BRUSSELS, Thursday August 4 - In an unscheduled press conference in SHAPE offices in Brussels today, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) outlined what he described as "worrisome" Soviet movements in East Germany. SACEUR referred mainly to the Soviet transferring of units westward in the context of the Peace-88 exercises.
"My staff and our European allies have been keeping an eye on Soviet transfers in eastern Europe for some time now, and we have reason to believe that they represent a potential upset to the established balance of forces in central Europe", he stated.
According to SHAPE officials also present at the conference, there are two troubling signs on the recent Soviet movements. First, they claim, the Soviets have stated that the Peace-88 exercises are supposed to cover in scope only the northernmost region of Germany. However, they are also moving elements from the western USSR's military districts to almost the entire frontage of the inner German border, although to a significantly smaller degree than the pre-announced transfers in the north. "They are not moving entire armies westward in the south like they do in the north, but they are definitely beefing up the composition of in-place units, tidying up maintenance, cancelling leaves, that sort of activity" one of the SACEUR subordinates stated. "It is not necessarily an offensive-minded posture, but it sure increases their readiness to perform offensive action if they are ordered to".
Soviet Self-propelled guns atop flat rail-cars being moved westwards for the Peace-88 exercises
Secondly, NATO observers claim that WP forces being marshalled for the exercises include an unusually large complement of artillery and engineer units. "They are moving entire artillery brigades and divisions westward", a brigadier general attached to SACEUR's staff noted. "They don't do this very often, and certainly not when they simply want to train their troops on how to defend from attack. Then there is the engineers, particularly the bridging units. Why use them in a defensive-oriented exercise? When you defend you tend to bring down bridges, not make them up, and you don't need engineers for that". According to NATO officials, the combination of strong artillery & engineer units accords a strongly offensive posture to the group of forces that will be stationed in the northern GDR for the duration of the Peace-88 exercises.
No express mention has been made of any transfers of air units to accompany the ground elements. When asked on this, a USAFE colonel plainly commented that "there is always the odd MiG-27 or Su-17 squadron or two getting moved just that bit closer to the border but that's small peanuts. The big hitters like their Su-24s or their heavyweight bombers seem to be roosting at home like always".
Tactical ground-attack fighters like these MiG-27s are important in Soviet ground combat doctrine as support elements
When questioned whether NATO's political leaderships are planning on any reciprocative moves on these perceived threats, SACEUR was brief. "We have of course been consulting with both the White House, Number 10 and the West German Chancellorship as well as with the rest of our allies to formulate a proper response. Should any relevant measures be decided, we will of course inform the media." When asked if the alliance is going to increase its readiness or move the REFORGER exercises ahead of schedule, the only response was a stern "No comment".
"This is complete rubbish", a Soviet military representative commented in Berlin, speaking informally for the GSFG. "The only major military movements being performed throughout the GDR are those that have already been announced long ago", the Soviet colonel stated. "NATO has had strong artillery and engineer presence in western Germany for decades now, including the world's largest engineer corps in Frankfurt. I don't remember anyone complaining about that. Now that we put a few more guns and spades for a few weeks in northern Germany to support our defensive exercises, they suddenly feel threatened? That's insane. NATO's political and military leadership has really outdone itself in terms of double standards and hipocricy this time."
In other news, long-standing plane-spotters are complaining of a sudden recent tightening of security around RAF bases in Germany that is severely inhibiting their hobbyist activities. "It was never picnic getting good shots out of, say, Gutersloh or Bruggen, but the last two days they've really gone out of their way", the head of a major British plane-spotting club and a veteran aviation watcher himself commented. "They've even gone so far as to actually confiscate some cameras out of some of our guys over at Laarbruch! This hasn't happened ever since the mid-60s as far as I can recall. Those boys at the guard gates should get their act together and watch who they're pointing their rifles at. After all, we're on their side!". When asked if similar restrictive measures are being practiced in UK bases, he said that "We haven't heard anything irregular from the home bases. In fact, I was down at RNAS Yeovilton just yesterday and it was business as usual; friendly guards and all. Dunno what might be happening in the USAFE bases though, we don't frequently visit those as the Yanks are a bit paranoid on that stuff".
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Mini-Battle 2: Hamburg Corridor is a theater-scale MBX using Harpoon 3, TOAW-ACOW and WinSPMBT. The place: Northen Germany. The time: 1988. The forces: All NATO & WP assets in the AO as well as their reinforcements & supports. Interested to join/lurk? Post at the recruitment center at the Harpooner's Point forums.