Sharp Blade 81

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SHARP BLADE maneuver card 14.-18. September 1981. Combat exercise of the II DE Corps

Sharp Blade 81 was part of the Autumn Forge series, a German - American - Canadian FTX military maneuver in Baden-Württemberg , which took place in autumn 1981 and in which a total of 48,000 NATO soldiers took part.

PAH of the Army Aviation, which was used for the first time on exercise Sharp Blade 81
Jaguar 1 tank destroyer

Division of troops

Mainly involved were forces of the II Corps . The following forces were assigned to the BLUE exercise force:

The RED exercise squads were composed as follows:

4,000 soldiers from the 1st Mountain Division , Garmisch-Partenkirchen with parts of Airborne Brigade 26 , Zweibrücken and Luftlandebrigade 27 , Lippstadt acted as referees .

The Bundeswehr Air Force was involved with the following associations:

In addition, there were allied air forces:

  • 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, Lakenheath with Phantom II F-4D
  • 52nd Tactical Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem AB with Phantom II F-4D
  • 81st Tactical Fighter Wing, Bentwaters AB with A-10A Thunderbolt II
  • 1st Canadian Air Force Group, Soellingen AB with Starfighter CF – 104
  • 1st French fighter-bomber squadron with Jaguar A
  • 3rd Belgian fighter-bomber squadron, beer set with Mirage 5-B

assignment

The following situation was announced as the starting point in the newspaper "Manöver-Express":

“In the last few days there have been clashes on the border between the Western Pact and the Eastern Alliance, which runs along the ridge of the Black Forest. Attack preparations of the wide pact were recognized. The Eastern Alliance then ... the deployment of their associations ... "

Lieutenant General Meinhard Glanz , commanding general of the II. Corps and trainer announced that Sharp Blade 81 had no political aspects of the usual East-West conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, but rather a tactical training background.

The Luftwaffe had received the order to "lock in the depths". The enemy should be prevented from supplying reserves to the VRV and therefore had to be fought far in the hinterland.

The subjects of the exercise were defense and counterattack against superior enemy forces attacking over a large area with changing focus after a short preparation time. Inclusion in delay and defense. Gaining reserves from the front.

scope

A total of 48,000 soldiers, 3,000 tracked vehicles (1,500 battle and armored personnel carriers ) and 13,000 wheeled vehicles took part in the training room around the cities of Ingolstadt , Stuttgart , Rottweil , Hechingen , Münsingen , Riedlingen , Pfullendorf and Tuttlingen . In addition, 150 helicopters and 300 combat aircraft. Nationalities were 40,000 soldiers in the German Armed Forces, 3,600 soldiers in the American and 3,500 in the Canadian armed forces. 1,100 reservists were deployed to provide support and to increase the target strength .

procedure

Sharp Blade 81 took place from September 10th to 19th, 1981. The exercise began with the parade exercise from September 10 to 12, 1981 in the agglomeration of Nagold , Oberndorf am Neckar , Rottweil , Singen , Neckar , Sulz am Neckar , Sigmaringen and Horb . Parallel to the military exercise, Allied air forces flew 250 to 300 missions for both exercise troops as part of the NATO air force exercise " Cold Fire ". Sharp Blade 81 was divided into two exercise sections. In phase 1, an armored infantry division should deploy and develop. Phase 2 of the core exercise period from September 14 to 18, 1981, consisted of combat actions.

During the deployment of the 4th PzGrenDiv, ROT air forces destroyed the bridges at Ingolstadt and Leipheim . As a consequence, pioneers BLAU had to build war bridges in order to enable the 4th PzGrenDiv to cross the Danube . The bridges were built in the protection of thick fog on September 10, 1981 by the heavy engineer regiment 85 (PiRgt 85) from Mainz, the floating bridge battalion 230 (SchwBrBtl) and engineer battalion 4 (PiBtl 4) from Bogen near Großmehring , Wackerstein and Leipheim for the transfer of 3,000 vehicles took place across the Danube. On September 14, 1981, further bridges were built near Epfendorf and Altoberndorf across the Neckar . This led to an interruption of the laying by the rear combat area by train and thus to a delayed arrival in the operational area. On September 14 and 16, 1981, the paratrooper battalion 251 (FschJgBtl 251) carried out air landings in the area of Schura , Dettingen an der Erms and Altoberndorf , as well as the air landing brigade 25 (LLBrig 25) southwest of Sigmaringen.

The Sharp Blade 81 maneuver was attended by Federal President Karl Carstens and a large number of international military observers.

innovation

For the first time, the anti-tank helicopter ( PAH ) was used against armored attack formations under combat conditions (contour flight and fighting enemy tanks with the PALR HOT ). Other large military equipment that was used in practice during the exercise was the Gepard flak tank and the Jaguar tank destroyer .

Web links

media

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Sharp blade on M136
  2. ↑ Field Training Exercise full maneuver
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g 1981 Sharp Blade Part 1 on Military Database - The maneuver database
  4. ↑ 1st US InfBrig?
  5. ^ Headquarters and headquarters company of the 1st Infantry Division (FWD) in Göppingen
  6. ^ Reserve of the VII. US Corps or II. DE Corps from Lahr. 1st Mech. Brigade with 114 Leopard 1 battle tanks, an important tank unit of the Cold War
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g Bundeswehr. Expensive blade sharpening. The autumn maneuver "Sharp Blade - Are large-scale exercises still useful? The time. September 25, 1981
  8. ↑ Maneuvers in East and West. The time. September 11, 1981
  9. ↑ Relocation of troops / march by rail
  10. ↑ Exercise part anti-tank defense from the air
  11. ↑ Anti-tank guided missile