Defensive Lions 83
Defensive Löwen 83 was a German - US American - Belgian FTX military maneuver in Hesse . It took place in the fall of 1983; a total of 48,000 NATO soldiers took part.
Division of troops
The instructor had the III. Corps of the Bundeswehr under the command of Lieutenant General Hans-Joachim Mack . The BLUE exercise force was composed as follows:
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5th Panzer Division , Diez
- 14th Panzer Brigade , Neustadt
- Panzergrenadierbrigade 13 , Wetzlar
- Armored Reconnaissance Battalion 5
- Homeland Security Brigade 54 , Trier ( Military District Command IV , Mainz )
- Luftlandebrigade 26 , Saarlouis (initially RED)
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3rd US Armored Division
- 1st Brigade, Kirch-Göns
RED was structured as follows:
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2nd Panzer Grenadier Division , Kassel
- Panzergrenadierbrigade 5 "Kurhessen", Homberg
- Panzer Brigade 6 , Hofgeismar
- Belgian unit
The 12th Panzer Division , Veitshoechheim , provided the command and referee service .
scope
Defensive Löwen 83 took place from September 16 to 22, 1983 (core exercise period: September 18 to 22, 1983) in Northern Hesse and partly in the Westerwald . 48,000 soldiers (including 1,800 reservists and 3,500 US soldiers), 13,000 wheeled and 2,500 tracked vehicles and 200 helicopters took part in the army exercise.
procedure
The conurbation was located in the districts of Schwalm-Eder , Marburg-Biedenkopf and Neustadt during a deployment phase from September 16 to 17, 1983. ROT opened the fighting with an attack from the A7 Fulda - Kassel area in a westerly direction with the aim of the take the middle section of the Rhine . After BLAU had taken up its defensive positions, it launched a deep counterattack into the right flank of ROT, which meant that ROT had to withdraw its forces. Like most NATO military exercises, the ground forces were supported by fighter planes and fighter-bombers (often low- level combat missions) as part of the Cold Fire air force exercise .
Guests of the exercise were Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl , Federal Defense Minister Manfred Wörner , NATO Secretary General Joseph Luns and CSCE representatives . The total cost of Wehrhaft Löwen 83 was 20 million DM .
Web links
- Defensive lions 83 on M136
- WEHRHAFTE LÖWEN 83: Vol. 1 on archive portal
- Exercises and maneuvers in the region on militarized landscapes
media
- The great exercises of the Bundeswehr 2nd DVD. Breucom-Medien, 2011, ISBN 978-3-940433-33-6 .