NATO Exercise Iron Hammer (1988)

The British Army of the Rhine's last large exercise prior to German reunification. Major participating units were 3 (UK) Armoured Division, 20th Panzer Brigade, and 28 Amphibious Engineer Regiment.

[@kokopelli0815]

I remember the huge exercises from when I was a kid. The roads were always a mess, dirt everywhere, damaged curbs from tank tracks. It was all very interesting to us kids, but you couldn't help but think about what would happen if it got real one day, especially when the troops started putting on their NBC gear... Us kids were always looking for scraps of camo netting, cartridges and stuff, sometimes you got to sit in or on a tank or other vehicle and there was a lot of cool equipment to see. I remember the Brits were always very nice to kids. Once they let us track the cars on the highway with their missile sights. So, greetings to all British servicemen from a German kid.

[@khahinmetameta7826]

Cool, nice bit of history there

[@rhetthart9311]

that's cool as hell

[@luclanglois9086]

Where im from, belize used to be under british rule in the 70s and 80s and when my mom was a kid she said the soldiers would give you candy or chocolate, they would also train there in the jungle, harriers going over, tanks and trucks driving by and they also built bridges aha

[@ctc4392]

Must've been fun!

[@notamoonraker]

Yeah, I saw many photos of REFORGER exercise showing German kids playing around tanks (Canadian or UK)

[@neilk943]

One bloody cold exercise! The only time I was actually glad to be wearing a NBC suit. The last of the big Cold War exercises for the following year the wall come down. Thanks for uploading this brought back some great memories.

[@TheNigelrojo]

I was on the staff of the British 3rd Army Div, & was heavily involved in planning this exercise. I spent the actual FTX at Exercise Control (ExCon) near Holzminden. Memories include riding an army motorbike around the Einbeck Bowl in the freezing cold, marking off seed beds with white tape to stop tanks causing expensive damage. One night everyone with O Rh neg blood group was called to the main entrance; there were only 7 of us. We were sped in a German police van, blue lights etc, to a hospital where we each gave a pint of blood, to allow a transfusion for a road accident casualty. Saved his life, & good PR for the British Army. It was the last big exercise we did in Germany. A year later the Berlin wall came down.

[@sweaty7012]

I still have frost nip/frost bite damage from this nightmare exercise. Fell asleep with one boot off , foot on top of my wet minging sleeping bag. Awoke about 20 mins later and it had froze. We later put straw in our boots on advice from some farmer who'd been on the Eastern Front WW2. Never used issue boots again..

[@purplenurp5590]

Lol you never use issued boots, big mistake right there. The first thing we do nowdays is to buy a different set of boots from the exchange

[@12dougreed]

Yes sure we believe you

[@erwinsegers3696]

The french speaking soldiers are Belgian Recce troop 4 Chasseurs à cheval ( 4 th Jager Bataljon ) stationed in those years in Arnsberg (Germany)

[@medic7698]

There were Belgians around Soest somewhere. There were occasional fights between them and the signals mob down there. My unit occasionally supplied medics for the med centre.

[@redneckjedi4978]

I participated in REFORGER from 1987-1990. Was assigned to 3rd COSCOM, 16th SUPPORT GROUP, 8th MAINT> BN, 53rd HMSC. We assisted in the unloading of equipment and storage until equipment was picked up by assigned unit. Our main mission was Direct Support for the 11th ACR. Our barracks were in Hanau, Germany.

[@misslavenders6029]

We got a rum ration on that Exercise , apparently queens Regs stated below a certain temp a ration of rum was allowed - 28 Amph Engineers

[@12dougreed]

If that's true why did we get the ration in the jungle.

[@wayneholmes637]

The thing I remember most was how cold it was.

[@GunsNGames1]

The good old days.

[@pipotherium]

The footage quality is great. Thanks

[@ianwarburton1427]

I was DS driving a 432 for this Ex. Good times

[@user-bl6mv4nv9h]

I think british sodiers are one of the best soldoers in the world, much respects from Russia

[@user-bl6mv4nv9h]

@Mr and Mrs. Smith are you sure bruh?

[@chrisdragon7956]

@@user-bl6mv4nv9h cheers mate much respect for russia too

[@TheSaintArmando]

I can't imagine this happening in 2020, kind of surreal tbh

What? The NATO exercises are fucking huge nowadays. 25,000 troops from all across the world

[@mbvbm3104]

Ha ha ha

[@TheSaintArmando]

@@mbvbm3104 ?

[@georgerobert4709]

Well it's now 2022 ....careful whaT YOU WISH FOR LOL

[@tankdriver67m64]

Saw those Challengers when we did gunnery at Bergan in 88.

[@SimDeck]

The troops really had it easy back then.

[@specksalat]

Insane how at 19:05 there are already M270s in service, and 35 years later the russian forces still haven’t been able to effectively counter them. During the late 1980s you can really see how long term superiority in economic power will change the situation on the battlefield in your favor.

[@alexmason6191]

It's not the same weapon though. The guided rockets that Ukraine uses against Russia were developed and tested in the 2000's and they require a modernised fire control system with GPS. These old M270 were just regular MRLS similar to the soviet BM-27 "Uragan".

[@MM22966]

@@alexmason6191 Well, except for the bloody great hails of bomblets it dumped out. Wasn't called a "Grid Exterminator" for nothing.

[@TheFordmustangv8]

It was bloody freezing for most of time....

[@eae2047]

great vid

[@marcbaker2091]

I was on this exercise, 6Bde, 206 Sig Sqn. I mainly remember being cold!

[@ianwarburton1427]

When we had an Army and not today’s British Defence Farce!!

[@notamoonraker]

Then again UK's economy is shrinking (it has little resources), social decline because of the immigration, and British is loathed pretty much everywhere because of the maps it drawn is said to be source of many conflicts today.

[@Danny-zi6xw]

weird to see a mix of modern and old british army equipment

[@jasestrong]

I saw a. Guy carrying a L1A1

[@davidparsons452]

@@jasestrong only the infantry had the SA 80 back then, guys like artillery, engineers etc still used the SLR

[@wayneholmes637]

I was driving a Centurion on this exercise. Always had hot tins of food sitting on the radiators under the gearbox decks. My personal weapon was the SMG.

[@12dougreed]

You know about the new BAOR cold war Medal & bar ? Now available.

[@kmhk5976]

Interesting to see USSR and DDR officers are observers. Did NATO opened their exercise to them?

[@scanrange3511]

Yes, under the Helsinki Agreement/CSCE, NATO or the Warsaw Pact would have to invite observers from the other side for any exercise larger than 13,000 troops. Technically this provision still exists among OSCE member states today.

[@anonymous2513456]

I imagine that it was good form in order to assure the Russian's that they were not being attacked and that it was indeed only an exercise.

[@mole389]

Happy memories of BAOR

[@SimDeck]

I'm here for the SLR biffs banging on about stopping power and how the SA80 is a toy.

[@Schlingel1101]

Very interesting footage...was very surprised, that also a member of east German NVA was there...

[@LupusAries]

Probably an observer, used back then for deescalation. After all you don't eant a nuclear armed enemy suspect you of attacking you and think that exercise is just a smokescredn for an attack.....

[@notamoonraker]

@@LupusAries probably after 1982.. when it was almost broke into real war because Soviet paranoia thought REFORGER 1982 was actually a preparation of nuclear attack.

[@monkeydank7842]

@@notamoonrakerYou mean Able Archer 83?

[@markdennis930]

It was DAMNED cold.

[@MM22966]

Imagine rolling around WW3 in a Warrior or Scorpion, and being expected to shoot at Soviet MBTs.

[@yuta5926]

Aesthetic as fuck

[@earlofeastwood777]

When We Were a Nation 👍😁

[@dutchbachelor]

Damn, that Belgian or French guy sounded like he was choking on the English word's. Must be all kinds of fun at the CP to figure that out and then making the switch to a Scottish sentry calling in suspicious movement....

[@TheDieselbutterfly]

I was on this mission ,15 confirmed kills....but we lost a lot of good men

[@lautarocardozo5214]

15 confirmed kills? Wasnt this only shooting at targets?

[@istillusezune82]

@@lautarocardozo5214 They already had a IR/laser fire simulator. Just like laser tag but much bigger.

[@heinrichsturmer8602]

Schön die Tiere der Bundeswehr

[@alexmason6191]

24:10 It's surprising to see Soviet and East German officers there

[@newy2242]

Who gave the Rupert the Map ffs

[@gregorverstraelen3347]

...before MircoProse and DCS 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@menakeldebakel253]

I bet some farmers were very mad after that exercise because of all that destoryed fields

[@stuartb4525]

Quite the opposite actually. They got paid handsomely for any damages. In fact they were happy for us to knock the odd outhouse down. Then they put a claim in.

[@TH-qq2lb]

Who won those exercises mostly?

[@simon3314]

You never could tell really.

[@MM22966]

Apparently the Canadians did rather well, most years.

[@Houbaraoutdoors]

Where is iran hammer gone

[@mickthurston9883]

Bullpup rifle was a crock. No other armed forces bought it? Discuss

[@alexanderrose1556]

supposed the people speaking french are, canadians?

[@alexanderrose1556]

@Steve Arthur Oh ya that makes sense, they were also part of the BAOR, so this is a pretty logical conclusion.

[@Chabalakra]

@Steve Arthur Yep, the Belgians used the CVR(t) range of vehicles for their recce units

[@ZvZd]

Belgians

[@erwinsegers3696]

the french speaking are Belgian 4th Jager (recce) Bataljon ; 4chasseurs à cheval , stationed in Arnsberg (Walloon Bataljon) the 1st and 2nd Jager Bns where flemish speaking Bataljons . I was at 2nd Jager Bn stationed in Ludenscheid

[@davidparsons452]

The Belgiques we used to call them, went on a couple of exercises with them, good bunch of lads

[@coxhoe789]

it wes all so primitive to what we have today

[@user-or1zg6qt9n]

Ту, ту, туууру, ту, ту, туууру, ту, ту, туууру, ту, ту, тууу😉😊😂🎼🎵🎶

[@marcuskruger5324]

Tolle Aufnahmen aus alten Zeiten. Einer Zeit wo die Bundeswehr noch nicht Sinnlos kaputt gespart wurde. Eine Zeit wo alles funktionierte.

[@12dougreed]

All the biggest load of bullshit going. Just an absolute waste of money. Most of the time was spent sitting around or sleeping in a wood somewhere. After making a mess on the roads Expecting an attack he says, FFS