Spearpoint 80

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Spearpoint maneuvering environment in Central Europe in 1980
Maneuver map Spearpoint 80 corps area with marked air landings ORANGE
Spearpoint 80 maneuver map. Exercise phase September 1st, 17th 19/80. Attack training force ORANGE and delay battle
Spearpoint 84 (time does not match Spearpoint 80)
REFORGER tank movement in the Netherlands in 1980
Chieftain main battle tank
Harrier whiz on runway in forest

Spearpoint 80 / Crusader 80 ( en. "Speerspitze / Kreuzritter" ) was a British - German - US-American FTX major maneuver in Lower Saxony in the fall of 1980. It was the largest British military maneuver on German soil to date after the Second World War .

Division of troops

The exercise management was carried out by the I. UK Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Peter Leng.

The BLUE exercise force was composed as follows:

Enemy representation by ORANGE troops:

  • 4th UK Armored Division (Phase 2 at ORANGE)
  • 3rd Panzer Brigade , Nienburg / Weser
    • Panzerbataillon 33 ( Leopard 1 )
    • Panzergrenadierbataillon 32 ( SPz Marder )
    • Tank Battalion 334
    • Panzerartilleriebataillon 335 ( M109 )
    • Panzer Pioneer Battalion 1, Holzminden
  • 2nd US Armored Division "Hell on Wheels" (Phase 4 at BLUE)
    • Headquarter / division command post (REFORGER troops)
    • 17th US Engineer Battalion, Texas (REFORGER Troop)
    • 1st Brigade (REFORGER Troop)
    • 2nd Brigade (REFORGER Troop)
    • 3rd Brigade, Garlstedt
  • Parts of 82nd US Airborne Division , Fort Bragg , North Carolina , USA
    • Headquarters / division command post
    • 3rd Battalion / 325th Infantry Regiment (Air Assault / Airborne from Fort Bragg with 600 soldiers)
    • 3/39 U.S. Infantry
    • 15th UK AirMobile (TA)
    • 2nd UK Battalion "Royal Greenjackets"
    • B-Company / 1st Battalion "Worcestershire and Sherwood Forresters"
  • Air support by fighter planes and fighter-bombers as part of " Cold Fire 80":

The management and referee service provided the following parts:

assignment

  1. September 15-16, 1980 Mobilization of forces
  2. September 17, 1980 Phase 1. Attack Delay Force battle
  3. September 18-20, 1980 Phase 2. Battle in the main defense position
  4. September 21-23, 1980 Phase 3. Operation Goodwood. Bondage battle
  5. September 24th to 26th, 1980 Phase 4. BLUE counterattack
  6. September 26, 1980 exercise ended

Spearpoint was supposed to simulate a threat posed by the Warsaw Pact in a “realistic and demanding way” and was indispensable due to the Yugoslav head of state Tito and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan .

scope

At Spearpoint 80 there were around 100,000 soldiers (94,000 soldiers at "Crusader 80", nationalities: 76,300 UK, 22,000 - of which 17,000 were moved from the USA to the training room through REFORGER measures - USA and 3,700 BRD), 18,000 cycling and 2,788 tracked vehicles involved. The focus of the exercise was the area around Hanover , with the open fighting concentrated on the Hildesheimer Börde . The simulated battles subsequently shifted between Braunschweig and Hildesheim , on both sides of the B1 , as well as in the south-western area of ​​Hanover near Pattensen , Stadthagen and Hameln . The practice area was bordered in the north between Bielefeld and Wolfsburg by the A2 , in the east by an imaginary guide line between Wolfsburg and Goslar and in the south by the B64 between Seesen , Holzminden and Paderborn . The start for Spearpoint took place northeast of the Ruhr area, where a main stream of military vehicles was set in motion on the Minden - Hanover route . The area where they meet was formed by the Leine Valley or Leinebergland .

procedure

The exercise, the preliminary planning of which took two years, took place between September 14th and 26th, 1980 in the area between Braunschweig, Wolfenbüttel , Goslar, Northeim , Hanover, Hameln and Minden . By September 15, 1980, 10,000 professional soldiers and 20,000 reservists had been transported to Lower Saxony from Great Britain. The troop transport and their 8,000 vehicles from England took place via Antwerp , Brussels , Düsseldorf and Gütersloh . The metropolitan area of ​​Spearpoint 80, in which the parade began on September 14, was around Hildesheim, Hanover, Alfeld and Hameln. Bridges were built by Panzer Brigade 3 after they had left their area of disposal south of Peine , over four US-MFAB bridges (Mobile Floating Assault Bridge) over the Leine near Schulenburg (by the 17th US Engineer Battalion) and the Weser . These bridgeheads were secured by ORANGE.

The following air landings occurred during Spearpoint 80:

  • September 17, 1980. 3:02 pm. Air landing of the 3rd Battalion / 82. US Airborne Division with 600 soldiers and light vehicles in the Algermissen area (Algermissen / Lühnde / Bledeln ) from ten Lockheed C-141A "Starlifters" set down from a height of 300 meters. The planes had started in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She was withdrawn at one-minute intervals, with two to three C-141A flights being flown to it. The landing area was about 400 × 2000 meters. The first organized actions of the landed paratroopers were only possible after an hour.
  • September 20, 1980. Eastern edge of Osterwald on the mountain range of the same name . Soldiers of the 16th Scottish Battalion, coming from Glasgow, were deployed from seven Lockheed C-130E "Hercules" behind the BLUE lines, below the Marienburg . 45 soldiers were dropped from a height of 300 meters at two-minute intervals. The landing zone was 150 × 700 meters. It took 20 minutes to gather strength. As part of Operation "Goodwood", a total of 3,000 ORANGE paratroopers were dropped in a thrust attack from the east. In the Feldmark there were several explosions, the use of 120 tanks including launches from laser cannons, and simulated aerial battles. The counterattack by BLAU occurred in Degersen and Redderse . BLAU reacts with MILAN attacks from anti-tank positions in the villages of Langreder, Egestorf, Gehrden and Leveste. A hit rate of 80% was set. The ROT tank attack was also broken in front of minefields that were in front of the villages of Gehrden , Wennigsen and Degersen. Air support was provided by low-flying helicopters and Harrier vertical takeoffs.
  • Airborne parts of the 82nd US Airborne Division near Abbensen using two Chinook transport helicopters .

In the Gütersloh artillery barracks, a field hospital with a capacity of 400 beds was set up in a garage complex. In addition, five corps supply points (replenishment parks), one of them in Gütersloh , were set up. The third part of "Crusader 80" was a so-called "Telephone Battle (staff frame exercise)" that took place in eastern England.

Spearpoint 80 was divided into four individual phases:

  • Phase 1. September 17th, 1980: delay battle of the 4th UK Armored Division. Attack ORANGE should be tied for at least 24 hours to give 1st and 2nd UK-Amored Divisions time to prepare their defense positions. ORANGE attacked from the Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel area in the west and BLAU had to withdraw behind the leash.
  • Phase 2. September 18-20, 1980: Burglary by ORANGE and battles along the delay line (VZL). On September 18, both parties to the conflict met in the Elze , Sarstedt and Hoheneggelsen area . There was fighting in the Braunschweig-Hildesheim area. The 4th UK Armored Division switched sides. Advance through ORANGE to the line and you reach a bridgehead on the west bank.
  • Phase 3. September 21 to 23, 1980: Operation “Goodwood” by BLUE (in the Ronnenberg area to Barsinghausen based on the Allied operation in 1944 in Normandy ). Fight in a defensive area of ​​the Coppenbrügge basin . ORANGE attacked with PzBrig 3 in the south and the 4th UK Armored Division in the north. Bondage battle in the Pattensen room - Springe and Bennigsen . After two days of fighting, ORANGE paused for consolidation. BLUE prepared the counterattack. The 2nd US Armored Division switched to BLUE. The decisive attacks took place on September 23, 1980.
  • Phase 4. September 24th to 26th, 1980: Counterattack by BLUE in an easterly direction, mainly led by the 2nd US Armored Division. Battles on both sides of the B3 between Laatzen and Alfeld. On September 25, the event shifted to the eastern district of Hildesheim . Official end of the exercise on September 26, 1980 after ORANGE has successfully hit back.

Due to the severe maneuver damage in the Deister area, especially in the Barsinghausen area, it was decided to exclude built-up areas and settlements from maneuver negotiations in the future.

Web links

media

  • The great exercises of the Bundeswehr 2nd DVD. Breucom-Medien, 2011, ISBN 978-3-940433-33-6 .
  • TG-9022 Spearpoint 80. British and American forces against the threat from the east. Tankograd Publishing. 2014.
  • Ken Howard: Exercise Crusader. Spearpoint 80. A Sketch Book. Hampton. Four Winds Press. 1980.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Leg Square Leg exercise from September 11 to 24, 1980: at command level in UK, home defense with nuclear strike and Jog Trot exercise from September 1 to October 4, 1980: staff exercise of the British I. Corps and the logistics support command for the continental line on which supplies moved from the UK to the European continent
  2. ↑ Field Training Exercise, free-running exercise full force
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Spearpoint 80 / Crusader 80 on Military Database - The maneuver database
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Spearpoint 80 / Crusader 80 on M136
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Today maneuver battles only explosions and kills. Deister-Leine-Zeitung of September 23, 1980 on Military Database Spearpoint 1980
  6. ↑ Reinforcement of BAOR
  7. ↑ consisting of volunteers
  8. ↑ mobile floating storm bridge ferry
  9. ↑ possibly 5th Battalion Airborne Forces - The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders / 16 Air Assault Brigade
  10. ↑ David Stone: Cold War Warriors . Pen and Sword. 1998, ISBN 978-0-85052-618-9 , p. 239.
  11. ↑ Planning exercise of the command posts