Most common WP tanks in 1989?

[Sabre21]

Hi Robert

Yea..it was no doubt a gruesome prospect considering the array of forces lined up against the west. Don't forget the Polish Marine Division..they expected it to land in Denmark along with the EG Marines and a Soviet Abn Division.

The 3rd Shock Army was actually one of the leading assault Armies hitting the British I Corps very hard. The 2oth and 2nd Tank were the 1st and 2nd echelon Armies to hit the northern flank of Nato while the EG V army sealed off Denmark and would link up with the marine and airborne forces there. The 8th GDS Army was expected to hit west thru Fulda Gap hitting the US V Corps and the southern boundary of the Brits. The 1st Gds Tank Army would have either followed the 8th Gds thru Fulda, 3rd Shock, or hit south into the US 1st AD sector...depending on how the war was developing. The EG III Army was expected to try and pin down the US 3rd ID by hitting south thru the Coburg Salient.

The Soviets in Czech were expected to head west and try and take Nurnberg and Munich..I really don't think they would have got too far. They also had to contend with Austria if they entered the fray, which was expected.

There were several wild cards in all of this...how quick the WG's could fully mobilize (72hrs), how quick the US could do a full Reforger (5 heavy divisions, 1 acr, several arty brigades of equip pre-positioned in WG)(10 days), the French, the Austrians, the reliability of the czechs, poles, rumanians. There wasn't much expectation that either the Bulgarians or the EG's would defect (darn Prussian pride).

Probably the scariest scenario was if and when the Soviets would use Gas or Nucs. Nucs were actually less of a concern considering Nato's capability and the Soviet vulnerability to them. Chemical was a whole different story. If wide spread use occured, the WG population would of suffered greviously...literally hundreds of thousands of casualties as a result. This was really the nightmare scenario that the Soviets would use a large amount of gas on Nato rear area bases...especially the airbases, and since all these were near major metropolitan areas...massive civilian casualtied would have occured.

You brought up all the Soviet and WP units...go look at the Nato side...you might be surprised how many there were. In country...12 German Divisions, 4 US Divisions, 2 US Brigades, 2 US ACR's, 1 Canadian Bde, 3 French Armor Divisions, 1 Dutch Div, 1 Bel Div, 3 British Armored Divisions, 1 Brit ACR. Then look at the size given 7 to 10 days to reinforce...which was the most probable scenario.

After the 7-10 day buildup..just in country..the OOB would have looked like this pretty much...12 WG Div, 26 WG Bde/Rgts, 10-12 US Divisions (1 Marine + 101st Abn), 3 US ACR's, 1 Canadian Division, 10-12 French Divisions (about half the size of a US Div), 3 Dutch Divisions, 3 Belgium Divisions, 1 Belgium Bde, 4 Brit Divisions, 1 Brit ACR, and 1 Lux Bn (had to add them).

Just think...all of those forces in the area the size of the state of Oregon:) With all the refugees...traffic jams would have been horrid.

Sabre21