The Southern Flank D+11 (20 July, 1987) Part II

USS John F. Kennedy and her escorts cleared the Strait of Gibraltar at 0025 local time. Spanish frigates and US Navy P-3 Orions sanitized the area ahead of the battlegroup. Even though the Western Med was officially secure there was always the possibility of a Soviet sub lurking in the worst possible place at the …

The Southern Flank D+10 (19 July, 1987) Part I

As was the case on the previous day, Warsaw Pact land forces started D+10 with incursions into Greek and Turkish territory in Thrace. The bulk of a Soviet motor-rifle division began moving into Turkish Thrace while two Bulgarian regiments (one motor rifle, one tank) advanced into Greek territory farther west. The amount of air and …

The Southern Flank D+9 (18 July, 1987) Part I

D+9 saw the first sustained ground combat between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces on the Southern Flank. In the pre-dawn shadows, Pact forces crossed the frontier into Eastern Thrace in force. The Soviet 179th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (Parent division the 59th Guards MRD) moved south into Turkish territory from staging areas around Lesovo. Bulgarian …

The Southern Flank D+3 (12 July, 1987) Part I

  NATO naval capabilities in the Black Sea were severely degraded by the morning of D+3. Turkish and Greek naval losses north of the Turkish Straits had been heavy. Surviving warships and submarines had been mostly redeployed to the Aegean, except for a single Turkish submarine, and a handful of fast attack craft. These units …