An Mi-2 Hoplite, a small lightly armed transport helicopter, swooped in, landing close to the control tower. Perhaps a senior officer wanting a last-minute face to face with General Zimyatov, who had chosen to be well forward for the operation about to commence. The General would fly in with the second wave.
Boykov looked again at his own Mi-8 Hip; able to carry twenty-four combat troops or play a close air-support role. Today, though, it would be used as his command helicopter, at least until he was on the ground. Its two stub wings supporting four weapons pylons capable of carrying rocket pods, anti-tank missiles or machine guns, looked bare. The weight of the communications equipment and his immediate HQ staff created too much weight to allow a weapons load to be carried.
An airborne officer of the Vozdushno Desantyne Voyska (VDV), Lieutenant-Colonel Stanislav Yezhov, battalion commander of one of the BMD assault battalions of the 108th Airborne Regiment, came up alongside his regimental commander.
“I don’t need to ask if your boys are ready.”
“I would describe their mood as impatient, sir.”
Boykov smiled. He understood their feelings. They had been geared up, wound up and prepared for a major assault on a number of occasions, only to be stood down at the last minute as the ground forces had failed to get close to making a breach in the British lines. Both attempts at crossing the river at Gronau and Schulenburg had failed. Stavka had considered committing the airborne forces to facilitate a crossing of the River Leine, but relented. The purpose of the airborne divisions was to facilitate the advance of the Operational Manoeuvre Group, enabling the Soviet forces to bite deep into the British rear area; not to help the main ground assault. Should they be committed too early, and the 10th and 7th Guards Tank Divisions fail again, they could find themselves isolated by NATO reserves, and slowly destroyed.
Boykov responded, “Well, Stani, we’ll know soon enough whether or not our Motherland’s confidence in our skills is warranted.”
Chapter 31
One of the tasks of the Group of Soviet Forces Germany’s 16th Tactical Air Army was to protect an area from south of Gronau to Sarstedt in the north, to a depth of nearly thirty kilometres. For once, surface-to-air missiles suddenly became silent on both sides such was the density of aircraft in the combat zone above them. As a consequence, the fighters and ground-attack aircraft from both sides became so intertwined that, on occasion, an aircraft from either side was shot down by their own missiles. NATO and the Warsaw Pact, recognising that a surface-to-air missile no-go zone had been established, deliberately kept their fighters within a 100 square kilometre area. To support the air assault by the 108th Guards Airborne Regiment, the Soviet air force maintained small formations of fighters over their intended landing zone, a ten-kilometre diameter sector around the town of Pattensen, accomplishing local air superiority. Not without cost. NATO air forces reacted quickly, and a steady trickle of attrition affected both sides as they continued to battle for command of the air above the intended target. NATO air forces were struggling to prioritise their targets, the requests for support now coming in thick and fast.
Other aircraft, such as the Soviet Flogger close-support aircraft blasted the ground with bombs and rockets. Mig-29 Fulcrums dropped cluster bombs, weakening 7th Armoured Brigade’s defences ready for the impending attack; their targets: any armour, troops or reinforced positions that were in the path of the air armada that was following close behind. They strafed dug-in troops with cannon fire, and any quarry that resembled a communications vehicle or headquarters complex, and any refuelling activity. They had to clear an area where their comrades were soon to land. These pilots were not so lucky. Deemed as safe targets, in that there was less chance of one of the NATO aircraft being hit due to the low levels the attacking aircraft were at, even the poor performing Blowpipe shoulder-launched SAMs finally had some targets to go for, and in 7th Armoured Brigade’s area of responsibility, shot down two Flogger Js. Rapier missiles accounted for three more: two Floggers and a Fulcrum. One flight of Flogger Ds had a particular target in mind: the British ground-to-air defence. Backed up by aircraft with Electronic Counter Measures (ECM), whose role was to disrupt the British ground-based air defence radar, the Flogger aircraft attacked with anti-radiation missiles. The ARMs homed in on the transmissions of both wheeled and tracked Rapier air defence units, destroying the systems radar and missile launcher. The Rapier units soon learnt to turn their radars off when there was the threat of an ARM attack, turning them back on when the threat was gone. A flight of twelve SU-25s, with the NATO designation of Frogfoot, and regarded as the Soviet equivalent of the American A10-Thunderbolt, flew in fast and low, destroying FV432s, Chieftain and Challenger tanks; their orders: to clear a path for the helicopters that would soon be entering the battle area, and to deliver the troops destined to secure the entrance to the gap.
They didn’t have it all their own way, though. Four British Phantoms swept in behind them. Of the twelve, only nine made it back to their base. It was a costly attack for the British forces on the ground, but the Soviet air force also paid a heavy price.
Colonel Viktor Boykov looked over the shoulder of the pilot of the Mi-8 Hip-G as they sped low over the West German countryside at a speed of just over 300 kilometres an hour. His view through the large perspex canopy was of blurred fields, trees, houses and roads flashing by as they headed towards the landing zone. Ahead of the air armada was a vast array of helicopters. On the outer perimeter flew eight of the deadly M-24 Hind attack helicopters, targeting anything they deemed to be a threat to the airborne force now transiting through enemy territory. In the lead of the main force were eight Hip-Es, following closely behind a Hip-K, attempting to jam the British forces’ communications. A further thirty-two Hips followed behind them, each one carrying twenty-four combat troops. Fifty-four Mi-6 Hook helicopters trailed even further behind, protected by four more of the deadly Hinds, this time Hind-Fs. They carried a full airborne battalion, along with their BMD mechanised infantry combat vehicles.
The 108th Guards Air Assault Regiment had a tough task ahead of them, though. Colonel Boykov’s men would be landing very close to the enemy front line, landing west of Pattensen. He had to block the entrance to the gap between the high ground of Deinster and Hanover, take away the enemy’s freedom of movement, disrupt their supplies and reinforcements. At exactly the same time, the 247th Air Assault Regiment was already parachuting onto the western end of the gap, closer to the Mittleland Kanal, a barrier NATO would no doubt use as a defensive position. The role of the 7th Airborne Division as a whole was to secure a passage for the 12th Guards Tank Division. As soon as 10GTD broke the British lines, opened up a gap, the 12th GTD would flood through, linking up with Boykov’s men, then pushing towards the Mittleland Kanal and heading for the River Weser.
The Hip-Es swooped down towards the landing zone, one plastering the entire area with over 190 55mm unguided rockets. A second one followed its leader in, sanitising the ground even more. A third caught a British platoon in the open, their 432s swerving left and right as they tried to make themselves a difficult target. They didn’t stop, using their speed to their advantage, but another batch of rockets engulfed them, blocking them from view and the explosive warheads obliterated their convoy. If there were any survivors, the 12.7mm gun soon finished them off. A fourth Hip was not so lucky. Out of four Blowpipe missiles launched from different directions, one hit home, striking the Hip’s wing pylon, still containing a full weapons’ load. The helicopter flipped over and plummeted downwards, hitting the ground where a second explosion completely destroyed the aircraft, killing all those on board. The fifth and sixth were given targets further out, looking for British outposts, forces diverted to counter the airborne assault. The rapidly depleted Rapier force took out one but was destroyed itself as a Hind-D swooped in, bracketing the area with rockets, destroying the launcher and killing the crew.