The Nord-Ostee-Kanal, that ran across Schleswig-Holstein, fed from the Baltic Sea in the north-east and from the North Sea to the south-west, was NATO’s second stop line in this sector. Here, NATO hoped to stop the NVA and Soviet forces thrusting north to Flensburg and deep into Denmark. They had fought well, defending the eastern sector of Hamburg and Lubeck on the opposite coast, but the Warsaw Pact forces were just too powerful. Once the Soviet and East German forces had broken the line, the defenders just had to keep moving; otherwise the enemy would have just rolled up a flank and they would have been surrounded. Better to pull back where they could prepare better defences. This stretch was being defended by the remnants of 16th Panzer Brigade of the 6th Panzer Division. Germans were now fighting Germans.
After the war, the East German Army, the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) came into existence when, in 1955, the Federal Republic of Germany formed its own army to contribute to its own defence in support of NATO forces. The Deutschland Democratic Republic, DDR, authorised by their Soviet masters, responded quickly and, by 1962, conscription was enforced. The NVA grew to the 108,000 strong army it was now. Along with Soviet divisions, the 5th German Army had struck at Lubeck, quickly crossing the Elbe-Lubeck Canal, supported by the Soviet 336th Naval Infantry Brigade landing west of Gromitz. With T-55 tanks, BTR-60s and BTR-70s, wheeled armoured infantry combat vehicles, and in the region of 4,000 naval infantry, they quickly overpowered the local defence force, threatening the left flank of the Bundeswehr forces defending Lubeck who were in danger of having Soviet troops behind them. They were forced to make a steady withdrawal. The Naval Brigade, as well as threatening the eastern and northern sector of Lubeck, also struck out for Pansdorf, to cut off the Travemunde Peninsular.
Over time, the Bundeswehr were slowly pushed back, overwhelmed by the sheer size of the Soviet and Nationale Volksarmee forces arrayed against them. Schleswig-Holstein-Command had already decided to abandon their headquarters in Neumunster and would need time to get organised at their new location: the town of Schleswig. Their latest defensive position was a line that ran across from Brunsbuttal in the west, through Schafstedt, Rendsburg to the north of Kiel. Landwehr and Jaeger units were still fighting the Soviets in the city of Kiel, the Russian leaders reluctant to commit too many forces to a street by street, house by house battle.
The Bundeswehr’s 6th Panzer Division had been fighting for nearly three days and the men were exhausted. Their machines were holding up well, Leopard 1s in the main, but due to heavy interdiction from the Soviet air force, fuel and ammunition was in short supply. The three brigades, one Panzer and two Panzer grenadier, along with a mixture of Jaeger and Landwehr units, had a front of 100 kilometres to hold. They were now dug in behind the Nord-Ostee-Kanal, their mission to hold until the arrival of much needed reinforcements from the Allied Command Europe (ACE) Mobile Force, a multinational force that would not only demonstrate the solidarity of the NATO alliance but could also pack a punch in its own right.
The platoon commander pulled his head down as some stray shots zipped overhead. He needed some heavier firepower and called forward his two remaining BMP-1s, the two others lost to a shell from a Bundeswehr Leopard-1. The two BMPs soon got into the firefight, their 73mm guns and PKT coaxial machine guns putting extra fire down onto the enemy. He only allowed five of the 73mm rounds to be fired from each gun. Ammunition was starting to run low, and he wasn’t sure when they would be resupplied. He heard large explosions coming from deeper into the village as the rest of the battalion of the 8th Motorschutz Division got to grips with the enemy within. Every time that word ‘enemy’ went through his mind, it felt uncomfortable. These were Germans, like him. Were they truly the enemy? he thought.
The previous day, he had spoken to some wounded Bundeswehr soldiers, and one of them asked him why they were attacking them. What had they done wrong? He found he couldn’t answer. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he didn’t actually know the true reason himself. The radio crackled, and his radio operator confirmed that the enemy were pulling back. They were to wait ten minutes, then advance. Once secured, the bridging units and additional forces could be brought forward ready to force a crossing the next day.
Behind them, the 9th Panzer Division was ready to exploit the crossing once a bridgehead had been formed. A fast crossing, fanning out west and east, attempting to cut off the retreating Bundeswehr forces, and they would be one step closer to entering Denmark.
Colonel Bajek, his black tanker’s uniform and badge showing him to be with the Polish army, steadied himself as he rocked backwards and forwards in the turret of his T-55 tank, attempting to steady the map as they raced along Route 76. He needed to be sure when to come off the road, to pick the right time to bear north, passing around the northern outskirts of Tostedt. His orders were clear: don’t get bogged down fighting for towns, or even villages; bypass them. Push west and hard. His objective was Rotenburg, less than twenty kilometres from the town of Achim and the River Werdesee. His division had been ordered to secure the east bank of the river by nightfall. An Air Assault Brigade would be assaulting the western bank the following morning. A crossing had to be forced, a bridgehead made, enabling 20th Tank Division, with its more modern T-72 tanks, to break out. He hoped to command one of the T-72 tank battalions one day, if not a full regiment. His own T-55AD2 command tank was old, built in 1976. His battalion had been plagued with breakdowns and, out of his battalion of forty tanks, five had been left behind for repairs.
At the same time he heard the rumble of an explosion up ahead, his radio crackled in his headphones beneath his black-ribbed, padded helmet. “Zero-Jeden. Shontaktuj.”
“Damn, another contact!” He groaned loudly above the sound of the tank’s engine and the rattle of tracks.
He ordered his driver to pull over. He ran his finger across the map. His lead company was about 200 metres up ahead, the other two companies behind.
“What is it?”
“One of those missile panzers again, sir.”
“Have you destroyed it?”
“No, sir, it fired its missile then disappeared.”
“Hit and run, hit and run,” he mumbled to himself. The Bundeswehr Racketenjagdpanzers, particularly the Jaguar 1s, had been hitting his battalion for the last twenty-four hours. They would simply hide, hit the first tank in the column, then race off at sixty kilometres an hour to set up another ambush. Four tanks lost to date. He cursed his senior officers for pushing his unit so fast, diverting the division’s reconnaissance for other flanking tasks.
“Lysek, move north. Leave a platoon on the road to cover, then head north.”
“Understood, sir, north.”
He looked at his map again. “Watch out for the village to your north, Dohren. I’ll call in some air support. See if we can’t give them a taste of their own medicine.”
“When will you release my platoon, sir?”
“Once the battalion is clear of Dohren, they can join up with you. Moroz can take the lead then. Out.”
He spoke into his intercom, ordering his driver forward. He turned, hearing his second tank company approaching from behind. Time to move north soon, skirt the town ahead, and press on.