Die Festung Hamburg - NORTHAG Sector 1 / BALTAP OOB

 

HEADQUARTERS NORTHERN ARMY GROUP

23 July 1985

TO: See Distribution

SUBJECT: NORTHAG SECTOR 1 / BALTAP DEFENSE FORCES

1. Attached is the new edition of the units assigned to the defense of NORTHAG Sector 1 and BALTAP Sector LANDJUT, as per OPLAN 4102 revised July 15th, 1985.

2. Hostilities with Warsaw Pact are expected to start within the next 72 hours.

3. Any change to the previously standing orders and SoP must be planned and executed within the next 24 hours, reducing time-consuming standard procedures to a minimum whenever needed.

                                                                                                             Sir Nigel Bagnall
                                                                                                             NORTHAG Commander in Chief

Die Festung Hamburg - Northern Front OOB

Comrades, 
the latest Order of Battle for Operation Ladoga, Northern Front Sector 1 is here below. Hamburg, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven and Kiel are some of the key objectives in the Sector.

As you can see, there is an important contribution by our Brothers of the German Democratic Republic and Polish People's Republic. They will be soon informed about their commitment to the Socialist Cause.

Die Festung Hamburg - Area of Operations Extended

As you maybe know, the command / organizational structure of NATO had one of its most important boundaries right along the Elbe river, separating AFCENT (Allied Forces Central Europe, including CENTAG and NORTHAG) from BALTAP (Allied Forces Baltic Approaches, including the LANDJUT Corps and the Danish Army).

Like NORTHAG and CENTAG, BALTAP had its own air command and assets (AIRBALTAP) and its own strategic objectives: namely, the defense of Schleswig-Holstein, the territory of Denmark and the whole Baltic Sea.

During development, several good discussions concerned the rules needed for simulating the capabilities, limitations and strategic needs of BALTAP. 

Most of the development team suggested to extend the map further North to the Kiel Kanal in order to give JUTLAND Corps enough room for retreating, and to include what would have probably been the last serious obstacle to a Warsaw Pact advance into continental Denmark.

For a series of reasons, I stubbornly resisted the idea to expand the map until all the special rules for handling BALTAP were almost ready....And at that point, I realised I was wrong. Uh, almost time.

So here's the latest, extended Operational Map for Die Festung Hamburg! Bigger, Longer and Uncut.
The operational area is much better represented and includes what could be considered the last plausible defense for the LANDJUT corps. As a consequence, several special rules for BALTAP will be probably not needed anymore.

For comparison, here's the previous, smaller map draft: