People's War

Twenty-three – The build-up continues


The Coalition was making use of six airbases across West Germany for the mass reinforcement of air power ready to take on the East Germans. Not five years beforehand, there would have been twice as many locations to base aircraft at. However, cutbacks following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc had seen the closure of so many of what was once available across that country. Five of the six filling up with aircraft at the end of June 1995 were on the western side of the Rhine with the sixth right next to Frankfurt. RAF Bruggen & RAF Laarbruch were British facilities practically alongside the Dutch border in the northern reaches of the Rhineland. Further south, close to where the Saar was, the Americans were making great use of Ramstein AB, Sembach AB & Spangdahlem AB; they also had that big presence at Rhein-Main AB which shared its runways with Frankfurt International Airport much closer to the DDR. In terms of combat aircraft, the RAF had added to their pre-deployed force of Tornados and Harriers with more of each as well as some older Jaguars. There remained more Tornados back in the UK with both the strike and air defence versions of that aircraft there. A-10s, F-15s (the fighter version) and F-16s were plentiful at the US Air Force bases. A major deployment was long underway in the Gulf for American air power but they still had the available forces to fill their West German airbases. Rhein-Main was mainly an air logistics hub yet there were F-16s sent there as a forward presence. At each of the half dozen locations, the Americans and British already had many hardened aircraft shelters – which only a direct hit with a penetrating bomb could take out – though there wasn’t enough room for all of the deployed aircraft especially at Rhein-Main. Revetments were hastily build. Concrete and steel plating was used to create blast pens around where aircraft sat in the open under camouflage: that camouflage extended to the revetments too.

The inability of the limited number of sites with West Germany, though also the desire to see a geographic spread of forces to curtail enemy attack options, saw the Coalition deploy aircraft into neighbouring countries. The Belgians, the Danes, the Dutch and the French all kept their own combat aircraft on home soil though with forward deployment closer to where they would see action Bases were opened up for allies too. Up in Denmark, a squadron of Norwegian F-16s arrived down at Skrydstrup AB at the bottom of Jutland to join the Danes who had identical aircraft there and also at Karup AB. There were two Cold War era airbases also on Jutland which the Danes had long held in a stand-by status for use by allies in wartime: Tirstrup AB and Vendel AB. They were opened up to arriving American aircraft as well as two squadrons of Canadian CF-1118 Hornets. A squadron of F-15Es arrived at Soesterberg AB in the Netherlands and another of F-16s went to Volkel AB too. The US Air Force had left the Netherlands only a few years beforehand but returned at Dutch invitation. So too did the Italians who moved up aircraft there with their Tornados (both the IDS and ECR versions) taking a long flight through France to reach their new Dutch bases. The Royal Netherlands Air Force had plenty of multi-role F-16s which were spread throughout their country. Belgium was home to two more of those wartime-ready airbases that the Danes also had. The Americans sent aircraft to Jehonville AB and Weelde AB both. Belgian aircraft were spread across their own national bases though with forward movement to sites in the eastern half of the country leaving them closer to where they expected to see action. The French remained on home soil. Combat aircraft with the Armée de l'Air were across the northeastern region. Plans afoot were for the French to fly mainly above the Czech Republic, less so direct over East Germany, and from where they were positioned, those jets were considered to be close enough. There were a heck of a lot of different Mirage aircraft sitting ready to fly those planned combat missions.

Back in the UK, the RAF had many of their Tornados but the country was also home to American air power. The mixed wing of F-15s at RAF Lakenheath stayed where they were – not forward deploying onto the Continent – and there was too an opening up of further sites. RAF Sculthorpe was also in East Anglia like Lakenheath and that was another one of those Cold War reserve airbases. F-15s and F-16s arrived there while with the same combat wing as them (the 366th Wing) was a squadron of B-1Bs which were deployed to RAF Fairford in the West of England; two squadrons of B-52Hs also went to that facility. RAF Alconbury and RAF Upper Heyford were American airbases closed in recent years yet still regarded as capable of seeing emergency deployments. Into them returned F-111Fs with the EF-111A electronic attack version of that aircraft additionally arriving. At RAF Boscombe Down, down in Southern England where the Americans and the RAF had long used that facility for experimental and secret flights, there was the arrival of a squadron of F-117As. Those stealth strike aircraft arrived at night and were hidden from view; a second squadron flew into Orland AB in the central region of Norway. Those American air units which went to Britain and Norway were all from regular units and so too were many of those deployed elsewhere onto the Continent. However, there was too the arrival of Air Force Reserve units. Others were at Gulf bases but more went to Belgium and Denmark. Into the same two countries, plus also arriving at Leeuwarden AB in the Netherlands, were Air National Guard fighter units. The ANG had a Gulf deployment underway and added to that with one to Europe. Some very good units with brand-new jets arrived as well. The whole of the ANG hadn’t been mobilised back in the United States and those sent to get ready to fight the East Germans had been preparing for unit-only mobilisations ahead of time elsewhere with a change of destination completed with ease.

All of that mass of combat air power was joined by supporting aircraft. There were AWACS aircraft, electronic warfare jets and a lot of tankers. The Americans brought over a lot of the latter though the British, the Canadians, the Dutch, the French and Italians had airborne tankers of their own. Of course, there were many more Americans ones though yet their less-numerous contribution was still valuable. At every airbase made use of, there were those threat counter-measures taken. There were ground troops brought in to protect against what was seen as unlikely yet still possible East German commando threat. The HASs and revetments were in-place to protect aircraft on the ground against the missile threat rather than any East German air attack: again unlikely yet not something that could be completely disregarded. The DDR had already made use of its ballistic missiles to strike throughout Eastern Europe. West Germany and beyond, as far as Denmark, the Low Countries & France, were all within range of them. The Americans and the Dutch both fielded Patriot missile systems. Those had seen action in the Gulf War against Iraq – the Dutch had sent some of theirs to Israel – where what was designed as an anti-air weapon was used to engage ballistic missiles. Claims made in 1991 about the effectiveness of the Patriot had been trashed since then. Nonetheless, much work had been done with the Patriot since them to make it a viable defence for Coalition airbases which the expectation was that the East Germans would target for missile attacks. The West Germans had their own Patriots and those systems would have been welcomed into the Coalition missile defence network. That wasn’t to be though. Independently, they were being deployed elsewhere… yet that movement was still welcomed for it did free up Coalition batteries from that possible role.


The naval build-up continued with less visibility than hundreds upon hundreds of aircraft arriving at land bases. In the North Sea mainly, though with a smaller forward presence in the Danish Straits closer to East Germany, the Coalition assembled warships. There was air power deployed aboard them as well as missiles. New additions to the task forces being built arrived everyday the build-up went on for with a large and clear overreach made in terms of the deployed forces. That was done to make the East Germans take notice though. The international media surely did so when the US Navy sent the massive aircraft carrier USS Enterprise through the English Channel. It could have taken the routing around the British Isles, past the top of Scotland after crossing the North Atlantic, but instead it transited the busy waters of the Straits of Dover. The British and French authorities assisted in making that passage smooth and didn’t interfere with images recorded for broadcast of the Enterprise approaching mainland Europe. USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had been in the North Sea some time before the second carrier arrived. From the two of them flew a huge flotilla of combat aircraft including A-6s, F-14s & FA-18s. They were mobile airbases with their own AWACS aircraft and tankers too. Sea Harriers flown from the Royal Navy’s HMS Illustrious were also ready to see action. They had far less range yet, with tanking, could reach East Germany should the call come. No French carrier joined those three others with the French keeping one of theirs at sea down in the Med. on operations enforcing the maritime embargo against the participants in the Bosnian War; the Americans had the USS George Washington there too. With the carriers, there were cruisers, destroyers, frigates, support ships and submarines. It wasn’t just escort provided but the ability to fire off cruise missiles too from the American vessels. Coalition countries provided naval power there with the French and the Italians joining the Belgians, the Canadians and the Dutch alongside the RN and the USN.

The Danes had their naval forces in home waters to the east of Jutland. A handful of Norwegian vessels were there as well, including a submarine, though most assistance to the Danes came from the Americans and the British. Less-imposing warships were present with destroyers and frigates sent instead of carriers and cruisers. The East Germans had their own navy with a naval air force in support. Counter-action was anticipated in the face of an air campaign against the DDR with it thought likely that a portion of that would occur near to Denmark. The Danes were ready to face that and their allies provided them with significant reinforcements to allow them to defend their territory and interests. Through the Oresund, in sight of land, had gone warships to position themselves ready to see action. Unseen had been the submarines which had gone too.

There had been closures of garrisons for ground forces as well as airbases in West Germany after the Soviets had imploded with the Russians then taking their army home from the other side of the Iron Curtain. However, the cutbacks had been less severe for armies when it came to completely closing their bases. Further scaling back had been in the works yet there remained plentiful locations still open in the middle of 1995 even with reduced forces in-place. No big deployment to complete a build-up of troops took place by the Coalition. The Americans, British and French all had troops in West Germany and kept most of them in-place. There was instead a small movement of some covering forces towards the borders with East Germany and the Czech Republic just in case the DDR decided to go a bit crazy. As part of that, something that the West Germans had no legal ability to stop from happening, Coalition helicopters were deployed much further forward than combat aircraft were. Hanau Army Airfield was a major US Army helicopter site on the opposite side of the famous Fulda Gap and the Americans sent Apache & Cobra gunships, Kiowa scouts & a range of special operations helicopters to there, and then onwards to improvised sites. They were spread across Bavaria and Hessen for patrol tasks but also ready to take action against the East Germans as well as including later aircrew recovery. The British Army and the RAF sent their own helicopters across the Luneburg Heath and elsewhere in the northern parts of West Germany. Their tasks were the same as the Americans though with less available striking power. Much support was given to assisting SAS operational teams engaged in border patrols watching for East German commando activity. Plans were made for aircrew recovery though the British were far more hesitant about having to do that – yet still ready to – than the Americans were. The latter would use specialist fixed wing CSAR aircraft as well as their helicopters yet the RAF had nothing like those AC-130s & MC-130s that the US Air Force had on-hand for that task.

All of that air power, plus the additional naval build-up, still hadn’t changed the minds of those in East Berlin as to what they were risking as the final days of June came to a close. Fighting was still being undertaken down in the Czech Republic against Polish forces there and there were additional air strikes into Polish territory. Ballistic missile firings had ceased yet there remained a continuous denial that East Germany had a nuclear weapons programme despite all of the evidence presented by the Coalition to the international community about that. The demands presented and ultimatum threatened at Rotterdam had had little effect. A few dispersal operations had taken place, there had been some exercises conducted and attempts at concealment were underway but that was it. The East Germans hadn’t prepared themselves for war. The belief remained that the Coalition wouldn’t strike, not with the West Germans still utterly opposed to military action. Images that came out of that country of anti-war protests underway and statements from angry politicians were taken as ‘proof’ that no attack was possible due to the threat of military retaliation against West Germany if it was used as a base of operations. The Coalition was making sure that the DDR had a good idea of its assembling strength – broad strokes, not specifics – but the message wasn’t getting through. All that the Coalition was doing, and preparing to do too, driving the West Germans to rage with that, was still regarded as a bluff and just wasn’t having the impact desired.