“Operation молот 84, Hammer 84, sir. The Soviets are planning a big one this time.” Archer leant forward and flicked the switch of the overhead projector, and the image from the vu-foil lying on top of the plate of glass suddenly appeared alongside the Soviet badge. Pushing back his chair, he got up and walked to the end of the table, casting a shadow on the wall as his head occasionally interacted with the beams of light. He extended a stainless steel pointer, a convenient ball point pen at one end, capped as it was currently not needed for writing with.
He pulled down two blinds at that end of the room and then tapped the wall. “Operation Hammer 84.” Tap, tap, tap. “It’s not just going to be big, sir. It’s going to be bloody big. It’s set to kick off on 26 June.”
Clack, click, clack. The projector displayed a coloured map of East Germany, populated with irregular, dark patches of translucent orange, signifying the areas permanently restricted, PRAs, to British, French and American military missions patrolling East Germany: effectively no-go areas for the military missions, but frequently ignored by the intelligence gatherers as they searched for signs of Soviet military activity.
“As you can see, sir, we’ve been given the latest PRA map, with the additional temporary restricted areas. The TRAs are more numerous and bigger than usual.”
“There’s a copy in the intelligence briefing pack, sir,” informed Bill Castle, sitting to the colonel’s right.
Colonel Stevens turned to Bill, a tough, stocky soldier from the Gloucesters, the Gloucestershire Regiment. He was destined to become its commanding officer one day. “What’s the increase, Bill?”
“Significant, sir, at least ten per cent. They’ve also added twelve new areas.”
“But they’ve always added new restricted areas when they have major exercises.”
“Yes, they do, sir, but this is twice the number, and the sheer size of some of them beggars belief.”
“Bill, will you switch vu-foils?” asked Archer.
Major Castle leant across the table and replaced the current vu-foil with a second one.
Archer tapped the wall again, the picture showing the order of battle of the Soviet forces involved in Hammer 84. “Just look at this, sir: five Armies from the Group of Soviet Forces Germany. That means that GSFG will effectively be mobilised in full. That’s all nineteen divisions.”
“Our potential adversary, 3 Shock Army, will be on the move then,” mused Bill Castle.
“There’s more, Bill,” continued Archer. “Two Soviet armies of the Central Group of Soviet Forces, CGSF, based in Czechoslovakia, are part of it. That’s six divisions; some 100,000 troops.”
“They certainly mean business this year,” responded the SO1 with a frown. “The entire bloody Russian Army will be on the move.”
“I’ve not finished yet, sir.” The SO2 G2 walked to the projector and pressed the button on top. Clack, click, clack. A map of Europe now shone on the wall next to the list of Soviet forces. He went back to the end of the table and tapped the wall showing one of the Eastern European countries. “Then there’s the Northern Group of Soviet Forces, NGSF, based in western Poland. They will contribute three divisions, amounting to a further 45,000 troops.” He tapped the wall again over another section of the map. “Hungary. The Southern Group of Soviet Forces, SGSF. Five divisions with around 50,000 troops.” His pointer hovered over the Baltic. “11th Guards Tank Army, part of the Baltic Military District. That’s six divisions, two artillery divisions, along with an airborne division. There will be four other divisions from the BMD. An additional 300,000 troops.”
There was silence apart from the hum of the fans cooling the bulbs of the slide and overhead projector. The SO1 was stunned by what he had just heard; and not just with the scope and scale of the forthcoming Russian field exercise. He’d already had a brief preview, but hearing it out loud from one of his staff — the enormity of it was setting in. What shocked him most of all was the response from his masters and NATO in general when they had first been notified of this particularly large exercise. They seemed completely blasé, and Stevens, although mildly surprised, had accepted it at the time. Now though, reflecting on the flagrancy of the exercise, he was not so sure any more.
“Can you slap on the next vu-foil, Bill?”
The major took off the vu-foil, his hands creating ghostly shadow puppets on the wall and he replaced it with a new one. He lined it up so it was square onto the wall; then adjusted the projector head up and down with the wheel attached until it was in near perfect focus.
Major Archer tapped the wall again. A list stared back at them. “To summarise, we’re looking at about 800,000 Soviet troops, that we know off, that are going to mobilise for this exercise. The Soviet Red Banner Fleet in the Baltic and their marines and the Soviet Groups of Forces in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The most ominous force of all is based in Hungary. They will conduct a parallel manoeuvre called Danube 84.” The tall, slim, dark-haired Intelligence Corps major frowned. “It’s huge, sir. We’ve not seen anything this big before.”
“Do you have the list of unit upgrades?” asked Colonel Stevens.
“Yes, sir. It’s slide five, Bill.”
Bill Castle did the honours again and a new list glowed on the wall.
“2 Guards Tank Army have received three independent tank regiments. Along with those, there is one tank battalion for each of its motor rifle divisions. That gives 2 Guards Tank Army some 1,200 tanks in total.”
“And we expect them to target northern Germany, right?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Bill Castle. “Hamburg, Bremen and Bremerhaven.”
“That’s right, sir,” Archer concurred. He continued, “3 Shock Army, who undoubtedly will be targeting the area defended by 1 Br Corps, have now been converted to a full tank army, and consist exclusively of armoured divisions: four in total, giving them in the region of 1,300 tanks.”
Castle turned towards the SO 1. “Makes our 800 tanks seem pretty paltry, sir.”
“And not all of those are in theatre, Bill.”
Archer continued, “20 Guards Army have increased in size from three motor rifle divisions to two tank and two motor rifle. That gives them over 700 tanks.”
“Should it kick off for real, their airborne forces will also give us a headache,” added Bill.
“Yes,” Archer agreed, tapping the wall again, this time over the map of East Germany, west of Berlin. “One division in Rathenow and one in Cottbus, south-east Germany. In total, half a million spearhead troops in East Germany, plus the rest, along with Polish, East German, Hungarian and Czech Warsaw Pact forces. We need to monitor closely what’s going on in the rest of the Warsaw Pact, sir. Don’t want to be an advocate of despair, but this is not a time to be blasé.”
“Have Brixmis and the Berlin section been tasked, Bill?”
“Yes, sir, along with the RAF. Corridor flights will continue naturally, and 92 Intelligence Company will be paying particular attention to troop movements.”