Quote:
Originally Posted by James Langham2
Easy to harass aircraft flying through, though, radar locks, etc.
An option for the higher ranking leaders of the East German forces would be to use harassment (blamed on the Soviets) as a provocation for the West Germans to move east.
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Yes very easy.
During the initial crossing of the inter-German border the NVA Luftstreitkrafte must have been in cahoots with the Bundeswehr for the operation to work. Luftwaffe transports and army helicopters also crossed the border with West German troops, and the only way they would have done so without been shot down was if the Luftstreitkrafte controlled the air defence radars on the border and concealed the data from the Soviets, or had planned in advance to jam or disable Soviet radar coverage of the inter-German border.
So if that is the case then the Luftstreitkrafte or most of it quickly changed side and was integrated into the Luftwaffe. Any loyal East German air defence units would now be under Soviet command, and if they were reckless enough to shoot down a NATO transport in one of these three air corridors the crews would likely be shot themselves by the Soviets.