War Story #2

No 4th Position!

A war story told by Mr. Achs of his experiences during the Cold War (1982-1985) while stationed in West Germany with a nuclear capable artillery unit, 2-75FA, 41st FA Bde, V Corps Artillery, Fliegerhorst Kasern, which is located outside Hanau, 20km NE of Frankfurt.

There I was, it was at the height of the cold war October 1982, and I was a brand new Second Lieutenant just out of Officer Basic Training at Fort Sill Oklahoma and Airborne School at Fort Benning Georgia. I was the Fire Direction Officer for B Battery in command of the Fire Direction Center (FDC) which computed the data for the 155mm Self Propelled M109 Howitzers. We were in a Field Training Exercise (FTX) practicing our General Defensive Positions (GDP), our wartime plans to save West Germany and the rest of NATO from the onslaught of attacking Soviet forces. The situation did not look good. Although we had superior Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs), the Soviets outnumbered us 10 to 1. I thought how the roles were now reversed, in WWII the Germans had superior weapons, with the Tiger Tank and its 88mm main gun as an excellent example, but the Allies prevailed with the endless supply of men and machines. Because of this, IF we could not stop the Soviet Army by the time our reinforcements arrived from United States, our tactical nuclear weapons would would be utilized (see War Story #1).

We were about 5Km from the East Germany border, otherwise known as the Iron Curtain, which was coined by Winston Churchill in 1946. No American soldier was allowed to come within 2km of the boarder to prevent the start of any conflict. The boarder was patrolled by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR); they would give the first indication of any Soviet attack.

We occupied our first GDP position in a small West German town. It was strange at first, but we actually positioned our vehicles and defensive positions actually in town, right next to German homes. We would use their homes to mitigate any damage from the Soviet counter fire. It was known that the Soviets had just as good artillery and motor tracking radars as we did, they would be able to locate us after only three volleys. So the term we used was “Shoot and Scoot.” Even though we would be firing and scooting right away, when we first set up our positions, we would camouflage our positions to prevent any identification from the air. Our camouflage nets were also radar and thermal scattering.

Another interesting observation was the German population loved us, they knew we were there to protect them. West Germany was part of NATO and we were there to help defend them. Numerous times I was offered the hospitality of their homes, fresh baked bread, German apple strudel, and of course good German beer, which I had to decline since I was “on duty.” Because we wanted to be good neighbors, we tried to limit any damage from our vehicles, both tracked and wheeled, in their yards but that was hard to do when you park a 27.5 ton M109 Howitzer next to a house. Upon leaving each position, a Maneuver Damage Team (MDT) would visit each position and compensate the local Germans from any damage done by our vehicles. Maneuver damage was just a fact of life as we occupied actual towns in our GDP.

Each Field Artillery Battery had six 155mm M109 Howitzers, six M548 tracked artillery supply vehicles, and one FDC in a M577 tracked command post, supply, command, and maintenance vehicles. Each vehicle was a fighting position. The howitzers and artillery supply vehicles had a M2 .50cal machine gun mounted on the turret/cab whereas the supply and maintenance sections 7.62mm M60 machine guns. All soldiers carried a M16 5.56mm rifle and the officers carried a M1911 .45cal pistol. In sum, each battery had about 16 vehicles.

After occupation of our first GDP, our positions would be critiqued by our Battery Commander (BC), a young Captain O-3. The turnover rate was pretty high at the time and everyone needed to know what to do, how to do it, and when. In an actual wartime situation there was no time for rookies to make mistakes, mistakes cost lives. We all depended on each other to do our jobs correctly, the first time. The BC inspected my FDC and all was in order. After the BC inspected each section of the battery we moved on to our second and third GDP positions. After the occupation of our third position I asked our BC where the 4th position is, I wanted to start mapping the route in inputting the coordinates into the computer to generate a firing solution. My Commander looked at me and said: “Don’t worry about it, there is no 4th position, you’ll be dead by then.” Immediately my heart sank, I was overwhelmed with fear. I did not want to appear weak or afraid to my commander, so like all good soldiers I responded: “Hooah, Roger That” and quickly went about my business.

Later I thought to myself as the magnitude of what was just said sank in. Holy Cow, I was expendable and this is my part to play. I was training for possible war with the Soviets and I was not expected to survive. The worst case scenario gave me only 30min to live, the Soviets would locate us in our first GDP position after three volleys, the best case three hours, and it would end here, at the 4th position. I was but a small cog in this giant wheel turning in the defense of Western Europe. I aged twenty years that day; I was stuck in the adult world now with a real mission and real consequences.