The Central Front D+19 (28 July, 1987) Part II

Author’s Note: CENTAG is coming first because my laptop went south on Friday and it took over 36 hours to get it reset and all my files recovered. Need some extra time to gather my CENTAG and NORTHAG timelines and notes up from the wreckage. As a result, this entry will be short, unfortunately. 😊 …

The Central Front D+19 (28 July, 1987) Part I

The opening hours of D+19 in Germany were marked by a series of small unit engagements along the length of the front. As the morning went on, the size and scope of the battles rose. Contact and engagements of company and battalion size broke out in sectors where the lines had been rather stationary, such …

Politics of Armageddon: Alliance Politics

While US generals and admirals went to work planning the next phase of military operations in Central Europe, other European theaters and beyond, The leaders of the United States, Great Britain, France and the Federal Republic of Germany discussed what was to come next. Each leader had his or her own concepts and goals. In …

D+18 1730-1830 Zulu 27 July, 1987

D+18  1730-1830 Zulu **All times in this line are Zulu (GMT)** 1735- Five minutes prior to the scheduled launch time, a hotline message is transmitted to Moscow. Its contents were mainly solely to inform Soviet leadership that the US response will be proportionate to the initial Soviet attack. Reagan suggests that the two leaders speak …

The Central Front D+17 (26 July, 1987) Part VI

It was 0315 in the morning. The commander of NATO’s Central Army Group (CENTAG) General Glenn Otis, US Army, received a call at his field headquarters from Brussels. The voice on the other end was the familiar nasal, New England-accented voice belonging to SACEUR. “Glenn, I want to let you know what’s going on up …

The Central Front D+17 (26 July, 1987) Part V Charlie

Late in the evening, General John Galvin, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) received word that the first troops from 1st Cavalry Division were over the Leine. The news invigorated SACEUR’s deputies, as well as his staff. After two and a half weeks spent playing round-the-clock defense, NATO had possession of the ball. NORTHAG’s new …

The Central Front D+17 (26 July, 1987) Part V Bravo

The Commander-In-Chief of the Western TVD, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov was relieved of his duties at 1600 hours, CEST. It was to be another hour before General Snetkov learned of the news. A KGB officer arrived from Western TVD’s wartime command post in Poland to personally deliver the news of Ogarkov’s removal. The officer also informed …

The Central Front D+17 (26 July, 1987) Part V Alpha

Disorientation continued to hamper Soviet commanders into the afternoon. From the divisional level straight up to the theater commander, there was no clear picture of the situation developing along the Leine or to its west. Fragments of information made their way to headquarters and then somehow ended up either being exaggerated and passed along or, …

The Central Front D+17 (26 July, 1987) Part II

Once all factors were taken into account, NATO forces in Germany appeared to be in far better shape than anyone could’ve expected. The Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR) General John Galvin reflected on this as midnight heralded the start of the eighteenth day of the Third World War. The aggregate data compiled from hundreds of …

Gaming World War III: The Future For NATO-WP Games Is Bright Part I

A couple of weeks back I made an observation on Twitter that 30 years from now wargame companies will likely still be churning out new games based on a NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict in Europe set in the 1980s. At present, we are a shade past 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. New …