Cold War British Army fighting tactics in West Germany (221)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2022

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Frank Baldwin was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1979 and served for ten years, rising to the rank of Major. The first battlefield study he planned was in 1989 for HQ 4th Armoured Division. Since then, he has been a guide or historian for over 200 realities of war tours, battlefield studies and staff rides. Frank reels off lots of great anecdotes as he takes us through the initial years of the BAOR and the British Army’s plans for the defence of West Germany. He talks about the evolution of doctrines, on both the Soviet and NATO sides including their nuclear war-fighting techniques. Frank also describes working with Warsaw Pact observers of NATO military exercises and the British view of the effectiveness of other NATO armies as well as the armies of the Warsaw Pact. Maps and material to accompany this episode are here https://www.staffrideservices.com/?p=461 Now if you are enjoying these podcasts I’m asking for you to support my work with a small monthly donation. Your donations enable me to continue to capture these incredible stories and make them available for free to others. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ for more details. Do join our Facebook discussion group where the cold war conversation continues between episodes. Just search Cold War Conversations on Facebook. I am delighted to welcome Frank Baldwin to our Cold War conversation… Battlefield tour website Story of a BAOR Cold war tour Maps and material on BAOR and the Cold war. Cold war background material Frank Baldwin's blog The Observation Post 0:00 Introduction and overview of the episode 2:37 Discussion on the planning and strategy during the Cold War 8:50 The concept of flexible response and the shift in NATO's planning 19:39 Tactics and maneuvers in the face of Russian forces 27:14 The Battle Group trainer and war simulation 33:04 Introduction of CSC and Stockholm agreement, and experiences during Iron Hammer exercise 37:07 Interaction with officers from the Warsaw pact and insights into Russian training methods 46:23 Perception of East Germans and experiences in East Germany 53:00 Post-cold war British army engagements and core values 56:31 Civilian evacuation during the Cold War and the role of German transport 1:00:34 Supporter acknowledgement and episode closing Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:05.7	Some of this when you read the manuals, it suggests that an artillery officer in a trench
0:10.0	would be within 1,000 metres of ground zero of a nuclear weapon, a tactical nuclear weapon,
0:16.6	which I have to say is not what I really would have wanted to do.
0:25.2	This is Cold War Conversations.
0:30.1	If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War history accounts.
0:37.0	Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app so that you don't miss out on future episodes.
0:43.4	Frank Baldwin was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1979 and served for 10 years rising
0:49.9	to the rank of Major.
0:51.9	His first battlefield study he planned was in 1989 for the headquarters
0:56.5	of the 4th Armoured Division and since then he's been a guide or historian for over 200
1:02.3	war tours battlefield studies and staff rites. In this episode, Frank reels off lots of great anecdotes as he takes us through the initial years of BAOR and the British Army's plans for the defence of West Germany.
1:19.0	He talks about the evolution of doctrines on both the Soviet and NATO sides, including their nuclear war fighting techniques.
1:29.4	Frank also describes working with Warsaw Pact observers of NATO military exercises and the British view of the effectiveness
1:35.3	of other NATO armies, as well as the armies of the Warsaw Pact.
1:41.9	Now, if you are enjoying this podcast, I'm asking for you to support my work with a small monthly donation.
1:51.5	Your donations enable me to continue to capture these incredible stories and make them available for free to others.
1:59.3	Hi, I'm Andrew, and I'm very proud to support Cold War conversations with a small donation
2:04.0	each month, because Ian's put together such a brilliant range of interviews.
2:08.4	If you want high power, there's the son of Nikitian Khrushchev that are cross-border
2:12.4	romances, old-fashioned spy stories, and the bizarre world of East European football.
2:18.3	If you do support the podcast, your wallet will be a tiny bit lighter,
	...

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