pimpernel
LE
Burnt indelibly on my mind, the joy of being a school boy again- a wonderful scene from 'The Battle of Britain'
Cold War Photos.
- Thread starter ACAB
- Start date
LE
Whiskybreath
MIA
They seemed to have the Correct Attitude. Please forgive a shameless reprint of a post from 2009:
During (I think) Summer Sales 1979, Task Force ECHO, who were kind enough to host the jollities, supplied the Int complement, greatly strengthened by members of the elite HQ 7 Int Coy team. One of the chief concerns of the Bird Table staff was that Skylab would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere during the exercise and impact upon 1(BR) Corps' TAOR, and a model of the space station hung by a thread above the Table until it fell on Australia, causing no damage at all.
The other major concern of the exercise was the alarming strategic imperative driving the German element, which caused the FEBA, which was mostly moving in an orderly, planned retreat towards the Channel ports, to bulge in an aggressive way towards Moscow; "...the Bundeswehr does not retreat", stated their senior representative, meaningfully. Our general was very tactful in his dealings with them.
The cooks at Task Force ECHO produced 'Echoburgers' and 'Echowurst' to go with their 'Echofrites'. I had the squits for much of the exercise.
Later, and taking a small part in the Canadian Army Trophy in 87, at which the British declined to make an appearance, the German General at the final ceremony was very grumpy about the beautiful weather; it should be raining, hailing, sleeting, snowing and windy, he bitched. This sunshine is not Proper Soldiers' Weather.
retread2
LE
General von Paulus walt.
LeoRoverman
LE
To bloody right, provided she was still in 'em. Remember my youth... some one aught to.I'll bet you would have gone back for Susanna York's frillies.
I remember it well. RSM 's driver was on a course, so I drove RSM.
We were sat by his Ferret drinking purified tea (Eh? There's a bottle of Grouse in my large pack) and we could clearly hear Battlegroup Command Net and Div Command Net through our own Larkspur headsets hanging out of the Ferret.
Somebody came up with "I'm bored," but before the net got carried away, C Squadron signals sergeant jumped in to cut off the conversation.
We could hear the CO's distinctive CO voice from the penthouse on the back of the adjacent Zero Alpha Saracen ACV as well as over the BG net come back with "Ooh, he's not a happy teddy bear."
Raised single eyebrows and tuts may have been exchanged by RSM and me.
Were you the second man on the balcony too?
No. I was on my German Linguist course at Mühlheim AD Ruhr where there was no BFBS TV. By the time I got back to Paderborn, the moment was gone and it was years before I saw footage. I'm one of the few people in Europe who didn't have a Scooby what was going on.Were you the second man on the balcony too?
That's my alibi. The defence rests, m'lud.
ACAB
LE
It would be late 70s. Perhaps before your time but they WERE the dogs bollocks.
pimpernel
LE
TF Echo, were you in Soest and part of 3 Div - under the then Great Port smuggler!
TFE HQ & Signals Troop shared Alanbrooke Barracks, Paderborn with 15/19H 1977-80, when they reverted after Spearpoint to 33 Armd Bde HQ & Signals Squadron.
Whiskybreath
MIA
No, far too grunty and muddy for us. Scrapping with people speckled with snow on their boots was a game for rougher soldiery than HQ 7 Int Coy, who needed the comforts of Bielefeld to fully achieve their professional aims. The A2 offered a clear run to the Channel ports, too. Being a base barnacle took a great deal of military initiative, you know.
Choux Bun
Clanker
Didn't really matter who the hunters were, just so long as you (the runners) were captured ready to undergo (enjoy) the final phase in Weingarten before release/endex.
I remember it well. Managed to squeeze in a BBQ and a few beers in the garden of an old Wehrmacht soldier before that final stage.
'Alte Soldaten sterben nie'.
Choux Bun
Clanker
...and her bloody parrot!!
Choux Bun
Clanker
'Ya, aber ich habe meiner laufpass'
Bright sunshine and clear skies is known as 'Kaiserwetter', or 'Emperor's weather', due to Kaiser Bill's reluctance to visit places or step down from his carriage if the weather was a bit iffy. Obviously, soldiers are not entitled to the same high quality and have to satisfy themselves with more modest climates.
Fair enough, I stand corrected. I didn't get to BAOR until 1980 so have no real idea what went before. My dealings with the Bundeswehr were sparse. The Fernmelde Battalion 7, in Lippstadt, seemed fairly OK and they had some good soldier kit like their boots, filtered torches and parka/sleeping bags which were super handy.
I saw them in action a few times and was not impressed. In particular I remember one incident when we were providing flanking comms to 1 Br Corps Main Excon (So that they weren't on the same comms as the HQ) and we had to move. The Bundeswehr flanking comms det refused to move as it was dark and they thought it was too dangerous. After pressure was put on them to just f'in do it, they 'accidentally' put their Unimog in a ditch and had to wait till morning for recovery. On another exercise, this time providing flanking comms to 82 US Airborne during Ex Crusader, we were set up on the periphery of GAF Wuenstorf. My impression of the Bundeswehr guys there was that they were eternally pissed and really did not want to be doing the job they were given.
Generally they were a bit half-arsed and didn't seem to be putting in the effort. I have since heard stories from german guys I know quite well, people who did their time in the 70's and 80's and they pretty much confirm my opinion of the time. On the other hand, they thought that the 'Tommies' were good soldiers in strong units, with shockingly old-fashioned kit and vehicles that littered the the roads and Autobahns of northern Germany with their broken down carcasses.
Pedant hat on. Just General Paulus walt. He wasn't a Von as he was never part of the nobility. He was the son of a treasurer. Pedant hat off.
Rodney2q
LE
Heard a story, probably apocryphal, about how some Soviet officers made a complimentary remark about the x-country ability of some new German bit of kit while attending an exercise as observers in the late 70s or early 80's
Came the reply along the lines of "Yes, the mud won't stop us next time we are only 50 Kms from moscow"
I thought it was the snow and freezing weather that stopped them. Froze up the engines and coolants. The mud buggered them up in the spring when the snow melted. Oh and Zukov's Siberian divisions played their part as well.
Sorry, but this is Arrse after all.
