REFORGER was the code name for a program begun in 1967 and implemented throughout 1968. The idea was that LBJ wanted to decrease the number of troops in Europe but assure our allies that we were still committed to the defense of NATO countries. So we withdrew a couple of divisions from Germany but left their equipment there in storage. The idea being that it is quicker to fly the troops over and get the equipment out of storage and into the war (should something happen) than it would be to ship the divisions and their equipment over. So REturn of FORces to GERmany was born. And every year thereafter, the U S military would stage huge mobilization exercises to test and hone the program. Throughout the sixties and seventies thousands and thousands of soldiers participated in REFORGER exercises all over Europe but the ground activities mostly took place in Germany.
REFORGER 88 was a throwback to the fifties and sixties and the kinds of field maneuvers that involved hordes of vehicles roaring across farm fields, through forests, rumbling through villages and towns, and smashing cars and cobblestones before fuel costs and the Vietnam War sucked the budgets dry. We used to go out for weeks at a time: moving constantly, living on coffee, cigarettes, and no sleep for days on end, but when the money started getting tight, the wide-open, far-ranging manuevers of the past were over. Field time was limited and movements were held to a minimum. The only exception was the REFORGER exercises, but even they were lower-key than the "old days".
In '88 I was stationed at Baumholder, Germany in the 2nd Battalion, 68th Armored. We were part of the 8th Infantry Division in the Army's Fifth ("V") Corps. As a tank battalion in an infantry division that was not part of the the border defense, we were the last in line for new equipment. So when REFORGER 88 started staging, 2/68 Armor still had the older M-60A3 tanks while the majority of the tank units we would be facing would be equipped with M-1 Abrams tanks.
Before it was over, more than 125,000 troops from several countries and and all services took part in '88. It was the biggest REFORGER yet.
2/68 moved out of Baumholder in late August or early September and set up in a section of woods near Wurzburg. My platoon was responsible for providing fuel, ammo, and supplies to the battalion's companies. We had to organize our lines of supply, set up our field site, and locate all the units we had to service. Each company had its own patch of woods and was spread out over miles and miles. Our particular piece of the forest had good logging trails and quick access to paved roads, only about ten minutes from an entrance to the main freeway between Frankfurt and Nurnberg. The autobahn (freeway) followed the low ground between the hill we were on and another about two miles away. The other hill had a small village on the top of it. We used that village a number of times as a reference point for our operations.
I have written a few stories about the events of Reforger 88; it was an eventful exercise, if you are interested. I will include the links for the ones I can remember. "Machine Gun Marcus", "Charlie Three Three is Burning", and a couple of others.
While we were operating from the assembly area (in other words not moving around much), at dusk every evening we would start forming up our convoy of support vehicles. The companies would call in with their requirements around noon. We would start assembling the "LogPack" (logistics package) for each company: our platoon put together the ammunition and fuel, the supply folks would load up the paper products and whatever else; the mess hall would fill up thermal cans with food and drink, coffee and soup. When they had their loads assembled, we would load them on the trucks and line them up. A location would be identified and we would move the convoy as soon as it got dark. The First Sergeants would meet us at the Logistical Resupply Point (LRP) and we would peel off the trucks for the companies, each first sergeant taking the trucks for his company and leading them away to wherever his guys were hidden. Then my Lieutenant and I wouldspend the next few hours waiting for the trucks to come back. We usually had a platoon of scouts or infantry or sometimes even a tank platoon for security and we would shoot the breeze with them; sometimes the local Germans would come out and talk to us, and sometimes we would just read or eat our dinner or nap.
A lot of the time we could see our "enemy's" LRP operations taking place on the next terrain feature (Army talk for "hill").
When the "war" started and we began maneuvering, all the above operations and preparations were done on the run while we were moving behind the advancing (or retreating) tank companies. That was when it was interesting. Staying abreast of the tactical situation is imperative. Armored warfare is very fluid; units move to take advantage of tactical successes and fall back when the enemy breaks through their lines. Ideally, the LRP is set up far enough behind the line of battle that we are not in danger of contact with the enemy.
So, there I was: it was about two o'clock in the morning. We had completed our LogOps and were moving to the rear. It was foggy in patches and the word we got was that the tactical situation had become dicey. For the last few days our battalion of M-60s had been giving an enemy battalion of M-1s fits. We had them running at times and confused at others. But they had brought in another battalion to put a stop to it. The word came down that we should find a piece of forest and lager down (Army talk for a hasty campsite) for the night to allow time for the situation to solidify. I found a four-acre-sized patch of woods that had easy access to the road so we moved our twenty-some vehicle convoy in and settled down for the rest of the night. We had a minimum guard team set up, rotating every two hours.
About four in the morning one of my squad leaders woke me up and told me that a company of tanks and some scout tracks had moved into the same patch of woods from the other side. He smiled slightly and then dropped the punch line...they were enemy tanks. Now, tactically speaking we had two options: 1) we could invite them to surrender, or 2) we could try to leave without alerting them to our presence. Neither option was really doable. The minute we started our trucks, they would know we were there and probably capture us. Allowing 2/68's whole Logistic supply operation to be captured would cripple the battalion's ability to fight. Offering the tank company the opportunity to surrender their dozen M-1s ( with 105mm main guns and three fifty caliber machine guns each) to our three fifty cals...well...is wasn't likely.
So we decided to pack, get mounted up, start all the trucks at the same time and just run like hell. We really didn't have much choice...or time...if one soldier from the other side of the woods wandered over and saw us, it would be too late to do anything. I had a couple of M-80 artillery simulators in my jeep so I decided to use them for the bug-out signal with the hope that they might also cause the tanks to button up, thinking they were under attack...it could delay them for a few minutes; they might not even hear us starting up if they were starting at the same time.
It worked like a charm. Two huge booms...all of our trucks starting up at once...tank crews scrambling to get into their tanks and get started...all the trucks moving out of the treeline and dashing for the road (a couple of them had to wait a few minutes for air to build up in their air tanks, but they were moving pretty quick)...I was the last one out of the trees and as I hit the paved road I saw two Abrams coming around the edge of the woods. In a real war they would have had range and solution (Army talk that means they could see us and had a weapon that could reach us) on us and might have been able to blast us to cinders, but they didn't shoot and we didn't stop...we were followed by a couple of Bradleys but they gave up after a few minutes.
By noon we had rejoined our unit and started getting ready for the next LogPack; there was a lot of giggling and whooping about our contact with the enemy. I found out that our tankin' genius battalion commander, Julian Burns, had whipped not only the two battalions they sent against him to put an end to his successes, but a third M-1 battalion got involved, and whipped, as well. The tank company we ran into was no doubt part of those battalions, as lost and unsure of things as we were at the time.
There's lots of stories from the German woods. 88 was the last of the really big manuever exercises in Germany; REFORGERs afterward were not as big and DESERT STORM curtailed some. In the years since I have recalled a lot of the actions from that year and the biggest single fantasy remains "What if I had snuck into the tank company? How could we have organized an operation to capture a whole tank company?" That would have made a really good story.