by Harvey Black
Higher command had made a decision. The ground east of the River Weser had been lost, and they had no intention of frittering away the lives of British soldiers to defend a forlorn hope. Just hold the enemy back long enough to enable 1 British Corps to dig in.
1030, 9 JULY 1984. AVIATION COMPANY, 2ND BATTALION, ROYAL REGIMENT OF FUSILIERS, 24TH AIRMOBILE BRIGADE. NORTHEAST STADTHAGEN, WEST GERMANY.
THE BLUE EFFECT -2 DAYS
A TOW-armed Mark 7 Lynx, along with its partner, hovered in the gap between Lindhorst in the south and the forest to the north. The Gazelle further east had reported the contact around Rehren where a Territorial battalion was providing a forward screen. South of Lindhorst, a second trio of helicopters were providing cover. West of Ludersfeld, four Lynx Mark 9s swooped down, each disgorging a section of infantry from A-Company, the Aviation Company, 2nd Battalion, RRF. Once their passengers had been offloaded, the Lynx helicopters surged forward and gained height as four more helicopters tilted their noses into the air, tail rotor dropping as the pilots brought their aircraft to a halt, depositing a second platoon. The first platoon was already running forward, skirmishing, until they found themselves up against the metalled road that ran north to south across their front. The road to the north connected with a crossing point for the Mittellandkanal and, to the south, swept southwest into Lindhorst.
The platoon commander, Lieutenant Oliver Thorpe, indicated where he wanted his sections deployed. He made his way through the line of trees, across the road and in between two houses. The entire road was an avenue of trees, scattered with houses of all shapes and sizes, wildly dispersed along its complete length. A-Company had to defend the line from Ludersfeld to the canal in the north. First-platoon were deploying close to the canal, by Niedernholz, a machine-gun section with them to help secure the northernmost anchor. Third-platoon would have Ludersfeld itself, plus out to 300 metres to the north. Second-platoon, Thorpe’s platoon, would defend the centre. His platoon explored their positions whilst First-platoon pushed north to their area of responsibility.
Sergeant Cohen dropped down beside him. “The sections are in place, sir, but I’ve told them no digging in just yet.”
“Agreed, Sarn’t. We’ll wait until the OC confirms this is our position. Just in case we have to change location. Make sure they keep their eyes peeled though.”
“Sir.” With that, Sergeant Cohen pushed himself up and went to check on each section, confirm their arcs of fire, and ensure they had found some decent cover. He was sure the lads wouldn’t need reminding. They had witnessed some of the troops returning to the rear, loaded onto one-ton Land Rover ambulances and Samaritans, the ambulance version of the armoured CVRT, along with the wounded loaded onto supply trucks returning from the front. The wounded were swathed in bloodied and dirty bandages, some with horrific facial injuries and third-degree burns from blazing armoured vehicles. Limbs were missing as a consequence of artillery salvos or from heavy-calibre bullets fired by attack-helicopters or armoured infantry combat vehicles. They didn’t need to be reminded of the necessity for good cover. But, he would remind them just the same. That was his job.
Lieutenant Thorpe eased himself forward, his SLR resting in the crook of his arm as he did a rough leopard-crawl until he was beyond the boundary of the house wall on his left and alongside the bole of a fairly old but thin trunk of a tree. He heard his runner and radio operator shuffle forward, so one was either side of him. Placing his SLR rifle on the ground in front of him, but within easy reach, he removed the binoculars from their case. “We’re a bit out in the open here.”
“Sorry, sir?” asked his signaller.
“Just muttering to myself, Pritchard.”
They’ll need to dig in to protect themselves from artillery and ground-to-air strikes, he thought, but it’s a good position from which to hit the enemy. He scanned the area out to his front: wide open fields, out to two kilometres. Once his Milan firing post was set up, along with two additional Milan’s provided by a detachment from the mobile anti-tank platoon, they could hit any armour that attempted to cross the open ground. A killing ground. The L445 road, 500 metres away, running to the northeast, had a water feature, the Ziegenbach, 200 metres this side of it – only a few metres across, so not a real obstacle for the enemy. But any crossing operation would have to occur under the guns of the lieutenant’s platoon. He wasn’t high enough to see the Mittellandkanal, but that was only 1500 metres to their north.
He picked up his SLR, slithered backwards and, once hidden from view, jumped up. “Pritchard, Barnes, with me. We’ll have a better view from a two-storey house.”
The trio moved along the outer wall of the house towards the front where it faced the road. The door was locked, but a quick boot by Pritchard and they gained entry.
“Barnes, you stay here and let Sergeant Cohen know where we are.”
“Sir.”
Lieutenant Thorpe made his way into the corridor, the stairs leading up to the second floor directly in front of him. The inside of the house was dark, the owner having closed all the wooden shutters. Many houses and flats in West Germany had a shutter system where they could enclose the windows in either wooden or metal shutters, providing additional insulation against the harsh German winters and also providing added security.
Thorpe took a left at the top, the clumping sound behind indicating that his radio operator was close behind. Once through the door on the left at the top of the stairs, he headed for the large window, a small crack of light showing him the way. He eased the shutter slightly, not wanting to expose himself behind the only unshuttered window in the house.
“Pritchard, open all the window shutters facing east, upstairs and down below, then back up here.”
“Sir.” With that, Pritchard went away to carry out his task.
Thorpe gave him a couple of minutes then pulled back both shutters, giving him a great view of the landscape out to his front. Hearing a clattering of boots on the stairs, he was soon joined by Sergeant Cohen.
“Good open country for the Milan’s, sir.”
“Yes, we can deploy them along this road. We need to keep a close eye on that road crossing our front. At least one firing point needs to be assigned to cover that. I’m sure they’ll cross over it, but if they’re stupid enough to travel down it, they will make a good target.” Thorpe moved the binoculars to the left, the canal now visible. Two kilometres to the east was the forest north of Lindhorst. “At least the Army Air Corps are keeping a lookout for us,” he said as he watched the hovering Lynx through his wavering binos. He passed the binos to his platoon sergeant.
“I want the sections dug in forward of the treeline. Let’s have the houses and trees at our back. The Soviets will soon target the buildings, but they’ll find it harder to spot us to the front, dug in. The houses can give us some cover when we need to pull back.”
Cohen agreed, handing the binoculars back to his platoon commander.
“What about the spare Gympy?”
“Put it with Two-Section, and the mortar directly behind them. That way, they can both cover the entire platoon front.”
“How long do you reckon we’ll have to hold this place for, sir?”
“Anybody’s guess, Sarn’t Cohen. Our job is to hold for as long as possible, or at least until the last units have withdrawn to the river. Keep the Soviets away from 2-Div as long as possible. Give them every opportunity to establish well dug-in defences. Then we can pull back.”
“Or get cut off.”
“Exactly.”
“We’ll hold the river though, won’t we?”
“We have to. We’re running out of places to run.”
The lieutenant twisted his shoulders to the right, zooming in to the village of Lindhorst. A staging post for an attack, he thought. If only we had more men, it would be a good defensive position. He saw movement on the road that ran west to east, from Ludersfeld to Lindhorst. It was a Fox, probably from the TA recce squadron that was providing a s
creen. At least they will have some warning of the enemy’s arrival. “We have recce from the TA out to our front. Let the sections know,” he said to his signaller who then moved away from the window, crouching down next to one of the internal walls, and contacted the sections of the platoon. “And remind them that there’s a TA company out front and they, along with elements of 3 Queen’s could come tearing through here at any time.”
“Sir.”
Oliver leant his elbows on the windowsill and tracked the open-topped Land Rover as it drove around the western outskirts of Lindhorst. “The Weser is pretty wide, and we’re building up a good defence.”
“I know, but their bridging kit is pretty impressive. How about our reinforcements, sir?”
“We have an American Corps coming in to support NORTHAG, but it’s not all arrived from the States yet. There’s a division on the way though.”
“That’ll help, surely.”
The officer turned to look at his platoon sergeant. “That depends on who gets first call. The Germans, Dutch, Belgians or us. Right, we need to get to work.”
“I’ll put two spotters from each section in some of the houses, sir. At least we’ll have additional warning when the Soviets finally turn up.”
“Yes, do that. The lads need to watch their backs as well. There could be Soviet airborne between us and the FARB. We know they’ve reached as far as Haste.”
Before the sergeant could respond, they heard the wop-wop, wop-wop, wop-wop of rotor blades from a Chinook twin-engine helicopter as it suddenly descended low in front of the house, in between their position and the L445. The large helicopter spun in a southerly direction, backing up until the pilot was happy with their position. The ramp at the rear was down, and two white plastic pipes jutted out each side at an angle. Two Land Rovers careered across the open ground just as the engineers, sitting in the back of the Chinook, released L9 bar mines, anti-tank mines, sliding down the plastic tubes, laying two lines of these lethal weapons as the helicopter moved forward. Soldiers from the Field Squadron, Royal Engineers, jumped out of the open-topped Land Rovers and started to set the fuses, following the large helicopter as it discharged its lethal cargo.
“Thank God for that,” uttered Lieutenant Thorpe.
“It will certainly slow the buggers down, sir.”
“We can hit them as they try to cross the Ziegenbach, and again when they hit the minefield.”
“What about our fallback positions, sir? We could do with checking them out.”
The young officer stroked the light stubble on his face, making a mental note to shave as soon as time allowed. “Of course. If I leave you to settle the platoon in, I can take the FFR Land Rover and scout our positions.”
“Shall I assign one of the sections to be the first to pull back?”
“Yes, make it the centre section. In fact I’ll take Lance Corporal Jeffries from Two-Section with me.”
When they abandoned this line, the platoon would have to move quickly on foot, with all their equipment, to the second defensive line. From there, they could hit the enemy again. Their final position would be behind the Holpe, another minor run of water that would act as a temporary barrier to the enemy. Once there, the helicopters of 24th Airmobile Brigade would swoop in behind them. As the Lynx Mark 7s of the Aviation Regiment provided cover, along with C-Company who were dug in along the road, the Lynx Mark 9s and Chinooks would pick them up and take them to wherever higher command dictated they would need to fight next.
Somewhere behind them, they could hear more helicopters, so they crossed to one of the rooms on the opposite side of the house to investigate. Pulling back the blinds, they could look through the line of trees out towards the open ground on the other side of the road. There was a flight of Chinooks, some carrying an internal load, either more troops or a Land Rover tucked inside. Slung beneath, several had a second Land Rover; others a net containing supplies and ammunition. Thorpe knew that at least one of the Chinooks would be carrying the Milan detachment, and the Land Rovers slung beneath would belong to them. This would enable his platoon to grab a ride, moving to their secondary positions much more quickly when required. Three Lynx hovered further to the south, dropping down on their skis, allowing the soldiers on-board to debus. B-Company was moving into position, their responsibility from Ludersfeld down to Stadthagen.
“Let’s go then.” With that, Lieutenant Thorpe headed for the stairs, closely followed by Sergeant Cohen and Pritchard.
“Pritchard, get onto Lance Corporal Jeffries and have him meet us here.”
“Sir.”
Once at the bottom of the stairs and out through the front door, they collected Barnes, Thorpe’s runner, and waited for the second-in-command of Two-Section to join them. Barnes, in the meantime, collected the FFR, Fitted For Radio, Land Rover.
As soon as Jeffries arrived, the group mounted up and headed southwest. Once on a hard-packed lane, the driver steered south; then west along a narrow metalled road taking them a kilometre until passing through Lauenhagen and across the Hulse. Turning north, passing through the outskirts of the village and taking another metalled road to their half-left, they arrived at the location it had been agreed Second-Platoon would defend. The clatter of helicopters drowned out the sound of the Land Rover’s engine as more troops arrived in the region. The build-up of the defence of Stop-Line Black Raven continued. Another Chinook touched down, and a Lynx not far away also connected with ground, an infantry section leaping out quickly, allowing the helicopter to return and pick up more soldiers. With the ramp of the Chinook down, a line of soldiers, hunched down with the weight of their loads, left the confines of the helicopter, moving down the loading ramp. Fifteen men were disgorged, a full mortar-section from the battalion’s fire-support company. The men quickly dispersed. Nine of the men carried three mortar base plates, three barrels and three bipods, with sights, between them. Each item weighed over eleven kilograms, the sight coming in at thirteen and a half. They would need the remaining two Land Rovers and trailers that would be dropped within the hour to move about the battlefield. Once set up, the three 81mm mortars would provide additional firepower that A-Company could call upon when needed. With a range of five and a half kilometres, the section’s mortars could pound the enemy in front of A-Company’s lines with high-explosive bombs, and lay a barrier of smoke to cover them while they withdrew. The other two sections would no doubt support B and C Companies.
Lieutenant Thorpe, and the second-in-command of Two-Section, scouted the area, satisfying themselves where the section would deploy when they pulled back. He would send the section early, along with the two Milan FPs, giving them plenty of time to get their bearings and bring fire down on the Soviets as they crossed the open ground.
Corporal Prentice, commander of Two-Section, had passed out top in his Junior NCOs’ cadre course eighteen months before and had proven to be an effective section commander and leader of men. Another eighteen months would potentially see him as a platoon sergeant. He had confidence that, supported by Sergeant Cohen, Two-Section would give a good account of themselves.
Thorpe and his men climbed back into the Land Rover as a second Chinook dropped a Land Rover and trailer that was slung beneath it before landing further afield and offloading more troops. The build-up continued. They headed back to the front line. Thorpe’s men would need to prepare their defences if they were to be ready to have any impact on the juggernaut that was rolling towards them.
Chapter 10
1035, 9 JULY 1984. 1ST BATTALION (CLEVELAND), YORKSHIRE VOLUNTEERS, 15TH INFANTRY BRIGADE, 2ND INFANTRY DIVISION. EAST OF AUHAGEN, MITTELLANDKANAL, WEST GERMANY.
THE BLUE EFFECT -2 DAYS
North of the Mittellandkanal, D and G Company, The Green Howards, 1st Battalion, Yorkshire Volunteers, Territorial Army, were digging in along a two-kilometre stretch of the Rodenberger Aue, locking in with K-Company, south of the canal. To their north, they tied in with the 1st Panzer Division of the 1st German Corps. The
3rd Panzer Brigade, one of three brigades in the division, with their Leopard main battle tanks, provided the German Corps with a strong right flank and would help support the Territorial Army soldiers. The ugly-looking Saxon armoured personnel carriers pulled up along the length of the five to ten-metre wide water feature and disgorged the troops that would defend this section of the Rodenberger Aue. Officers gave orders and the NCOs made it happen. Sections were deployed to dig in, building defensive positions on the west bank, making sure they had good firing placements with overhead protection for the expected shelling by Soviet artillery. Behind them, the ground was heavily forested; their escape route should the enemy cross the water feature and force them back. The unit was defending the northernmost boundary of the 1st Armoured Division, within the area of operations corresponding to the 3rd Battalion, the Queen’s Regiment. All the Yorkshire Volunteers had to do was hold this piece of ground long enough for the 3rd Battalion, that was very much on the run, to pass through.
Lieutenant Colonel Delamere, Commander of 3 Queen’s, had been ordered to extract with all speed; conduct a fighting retreat, but not get bogged down in trying to defend ground, ground that was already lost to the enemy. The commanders of the 1st Armoured Division and 1st British Corps needed to keep as much of the battalion, along with the attached tanks from RTR, as intact as possible, to provide a force to block or even counter-attack the enemy wherever the Soviets managed to break through. 1 BR Corps had to hold the River Weser. Beyond that was Osnabruck and Bielefeld, Dortmund and the Rhein, then the Netherlands and, finally, the English Channel. If the Soviet Army managed to reach the Channel, they would split the NATO forces in Europe in two.
