Baltic Approaches D+12 (21 July, 1987) Part III

Predictably, security for the coming operation was airtight. So much so that the Northern Group of Forces (NGF) commander was not informed until late in the afternoon. A colonel from Marshal Ogarkov’s staff personally delivered the news. He’d boarded an Mi-17 helicopter and flew from Western TVD’s main command post at Legnica to the forward NGF headquarters. He presented Colonel General Korbutov with an overview of the operation, and a detailed set of orders explaining what role the NGF would play on the following day. Korbutov was encouraged by what he saw. The operation presented him with a mission his forces could successfully accomplish given the amount of support that would be attached to it.

D+12 had been an indecisive day in Jutland. NATO ground forces were bending but refused to break. The absence of air cover, and support for NGF forces over the past 30 hours or so certainly did not improve matters. The hole Korbutov had been looking to create for 20^th Tank Division never materialized. 6^th Motor Rifle Division continued to slug north against its West German counterpart (6^th Panzergrenadier Division) with little to show for it. The plan for the upcoming airborne landings in Jutland looked as though it was going to give Korbutov the opportunity to commit the 20^th TD in an effective role.

The Poles in the west were also going to play an important part. Korbutov was becoming more confident about the reliability of the Polish divisions under his command. The near-rebellion had been quashed and by all accounts Polish soldiers were directing their attention, and aggression towards the enemy in front of them and not their own pro-Soviet officers. Still, the Poles would have to be watched closely.

 

As darkness descended upon the region, activity at the Warsaw Pact ports on the Baltic coastline rose considerably. From Gdansk west to Rostock, amphibious-capable ships stood ready to head out to sea. Crews made last minute preparations, and the soldiers stowed below decks readied themselves for what would hopefully be a smooth, peaceful journey to their landing beaches. The troops aboard the ships in the Polish ports were Russian, part of the 336^th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade. The bulk of this unit’s men, and equipment was aboard the amphibious ships, and cargo vessels of the flotilla. At nearby Gdynia, the ships, and the men embarked aboard them were Polish, belonging to the 7^th Sea Landing Brigade.

In the East German ports of Rostock, and Peenemünde, men and equipment of the 29^th Motor Rifle Regiment were crammed like sardines aboard landing ships. The East German Navy did not have an indigenous naval infantry force, but two motor rifle regiments of the East German Army were trained as amphibious landing units. The 29^th MRR was slated to make the initial beach landing, and open the door for the 28^th MRR to come ashore in the afternoon of D+13.

ASW ships, aircraft, and helicopters sanitized the harbor and approaches, looking for signs of enemy submarines that might be lurking. Minesweepers searched for any newly laid mines and made certain that the minefields laid by Pact ships remained untampered with. Ground based air search radars were active, and combat air patrols crisscrossed the skies. The ships in Gdynia and Gdansk were scheduled to sail shortly after midnight and were expected to reach their landing beaches on Zealand by 1530. The landing ships in GDR ports would sortie at 0200. The distance to their landing beaches was much shorter and they would begin to arrive ashore after 0600.