FEBRUARY1990
VOL 1 No 5, pages 4 & 5
Story by KM Schmidt
WEEK TWO
REFORGER LIVE
REFORGER '90 is now part of the history of the U.S. Army in Europe. Rumor has it that it may have been the last REFORGER, where hundreds of tracks and thousands of American soldiers maneuvered through quiet German villages. Whatever happens in the future, the SPEARHEAD Division has always been one of the key players in the exercise. This story picks up the battle as the 3d Armd Div prepared for the defensive phase. As it turned out a Spearhead defense looked more like an offense.
The
39,000 square kilometers of the maneuver box are quiet now: no
Bradleys roaring through the German villages and towns; no TOC
antennas sprouting high above the winter woodlines, and there
are no road guards in bright orange vests directing convoy traffic.
All of the 55,000 soldiers that participated in exercise Centurion
Shield have left for their home stations. Reserve units are back
in the states, and ship loads of equipment have crossed the Atlantic
Ocean. REFORGER '90 (Return of Forces to Germany) is over. But,
in a sense it's not. While the troops are now back at their kasernes
like Edwards, Fliegerhorst, Ayers and still others, the battle
staffs are busy pouring over pages of orders, overlays, map sheets
and after action reports, putting together all the 'pluses' and
'minuses' of the exercise.
"REFORGER was a significant success," said the 3d Armd Div. commander, MG Paul E. Funk. "In my opinion, this was the best major exercise, from top to bottom in which I have participated. Particularly noteworthy was the performance, the GREAT performance of the troopers of the 3d Armored Division."
The first week alone (see January issue) was definitely full of'significant' challenges for the nearly 6,000 Spearhead soldiers and 30 civilian employees from the division who deployed into the maneuver box. On the first week the division attacked and advanced over 100 kilometers from the town of Eichstatt in the east to as far west as Schwabisch Gmund. The division, as the V Corps main maneuver element, advanced and secured critical objectives like HOOD and JACKSON, passing phaselines with names like CHARGER, MUSTANG, GOODWILL and WOOD. Towns came and went as the division pushed westward -Eichstatt-Nordlingen-Heidenheim -Aalen and Schwabisch Gmund.
The weather was typical of January. Constantly changing. Rainy and overcast-cold and colder and once in awhile the sun would appear every now and then. Aviation assets couldn't leave home station during the first part of the week because of the weather. But toward the end of the week, the sun appeared long enough to give flying visibility to Spearhead aircraft. By Friday; at the end of the first maneuver phase, the division's forces settled into Assembly Areas and retributed for the second battle week . . . we were on the defensive. Actually, the Spearhead defense turned out to be as aggressive as an offense.
On the weekend, before the second battle resumed, units got a chance to set-up their new positions on the defense and to get their strategies together. The Long Range Surveillance Unit (LRSU) was busy collecting information on the enemy's whereabouts.
"We did a lot of planning at division level regarding the second week before the exercise even started and many of our assumptions were very close to being right on and it really simplified the planning," said Maj. Russell Glenn, G-3 PLEX, HHC, 3d Armd Div. ''Where we expected to start the exercise was exactly the same, the way we had our troops disposed was exactly what Corps guidance was. The strength of the covering force we got from Corps; the 11th ACR (minus), was exactly what we assumed it would be so what we did was take a plan that we had already drawn up, make very minor adjustments and prepared for the 2nd Week."
The soldiers and their units prepared their defensive positions by placing their obstacles, pulling vehicle maintenance, getting refueled, and making their fire plans. The hardest part of the transition from offense to defense was for soldiers to orientate themselves in their new positions. Similar to a football game at half time, the 3d Armd Div 'team' had to remember which way they were running for the 'touchdown.'
As Week 11 of REFORGER kicked off, the division was the Corps main effort and had the mission of defending in the Corps sector with the 194th Separate Armor Brigade on the northern flank and the 2nd Armored Division to the south. The 24th Panzer Brigade was OPCON to the 2d AD because the 31st Separate Armor Bde (SAB); a National Guard unit, had to return to the states at the end of Week 1. The north to south line-up facing the Vll Corps forces was the 194th SAB (CPX). The Spearhead Division was the Corps main effort right to the south of the 194th SAB; just to their south was 2nd Armd Div.
The north to south line up was V Corps forces with 194th playing CPX, the 3d Armd Div with both CFX and FTX units and to the south was the 2nd Armd Div with the 24th Panzer Brigade, they were also CFX and FTX.
The 3d Armd Div defended with the 1st Bde in the north, 3d Bde in the division reserve and out to the front of the covering force, and the 1st Bde, 8th INF in the south. The 3d Bde, 3d Armd Div went from Phase Line GOODWILL back to Phase Line MUSTANG, which was the Forward Edge of the Battle Area (FEBA). The 11th ACR was minus one squadron and they were augmented with the 4th Bn., 7th Cav.
The 11th ACR's mission was to perform covering forces operations to determine the enemies main effort and to force his lead elements to deploy and to destroy his reconnaissance (forward) elements. Once this was done, the 11th AC'R executed a rearward passage of lines through the 3d Armd Div and went into Corps' reserve where it remained for the rest of the exercise as the Corps reserve forward.
The 4th Bn.. 7th Cav pulled back and ran a screen along the southern flank of the division because the boundary that ran along the Donau river; the most likely avenue of approach the enemy would use.
''It was an obvious place to be concerned about because the Donau River and the Nordlingen Bowl were the two primary avenues of advance that were either in our sector, like in the case of the Nordlingen Bowl, or threatened our sector because one in the south was right on our southern flank although it belonged to 2nd Armd Div. so the 3d Armd Div put the 4th Bn., 7th Cav to screen and it turns out that's exactly where the enemy came with their main effort,'' said Glenn. "We thought that there was a deception involved, that there was going to be a strong unit in the north which never materialized. Thcy had a couple of task forces up there but nothing of signficance.''
The next three days were characterized by Vll Corps attacks being blunted by the Spearhead Division by well planned and executed counterattacks. Nearly every move that the enemy tried to make had been anticipated by superb battle staff planning.
The division commander; Maj. Gen. Paul E. Funk, said something along the same lines in regard to the impressive performance of the 3d Armd Div soldiers, ''I didn't find a single soldier who wasn't working hard, tring to stay current, and absolutely at the top of his or her game. That made me feel good. A disciplined organization is one which performs the mission without always having to be told. In that regard and by itself, REFORGER '90 was a significant success."
