Their allies would be doing the same. To the north of 1 BR Corps, 1st German Corps would also be deploying their covering force and primary forces into their wartime locations and, to the north of them, the 1st Dutch Corps would have some units moving forward, although the Dutch politicians had delayed making the decision to deploy and German forces were having to initially cover in their stead. To 1 BR Corps south, Northern Army Group were also waiting for 1 Belgium Corps to take up their positions.
Lieutenant Campbell’s Scimitar was part of the reconnaissance platoon of the Second Battalion, Royal Green Jackets. 11th Brigade consisted of three battle groups: the Royal Green Jackets, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and the Third Royal Tank Regiment. Each battle group was further subdivided into four combat teams. The Brigadier, in consultation with Major General Walsh, commander of 4th Armoured Division, had deployed a thin screen at the furthestmost point of the FLOT (Forward Line of Own Troops) using the Royal Green Jacket’s battle group. Further back, he had stationed the remaining two battle groups. One would cover a line from Braunschweig to Wolfenbuttel, with a combat team as far forward as Schandelah; one at Konigslutter; a third deployed in the town of Wolfenbuttel itself; and the fourth covering the south of Braunschweig. The 3rd Royal Tank Regiment battle group would be dug in further west. The Royal Green Jacket’s battle group would eventually withdraw through these units once the pressure from the advancing Warsaw Pact forces became too great.
Combat Team Alpha, made up of an infantry company, supported by the mortar platoon and two Milan sections, each with five firing points, were disposed in and around the village of Supplingenburg, with Lieutenant Campbell’s troop of Scimitars covering them to the north. Combat Team Bravo, two troops of tanks from the armoured regiment and a mechanised infantry platoon, covered the village of Supplingen further south. Combat Team Charlie was further south again. Two troops of tanks and a mechanised platoon had been allocated to defend the village of Frellstedt. The smallest of the combat teams, Combat Team Delta, with a single tank troop, mechanised platoon and the mobile Milan section, was arrayed along the wooded area, der Elm, that ran north-west to south-east behind the other three units. The majority of the battle group would withdraw through this woodland, Combat Team Delta covering the withdrawal as best they could. Ahead of the Green Jackets’ battle group was a thin screen of Scimitars from the divisional reconnaissance regiment, 15th/19th Hussars.
Sergeant Ron Reid peered through his binos, covering the left arc, knowing his troop commander would be covering the right. His driver and gunner were below, asleep. There was no sleeping on the engine decks. This time it wasn’t an exercise: they were out on watch for real. But it didn’t seem real somehow, and he expected a call any minute now to tell him it was Endex and they could all go home. Saying that, back at the barracks there had been a sense of realism, although they still had a box of Herferder beer stowed onboard. There had been a greater focus on what they would really need: ammunition, rations and water. He pulled out a wax pencil to mark the plastic-coated map, identifying key points ahead, landmarks he could use when calling in fire for his gunner, or other units defending the line.
“Shit.” The pencil slipped from his rubber glove covered fingers and clattered down into the fighting compartment, disappearing into the turret monster. “I won’t see that again till this is all over,” he muttered under his breath. He rubbed his back against the hatch rim, the itch slowly making its way lower and lower down his back, irritated by the T-shirt and woollen shirt, topped with his combat jacket. It was too hot to wear a jumper and the Noddy suit provided a fourth layer that created too much warmth. The olive-green nuclear, biological and chemical Mark III suit was worn to protect the soldiers from a potential chemical or nuclear barrage by the Warsaw Pact. The double-layer smock and trousers, with an inner layer of charcoal-impregnated cloth and an outer layer of modacrylic and nylon, would protect the wearer for up to twenty-four hours. On his hands, Reid wore a pair of black rubber gloves with white cotton inners and rubber overboots covering his combat-highs. He adjusted the focus of the binoculars, the rubber gloves making it difficult for him to twist the dial. Will they come today? he thought.
Chapter 24
The fifty-five-ton Leopard 2’s liquid-cooled, 47.6 litre, V-12 engine purred as the driver, located at the front of the main battle tank offset to the right of its centreline, eased the tank forward into the berm recently dug out by an engineer party. Once the driver had brought the tank to a halt, the commander closed down in the turret, swinging it left and right, checking that the barrel of the 120mm, smooth-bore main gun was clear to move in a full arc. He also checked that, with the tank hull down, in a closed-down situation, he would be able to see through his six periscopes giving him all-round vision. As a third-batch, Leopard 2 A1, the commander’s primary panoramic sight had been raised by 50mm, giving him an alternative view when closed down. The engine continued to tick over as the tank commander rotated the turret one last time before stopping it so it pointed directly ahead. Satisfied that he had a clear view of the terrain ahead, he pushed the circular hatch up and back to the rear and climbed up until he was waist high above the turret, the loader’s hatch to his right with the MG-3 7.62mm air-defence machine gun. He looked around at the copse they were hiding in, the tank strewn with camouflage to help them blend in with their surroundings, the trees behind reducing any sky lining. They were positioned west of the Stecknitz Canal, south-east of the large town of Luneburg, a pair of Leopard tanks dug into a small copse close to the south-east edge of the village of Hagan. From here, they had a clear field of view of the canal and, more importantly, a clear field of fire. They were part of the 9th Panzer Brigade of the 1st Panzer Division, 1 German Corps’ covering force, fulfilling a similar role to that of the British 4th Armoured Division. Their respective aim was to hold back any Soviet advance: keep their massive tank armies at bay until the main battle area could be secured.