Baltic Approaches D+22 (31 July, 1987) Part II

1400– The Danish attack commences. 1^st and 2^nd Brigades of the Jutland Division advance southeast from Bredebro. This division is in far better material shape than its West German counterpart to the east. The Danish sector of the front had been considerably quieter following the rebellion in Polish ranks. The division’s commander took advantage of the opportunity to infuse his division with Home Guard units to round out brigades and replace combat casualties and equipment losses. The Soviet division opposing the Danes is the 6^th Guards Motor Rifle Division, a formation that looks to be the worse for wear. Ammunition and fuel levels are low in nearly every unit. Losses have culled out battalions to the point where the numbers of troops and vehicles fielded are more in line with a company-sized unit. The appearance is deceiving though. 6^th Guards, for all of its impediments, is a division manned by soldiers and officers who survived everything the Danes, Germans, British and Americans threw their way for three weeks.

1445– The West German 6^th Panzergrenadier Division resumes its advance south.

1700– Soviet resistance stiffens across southern Jutland as the late afternoon turns to early evening and NATO forces push nearer to Schleswig-Holstein.

1920– Following an afternoon of heavy fighting, 2^nd Brigade of the Jutland Division breaks through the lines of 82^nd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment north of Tonder, a town situated only 3 kilometers from the Denmark-West German border. With dusk approaching, 6^th Guards receives orders from Northern Group of Forces to make every effort to keep the Danes pinned north of the border until midnight without committing its reserve regiment to the defense.

2100– Similar orders arrive at 20^th Tank Division later in the evening. The division commander is told to keep his reserve regiment uncommitted while keeping the West Germans on Danish territory until midnight at the earliest. Requests for additional air defense and SAM units to be moved forward are denied. Those units would remain in their current locations defending headquarters, and curiously enough, artillery emplacements in the rear area.

2240– A contingent of KGB and GRU officers arrives at Juterbog Airbase in East Germany. These men, and the heavily armed soldiers in accompaniment are taken to the hardened ‘special ordnance’ ammunition bunker in a secure area of the base. Technicians were already there waiting. Once the officers arrived, work began.