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Document No. 23: Polish Command Post Exercise Rehearsing Advance to Northern Germany, Low Countries, and Denmark, June 14, 1963 ——————————————————————————————————————————— This is a particularly good example of a command staff exercise report because it shows in some detail how the Warsaw Pact imagined the advance of its forces into Germany and the Low Countries. One feature of special interest is that the document reveals a presumption that before the onset of war the Warsaw Pact would match the secret preparations being made by NATO—a highly dubious proposition. As early as the second or third day following a NATO attack, according to the exercise, its forces were supposed to be in a position to reverse the tide. This is one of a relatively few Polish documents illustrative of the Warsaw Pact’s actual planning. Even today, Polish authorities continue to deny access to most records from the Operations Department, and have in fact confirmed Cold War-era classification levels, despite scholars’ efforts to gain their release. The reason materials on command post exercises are available is that they were kept under another department— the Department of Combat Training—not of Operations. ____________________ TRAINING INSPECTORATE Attachment part I for a unilateral command post exercise using maps on the subject: “Planning and Rehearsing a Combined Landing Operation Within the Framework of an Offensive Operation of the Maritime Front in the Beginning Phase of the War.” […] II. Details of the exercise 1. The Unified Command of the Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact states, anticipating the possibility of “Westerners” instigating aggression, in accordance with a specific, previously established variant of the operational plan, intends: – with a massive retaliatory strike executed directly following the initiation of aggression by the “Westerners,” to defeat the main attacking forces as well as to destroy the main facilities of strategic and operational significance; – with forces located on the territory of the GDR to prevent and break down the attack of ground forces of the enemy, securing the deployment and introduction of the main forces into action; – on the second or third day of war to engage the main ground forces in offensive actions: – the Maritime Front in the direction of: Neubrandenburg, Osnabr ück, Brussels as well as the Jutland Peninsula; 149 – the Central Front in the direction of: south Berlin, Kassel, Leuven in order to provide suitable conditions for moving offensive operations to the territory of France; – immediately after the commencement of war activities to take over the Danish straits, securing the possibility for unimpeded operations and deployment of the Unified Baltic Fleet to the North Sea. 2. In accordance with the accepted variant of retaliatory activities of the Unified Command of the Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact states, the Commander of the Maritime Front intends: – on the night of June 17 to transfer a part of the first-echelon tactical units across the Oder River into the territory of the GDR, and the remaining ones to secondary regions of risk, securing them from massive strikes by the “Westerners” and creating better conditions for the deployment and transfer of the main forces to offensive operations; – to engage the main forces of the first echelon in a steady offensive on the second day of war in the following directions: – Wittstock, Nienburg, Enschede, Brussels; – Schwerin, Neumünster, Flensburg, Ålborg; having in the first echelon the 4th and 7th Army and in the second drop the 8th Army in order to break down the left wing of the operational group of the Northern Army Group and the unified German-Danish forces on the Jutland Peninsula. Together with the Soviet air-landing unit and the Unified Baltic Fleet to take over the Danish islands, to provide suitable conditions for advancement into the North Sea through the Danish straits and Kiel Canal, and the development of offensive operations on French territory. Near-term assignment—in three days of operations, to break down the forces of the left wing first echelon of the Northern Army Group; to move operations to the territory of the FRG; to take over the Kiel Canal and secure its facilities from destruction ; and to advance to the outskirts of: Sønderborg, Tønder, the coastal island of Halligen, Wesermünde, Wildeshausen, and Bielefeld. Together with airborne units of the USSR and the Unified Baltic Fleet, not to allow the “Western” naval forces to operate in the Baltic Sea, as well as to provide suitable conditions for the deployment and...

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