REFORGER kicks off in early October, when the Bundeswehr crosses the IGB. Belgium withdraws from NATO following the US entry into the war in December, so there is a roughly six week window for the 5th to get its POMCUS equipment out of Belgium. (Even if there was a problem, the Germans could raise an "issue " with the withdrawal of the Belgian Corps - an equipment tax, maybe! Foolish, but tit for tat isn't all that uncommon... I'd say its unlikely overall).
The German invasion of the DDR is run from national command posts (it's strictly a FRG op). Once the US, UK and Canada cross over and the pre-war NATO command structure falls apart, there is a flurry of activity to relocate SHAPE (and other NATO assets, like the US 485th Tactical Missile Wing, with 48 GLCM cruise missiles) from Belgium and other now non-NATO nations and juggle personnel assignments in multi-national HQ's to replace people from nations that quit NATO.
One reason (of many) that the NATO offensive into Poland doesn't begin until the spring of 1997 is that NATO is undergoing this complicated rearrangement of its command structure and logistics. It helps that the organization was structured in peacetime to continue functioning while absorbing combat losses and retreating on a nearly-continuous basis.
__________________
I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...
Last edited by chico20854; 12-04-2008 at 10:14 AM.
|