Fallex 66

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Fallex 66 (falling exercise '66) refers to a command post exercise of the NATO in the Cold War , which was held 1966th This exercise was intended to test the interaction between the individual NATO organs, national decision-makers and their subordinate recipients of orders. Actual troop movements did not take place.

prehistory

Entrance to the west-east part of the government bunker

FALLEX 66 had a very political background, as for the first time German politicians were actively involved in this exercise at the request of the federal government . The federal government took the opportunity to try out the very controversial emergency laws that had not yet been passed .

In order to make the exercise seem more realistic, the Joint Committee Ueb (for the sake of exercise) was housed in the alternative seat of the constitutional bodies of the Confederation for Crisis and War (AdVB) in Marienthal, which was planned for the event of a nuclear war .

More than 1,200 ministerial officials and the military and 44 members of the Bundestag were involved in FALLEX 66 , including Interior Minister Paul Lücke ( CDU ) as Federal Chancellor Ueb . Last but not least, the aim of the exercise was to dispel the SPD MPs ' concerns about the emergency laws and to give them an insight into government responsibility in order to obtain a two-thirds majority for the necessary amendment to the Basic Law . For this reason, the grand coalition under Kurt Georg Kiesinger and Willy Brandt was later also called the "Bunker Coalition ".

Exercise course

The FALLEX 66 exercise scenario was based on the following assumptions:

TOP GEAR

On October 12, 1966, the first reports of mounting tension in the Balkans came in . A short time later, satellite states of the Soviet Union (referred to as Orange in the exercise ) occupied neutral Yugoslavia (neutral brown country in the Balkans) and prepared an invasion of Turkey (unspecified NATO country). After targeted acts of sabotage , the first units of the enemy crossed the inner-German border .

The use of conventional weapons seemed sufficient for the situation in Central Europe. In the Balkans, however, the situation became more and more precarious and the Joint Committee received a motion to approve the use of tactical nuclear weapons in the Balkans.

The Joint Committee approved this request on condition that the country concerned agreed to the operation. However, there was no simulated use of nuclear weapons. The threat of action brought Orange to its senses, and the latter offered a ceasefire and further negotiations.

After four days the exercise ended with a victory for NATO troops. During this time, the Joint Committee passed 17 secret pigeonhole laws and 29 other ordinances.

JOLLY ROGER and FULL MOON

It later became known - namely the FDP politician Wolfram Dorn commented - that the MPs had only attended part of the exercise (TOP GEAR). TOP GEAR should not make politicians too unsettled by the extremely favorable course of events.

The following parts JOLLY ROGER and FULL MOON were carried out without the participation of politicians and took a much less favorable course.

With JOLLY ROGER a global nuclear exchange of blows (so-called all-out war ) was simulated and FULL MOON had the military and civil reorganization after such an exchange of blows as its subject.

The emergency laws were nevertheless passed by the grand coalition of the SPD and CDU and came into force on June 28, 1968.

See also

literature

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