:

The BLUE REFORGER troops are composed as follows:

ORANGE was structured as follows:

scope

Certain Rampart 80 / REFORGER 80 under the direction of the VII. US Corps took place from September 15 to 24, 1980, mainly in Franconian Switzerland in the Nuremberg , Augsburg , Regensburg , Ansbach , Gunzenhausen , Ingolstadt , Schwäbisch Hall and Heidenheim area . 41,000 soldiers as well as 9,500 wheeled and 3,300 tracked vehicles took part in the exercise.

Staff strength during exercise Certain Rampage
Ranks Officer Uffz Teams total
PzGrenBrig 35 (ORANGE) 134 708 2.263 3,105
Military practitioners 10 81 211 302
US soldiers 57 1,034 1,091
total 201 4,297 4,498

procedure

REFORGER 80 was supposed to test NATO's readiness to perform in a crisis on southern German soil . Gunzenhausen station was used by the 2nd ACR and the 354 tank battalion for the deployment. The metropolitan area was in the vicinity of Fünfstetten , Mündling , Gunzenhausen , Geilsheim , Auhausen , Treuchtlingen , Spalt , Altmühltal , Ochsenfeld , Solnhofen , Kaldorf and Petersbuch .

The maneuvering center of Certain Rampart 80 was in Katterbach. Bridges were built across the Altmühl near Eichstätt , Walting and Kipfenberg and across the Danube on September 19 and 20, 1980 near Ingolstadt / Zuchering district. 16,000 US soldiers, including 2,000 US National Guard soldiers, were flown in from the United States for the exercise. The bulk of the REFORGER troops were involved in the exercise " Spearpoint 80 " in Northern Germany . Certain Rampart 80 was assisted by 260 fighter jets and 350 helicopters in 260 U.S. Air Force air missions daily . Not far from Mantlach , a makeshift airfield was built with an approximately one kilometer long runway on which heavy Hercules transport planes landed, bringing troops and material from the USA .

The PzGrenBrig 35 defended from September 21 to 24, 1980 on the right wing of the 3rd US Inf Div after a brief delay battle over a width of approx. 30 kilometers. It was found that with the appropriate topography of the site, oversized widths can also be maintained. As long as the bulk of the BLUE forces held the positions, an armored enemy breakthrough ORANGE could not seriously endanger the cohesion of the defense. Furthermore, the high effectiveness of combat helicopters in combating broken armored forces was shown. Further lessons from Certain Rampart 80 were that for a maneuver of this magnitude at least nine months of preparation are mandatory and that an efficient liaison organization for mutual agreements in the conduct of operations between the German and American staffs is of great importance.

The maneuver damage was considerable, in particular caused by M110 field howitzer of the 3rd Battalion / 178st US Field Artillery Regiment as they passed through a narrow and steep alley in the village of Solnhofen . The biggest accident was the crash of a US liaison helicopter near Gunzenhausen .

Web links

Commons : REFORGER 1980  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

media

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Field Training Exercise, free-running exercise for the full force
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h REFORGER 80 - Certain Rampart on M136
  3. ↑ Reforger: Franconian Switzerland became a military training area. Northern Bavaria. January 25, 2019