The Cold War: A MILITARY History (41 page)

The Reagan administration made strenuous efforts to strengthen the Marine Corps. Not only did the president and his supporters advocate a strong corps, but they actually made the money available to achieve it, increasing USMC funding from $5 billion in 1975 to $7.5 billion in 1985 (at 1985 dollars). This included replacing or upgrading virtually every weapon
system
in service, replacing old M60 tanks by the new Ml, for example, and funding a series of new ships, including the Wasp-class assault ships, which could each carry 1,900 troops. On top of all this, the elderly Iowa-class battleships were returned to service, with their nine 406 mm guns and Tomahawk missile launchers intended primarily for shore bombardment. Curiously, however, in the midst of all this modernization one item remained unchanged: the CH-46 helicopter, which had entered service in the early 1960s and was fated to remain the workhorse of the Marine Corps well beyond the end of the Cold War.

One of the major achievements of the USMC in the Cold War was the plan to reinforce Norway. In this, the majority of the combat equipment required by a full Marine Amphibious Brigade was pre-positioned in Norway, housed in specially built caves in the Trondheim area. (In order to comply with Norwegian sensitivities about stationing non-Norwegian troops in the country during peacetime, the stocks were maintained by the Norwegian authorities.) The task of the MAB, reinforced by up to two more USMC brigades, a Canadian brigade and the Netherlands–UK Amphibious Group, was to reinforce the Norwegian armed forces in repelling any Soviet invasion.

THE SOVIET NAVAL INFANTRY

The Soviet Naval Infantry fought during the Second World War, but was then transferred from the navy to the coastal-defence forces before being disbanded in the mid-1950s. On 14 July 1958, however, the president of Lebanon requested urgent aid from France, the UK and the USA to counter a threat by the USSR to deploy Soviet ‘volunteers’ to support pro-Nasser rebels. The US Sixth Fleet was able to land three Marine battalions the very next day, and the threat from the Soviet ‘volunteers’ immediately disappeared. The Marine battalions withdrew on 21 August after what had been a classic exhibition of the value of sea power and amphibious capability

The Soviet leadership, never slow to learn from such experiences, responded by re-establishing the Naval Infantry, which rapidly became a
corps d’élite
. The force expanded, peaking in size and effectiveness around 1988, when it was some 18,000 strong. It fielded:

The Naval Infantry was transported by a growing number of amphibious-warfare ships. Largest were two Ivan Rogov-class dock landing ships, displacing 13,100 tonnes, which carried one Naval Infantry battalion and forty tracked or larger numbers of wheeled vehicles, plus helicopters and surface-effect ships. Fourteen Alligator LSTs were similar in many respects to the British Sir Galahad-class logistics landing ships (LSLs); with a large cargo capacity and bow and stern doors, these were intended for follow-up operations rather than the assault wave. Principal assault vessels were the thirty-seven Ropucha LSTs, which were built in Poland. Smallest were forty-five Polnocny-class small tank landing ships (LCTs), also built in Poland, which displaced some 1,000 tonnes and had a payload of six battle tanks.

The Naval Infantry seized on the surface-effect ship (SES) as an effective way of transporting marines ashore, and developed a number of types including the Pomornik, which could carry three battle tanks, and the Aist, which carried two. Under development at the end of the Cold War was the Orlan-class wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) vessel,
^fn1
designed to transport up to 150 troops at speeds of up to 300 knots. Both the SES and the WIG vessels were very fast compared with normal amphibious shipping, and were designed for short ‘hooks’ in support of a ground advance, or for lightning attacks on crucial targets in the Baltic and Black seas, both types of operation having precedents in the Soviet experience in the Second World War. These craft were another example of the flexibility of thought in the Soviet forces, which produced some novel solutions to the problems facing them.

OTHER AMPHIBIOUS UNITS

The British Royal Marines generally numbered around 7,000–8,000 and formed one self-supporting commando brigade, plus the Special Boat Squadron (special forces). The amphibious shipping available to the Royal Marines varied, but at its peak it included two commando carriers (former aircraft carriers converted to handle helicopters, and to accommodate marines and their equipment), two dock ships, and six LSLs.

Other nations involved in the Cold War also produced marine units. In the Warsaw Pact, the Polish army fielded one amphibious assault brigade,
while
the East Germans had an army amphibious regiment; both had sufficient landing craft to transport these on short-range operations.

Among the NATO nations, the main amphibious forces, apart from those of the USA and the UK, were provided by the Netherlands (two commando groups), Portugal (three battalion groups) and Spain (11,500 men organized into one marine regiment and five marine garrison regiments); Turkey had one brigade.

fn1
WIG craft fly at a height of between 5 and 15 m, taking advantage of the increased aerodynamic lift that occurs when a wing operating near the ground experiences a reduction in induced drag.

PART IV

THE LAND BATTLE ON THE CENTRAL FRONT

23

NATO’s Central Region Ground Forces

NOWHERE WAS THE
Cold War more intense, nowhere was it more likely to have broken out, and, provided it remained non-nuclear, nowhere was it more likely to have been decided than in Europe – NATO’s Central Region. In compliance with their wartime agreements, the Allies divided Europe into two, split by a line which was christened the ‘Iron Curtain’ by Winston Churchill, although where it ran north–south through Germany it later became known, rather more prosaically, as the ‘Inner German Border’ (IGB). Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the major part of Germany were in the Western camp, while Czechoslovakia, the remainder of Germany, Hungary and Poland lay in the East. Sweden and Switzerland were long-standing neutrals, while Austria, after a ten-year Allied occupation, became neutral in 1955.

On the Western side the dispositions on the Central Front were principally the outcome of wartime agreements between the UK and the USA, with a last-minute amendment to accommodate the French. Thus the British forces were in the north, with contingents from Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands and Norway all within the British zone. US forces were in the south, but with an enclave at Bremerhaven to ensure their supplies. The French were given a smaller zone in the south-west. Generally speaking, the victors occupied former
Wehrmacht
barracks and
Luftwaffe
airfields in accordance with where units came to a halt in 1945.

By the early 1950s some of the occupation forces had departed and those that remained did so under the terms of newly concluded treaties with the Federal Republic of Germany. In addition, the formation of the new German armed forces (
Bundeswehr
), and in particular of the army (
Bundesheer
), resulted in some reshuffling, the situation then remaining substantially unchanged for the remainder of the Cold War.

THE NATIONAL ARMIES

The great majority of nations depended upon conscription to man their armies, but Canada, the UK and the USA changed during the Cold War to all-regular armies. Among those that depended upon conscription, however, not only were there considerable differences between the systems, but, in addition, the terms decreased in severity and the length of service grew shorter as time passed. By the late 1980s, for example, Danish conscripts served for nine months, those in Belgium and France for twelve months, and the Germans for fifteen months, while the Dutch served for a nominal twenty-four months, although the final few months were spent on ‘short leave’. These reductions in service inevitably reduced efficiency, especially as equipment became more sophisticated and needed greater skills for its operation.

Belgium

In the 1960s Belgium was supposed to provide two corps in West Germany, each of three divisions, giving a total of nine brigades. By 1970, however, the reality was that it fielded only one corps, composed of two divisions, each of two brigades, and then in 1977 there was a further retrenchment, which involved moving one brigade from each of those divisions back into Belgium. A yet further reorganization in the early 1980s resulted in the forces in West Germany being reduced to the corps headquarters plus one division of two brigades and an independent reconnaissance brigade. The second division, consisting of two brigades, was relocated in Belgium.

Canada

In proportion to its population and resources, during the Second World War Canada made a very large contribution to the Allied efforts; it then continued to maintain a force in western Europe throughout the Cold War. For many years the 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (4CMBG) was located in the north, forming an essential element of NATO’s NORTHAG (Northern Army Group) reserves, but in the 1970s it was moved south to Lahr, where it became a CENTAG (Central Army Group) reserve. The Canadians struggled manfully to maintain this as a viable force, and its troops were extremely professional, but 4CMBG’s combat equipment was always less than that of a normal brigade, both in quantity and, sometimes, in quality.

Denmark

In the original NATO force goals Denmark was committed to field two full-strength divisions, but this was never achieved, partly because of financial
difficulties
, but also because of a high level of domestic opposition to heavy defence spending. As a result, there were military manpower cuts in 1973, 1985 and 1987. The main element of the field force was the Jutland Division of three mechanized brigades and one regimental combat group, which was located in peacetime in Denmark, but which deployed to Schleswig-Holstein in war; this deployment, however, would have taken place only some one to three weeks after mobilization, which was needed to round the division out to wartime strength. The second Danish division, which was even more dependent on reserves, defended the whole of the Jutland peninsula, although, as described below, it would have been assisted in this task by the UK Mobile Force.

West Germany

Following its admission to NATO, the FRG rapidly built up its forces, particularly the army (
Bundesheer
). The initial organization –
Heerstruktur I
– was tailored to meet NATO requirements and consisted of five divisions, which were completed by 1957 and manned principally by conscripts on a twelve-month engagement. This was subsequently changed in 1958 to
Heerstruktur II
, to comply with NATO’s new ‘tripwire’ strategy (MC 14/2), and concurrently the army reached its target of twelve divisions. In the aftermath of the 1961 Berlin crisis, conscription was extended to eighteen months. The 1967 NATO change to ‘flexible response’ (MC 14/3) resulted in
Heerstruktur III
, which included strengthening the panzer (armoured) divisions, increasing the ‘teeth-to-tail’ ratio, and creating a territorial army. Finally,
Heerstruktur IV
, introduced in 1981, strengthened the brigades in the regular army and restructured and strengthened the territorial army.

The
Bundesheer
produced three corps, whose composition varied according to their combat role, plus one division:

An efficient conscription system maintained this force at a high degree of readiness. Combat units (i.e. brigades and below) normally required only an additional 5 per cent to bring them up to war strength, while divisional support units needed 25 per cent and corps support units 50 per cent.

Luxembourg

In the early days of NATO tiny Luxembourg produced a regimental combat team of three battalions, but this commitment slowly decreased until by 1988 there was just one light-infantry battalion, whose war role was with the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (Land) (AMF(L)).

The Netherlands

The Dutch provided 1 (NL) Corps, which was responsible for NORTHAG’s left flank, where it was located between LANDJUT and 1 (GE) Corps. One of the major problems for 1 (NL) Corps was that only the 41st Armoured Brigade, a reconnaissance battalion and some support units were stationed in the FRG in peacetime; the remaining units were in the Netherlands, and, from the time the Dutch government gave the order, would have required ninety-six hours to reach their combat positions.

The Dutch conscription system was known as ‘Direct Intake into Reserve’, and each regular unit had a reserve ‘shadow’ unit. Conscripts served for two years in a regular unit, of which the last six months, sometimes longer, were spent on ‘short leave’, which meant that they were liable to rapid recall, following which they were transferred as a group to their ‘shadow unit’, where they served for a further eighteen months. Efficient as this system was, it still took time to implement.