6th Panzer Grenadier Division, part of the German Bundeswehr, although only a division was a significant part of the Northern Army Group’s defence strategy, and had an essential mission: the defence of Schleswig-Holstein. In peacetime, the three brigades, the 16th and 17th Panzer Grenadier Brigades and the 18th Panzer Brigade, came under the command of NORTHAG. But, in the event of an invasion by the Soviets and the Warsaw Pact, the units would revert to the control of the Landjut. This force, known as the Baltic Approaches (BALTAP), headquartered in Karup, Denmark, was created to defend Denmark, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. The current commander, Lieutenant-General Pedersen, a Danish officer, was a worried man. The reinforcements coming into theatre were desperately needed if the General was to prevent the Soviet and East German forces from crossing the Kiel Canal, north of Kiel, along with the River Eider. Although reinforcements were now pouring into the country, it would be touch and go if his depleted force could hold long enough for these additional troops to reach their assigned positions.
The 1st Infantry Brigade had landed at two ports in the north and were pushing hard to get into position and add to the defending troops desperately battling to prevent the enemy from crossing. Once across those two water barriers, the Warsaw Pact would be difficult to contain.
Two-Troop, plus three further troops, consisting of a mix of Scimitars and Scorpions, had a long journey ahead of them. Once through Husum, west of the peninsular, they would split up. Two-Troop had been tasked with assisting the defenders of the bridge at Tonning, preventing any crossing of the River Eider at that point. They were also to conduct a reconnaissance of the area and report back to brigade command.
Three-Troop had been given Friedrichstadt and Four-Troop the north of Suderstapel. One-Troop would cross the river, head for Heide, and establish where the forward elements of the East German army had reached. Equally as important, they were to report back on the condition of the German forces defending the line and the estimated period of time they would be able to hold on. Between Tonning and Suderstapel would be the extent of 1st Brigade’s area of responsibility. From Suderstapel to the north of Kiel, the Allied Command Europe (ACE) Mobile Force, the second reinforcement for the region, along with Jutland Division, would be expected to defend. Behind the British reconnaissance regiment, the 1st Battalion, Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, were powering along the same road as fast as their Saxon armoured personnel carriers would allow. A battalion of the Queen’s Regiment, the 2nd Battalion, the Light Infantry, and a tank squadron would travel at a much more leisurely pace, ready to switch direction or deploy quickly should the enemy suddenly cross the river and attempt to push north as rapidly as possible, striving to encircle the defenders and destroy the Landjut forces in one quick strike. The 1st Battalion, the Wessex Regiment, a Territorial Army unit with its recruitment grounds the south-west of England, was mounted in Bedford 4-ton trucks, and would deploy around Husum and as far as Oster-Ohrstedt, acting as the Brigade’s reserve, either to be called forward to support or to bear the brunt of a Soviet breakthrough should the bulk of the Brigade find themselves on the run.
The Brigadier was far from happy with the way events were unfolding. It was one thing to split his reconnaissance regiment across a fifteen-kilometre front; it was another to split the four companies of the Devonshire and Dorset’s. He was leaving a fifth of his force behind in Husum.
Eyes peered from behind curtains. German civilians stared through their windows as tank after tank thundered through the town of Flensburg. Leopard 1s, interspersed with M113s, some of the APCs armed with TOW anti-tank missiles, and M109 self-propelled howitzers, travelled at best speed. They moved with urgency, now finally committed to the battle for northern Germany and Denmark. Having left Denmark in the early hours of the morning, they were finally in Germany, on their way to reinforce elements of the Jutland Division already in position. The 3rd Jutland Brigade would act as rear security, ready to block an enemy breakthrough or reinforce parts of the line that were under threat of collapsing. The 1st and 2nd Jutland Brigades were already south of Schleswig, moving into position. They would deploy west of Rendsburg, plugging the gaps that were threatening the security of that part of the front line. They would be responsible for the stretch of the Kiel Canal and River Eider as far as Oldenbuttel, then northwest, covering the River Eider as far as Suderstapel, linking with the British 1st Brigade.
Danish Military Police, supported by their Bundeswehr counterparts, waved the convoy through, watching nervously for any signs of the Warsaw Pact air force. They had got off lightly so far, but knew the quiet couldn’t last. The Soviets were not going to allow NATO to reinforce this sector so easily. Elements of the ACE mobile force were also starting to make an appearance. One British battalion, along with a strong force from the British Royal Marine Commando, were in the process of landing further north, along with a battalion from Luxembourg. The arrival of the US 6th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, with its six battalions, one of them a tank battalion, was expected within the next twenty-four hours. 9th (US) Infantry Division was at least one week away, if not more. The clock was ticking, and a storm was brewing.
Colonel Faust looked over the shoulder of the battalion commander responsible for the defence of this sector of the city, and followed Leutnant-Colonel Keortig’s eye line. The water in front of them, an extension of the Audorfer Sea and the Kiel Canal, looked black and uninviting.
“They’re going to try again before the day’s out,” suggested Keortig, commander of the 602nd Field Replacement Battalion (Reserve), 60th Field Replacement Regiment.
They could hear the sound of distant explosions coming from the direction of Kiel, some thirty kilometres to the east. A major battle was in progress. Just as the Soviet 6th Guards Motor Rifle Division had thought it had succeeded in forcing the German reserves defending the city of Kiel to withdraw, the 612th Infantry Battalion (Reserve), from the 61st Home Defence Brigade, were sent in to bolster the flagging troops. Using their seven Leopard-1s to support the infantry, the German forces counter-attacked, throwing the enemy back, forcing the Soviet infantry into a retreat, street by street, threatening the flank of the motor rifle regiment to the west of the city. The Soviets had got as far as placing a platoon on the opposite bank, crossing under the cover of darkness in BMK bridging boats, but the follow-up forces were stopped midstream, and the stranded infantrymen surrendered when they recognised they were surrounded, separated from their mother unit, and rapidly running out of ammunition. The Soviet troops across the other side of the river were themselves nearly cut off from the main force as security platoons from the Verteidigungskreiskommando (VKK), West German territorial troops from the local sub-regional command, that had been in hiding in the city waiting for such an opportunity, were reinforced and attacked the Soviet regiment’s flank and rear. Their intention, however, was not to hold the ground taken but to keep the Soviet army on edge, and prevent them from establishing a safe area along the southern bank from where they could launch a full-scale assault river crossing.