Baltic Approaches D+14 (23 July, 1987) Part III

1200-2359 The Polish amphibious vessels, and their surviving escorts entered Gdansk Bay shortly after twelve noon. Within ninety minutes the ships were tying up to the docks and not long afterward men and equipment began to disembark. The ships were met by a cadre of senior military officers who briefed them on the situation in …

Baltic Approaches D+14 (23 July, 1987) Part II

0400-1200 The remaining ships of the Soviet amphibious group were anchored off of the southwest coast of Bornholm.  Two destroyers, damaged rather seriously, were tied to the docks in Ronne Harbor as their crews worked to repair what could be repaired. If either vessel was not able to put back to sea on its own …

Baltic Approaches D+13 (22 July, 1987) Part VI

1230- The Soviet amphibious group passes 20 miles south of Bornholm. Earlier in the morning the damaged cruiser Alexander Nevsky was detached from the group as its maximum speed was reduced to less than ten knots. The ship was becoming a liability. One of the surviving frigates of the Surface Action Group was tasked with …

Baltic Approaches D+13 (22 July, 1987) Part IV- Bravo

Bravo Section- Naval and Amphibious Activity D+13 0000-1200 CEST 0145- The Soviet SAG (Surface Action Group) is detected east of Bornholm by patrolling Swedish aircraft. Intermittent radar returns are picked up from four ships: three Krivak class frigates and a single Kresta II class guided missile cruiser. The information is forwarded to NAVBALTAP headquarters in …

Baltic Approaches D+13 (22 July, 1987) Part I

Shortly after midnight the Soviet amphibious group cleared the Gulf of Gdansk and entered the waters of the Baltic Proper. Twenty kilometers behind was a second group made up of Polish landing ships, and escorts. This force would clear the Gulf on the heels of the Soviet group and trail it to the landing beaches …

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

Western TVD’s commitment to a combined airborne-amphibious operation against the Denmark oscillated in the first eleven days of the war. The initial expectation had been for the operation to be launched in conjunction with the land thrust into Jutland from Schelswig-Holstein on the seventh or eighth day of the war, and only after air superiority, …

Baltic Approaches D+8 (17 July, 1987) Part I

At 0400 hours on the morning of 17 July, 1987 Soviet ambassador to Sweden Boris Pankin requested an audience with Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson at 0500. The Swedes readily agreed to the request and the Soviet diplomat strode into the prime minister’s office at Rosenbad promptly at the prescribed time. He informed Carlsson that …

Baltic Approaches D+7 (16 July, 1987) Part II

The planned Warsaw Pact airborne and amphibious operations against Zealand were postponed once again on D+7. The focus of the Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces in the Baltic Sea region was fixed on Scandinavia, specifically the events taking place in Finland, and as the day progressed, Sweden as well. Through the morning, units of the …

Baltic Approaches D+1 (10 July, 1987) Part III

COMBATLAP’s naval commander believed otherwise. Bornholm possessed no true strategic value for the Warsaw Pact. It was unable to support offensive operations against Denmark and the Baltic approaches. The island’s airport was small and its port facilities were severely limited for that. The attack on Bornholm was a feint, he judged, aimed at distracting his …

Baltic Approaches D+1 (10 July, 1987) Part II

10 July saw the beginning of a major effort by the Pact to secure air and sea supremacy in the Baltic. The focus of this effort was on Danish airbases. Of the fifty NATO airfields that were hosting combat aircraft in Central Europe, six were located in Denmark. The Royal Danish Air Force was a …