Arrangements at the Front

[Webstral]

I had an evil thought tonight. The war in Europe in 1999 is characterized by long-distance penetration raids. Obviously, the formations nearest the enemy bear the brunt of this. Obviously, it’s impossible for the number of troops remaining to control the whole front. The formations nearest the front would be expected to mount patrols into the areas they couldn’t control directly. This would suck for them. What if some of the units at the forward edge of the NATO or Pact occupation zone in Central Europe strike an arrangement with their counterparts on the other side. Say, for example, the 476th Motor Rifle Division foresaw that there would be no need to patrol a given area during a specified time on a specified date. If enemy raiders penetrated this area and tore up friendly units in the rear… well, those sorts of things happen when the units at the forward edge of the occupation zone don’t get enough supply or reinforcement and find themselves obliged to make arrangements with the enemy across the way so that the higher-ups in their safe rear area command posts can feel good that the war is being prosecuted without us poor s.o.b.s who got unlucky enough to be stuck at the front all getting’ killed for no good reason at all.