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Apache6

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  1. Definitely makes sense Stuart, didn't know that about having one less guy in the car, that would make a huge difference I would think. Also the PRAs, I know they said the 20th GMRD was in a PRA. Some interesting discoveries, in combing through Russian language websites the last few days, I re-visited a forum for the 27th Guards Motorized Rifle Division in Halle (http://halle55.borda.ru/). Was able to garner some stuff on some of the subordinate units based on the veterans' accounts: -31st Independent Tank Battalion: Had 51 x T-62s until 1982, when they were replaced by 40 x T-80B in 1982. They were 3 companies of 13 each. These were then replaced by T-80BV in 1986, and their T-80Bs were sent to the 39th GMRD. The Division was used as a test division for a concept called "Division 90," and the ITB was disbanded, and the tanks scattered to the MRRs as 10 tank companies. -28th Tank Regiment: Received T-80B in 1983. -68th GMRR: Was BTR equipped, then at some point in the mid 1980s was re-equipped with BMP -243rd GMRR: BTR equipped, has T-62s in 1982. Received T-80B in 1983. -244th GMRR: BMP equipped (had to be moved from Halle to Schlotheim in secret, because T-80s were not supposed to be within 60km of the border) They said the division was the among the first to receive the T-80B (along with 9th TD in 1GTA) due to their assignment to 1GTA until May 1983. They were shifted to 8GCAA as a result of an adoption of a more "defensive" doctrine by the Soviets. They also reported that the 174th GMRR of 57th GMRD received a T-80 bn in 1984. Now the numbers given above are considerably higher than the generally accepted numbers posted in the AFV part of this forum (they give 27 GMRD only 27 T-80 in Jan 1987). I'm more inclined to believe the veterans, why would they lie to each other when discussing these things? The Soviet military in general however was very prone to deception, leading me to think that maybe those generally accepted T-80s numbers aren't entirely accurate (they don't show the 57th GMRD as having any T-80s in 1987 for example). Will continue the search, veterans forums seem to be quite the treasure trove... if you can find them. Thought I would share the interesting notes uncovered so far.
  2. Hi Stuart, So one thing I noticed already is the prevalence of reporting on the northern Soviet units. This is understandable given the proximity to the USMLM in Potsdam. There's considerably less on the southern Soviet armies, obviously it would take ther tour personnel a while to get down there. In your opinion, how big of a factor is this when it comes to the T-64? How likely do you think it would be that they missed possible deployment of the T-64 in 1GTA and 8GCAA simply due to distance from Potsdam resulting in fewer observation reports?
  3. Thanks for the great answers everyone! A follow up question, and please forgive my ignorance, I'm a ground guy... would the differences described above cause the F-4F to be appreciably different from the US F-4E when used in a ground attack role?
  4. Thanks Stuart! I've based much of my research and information off of your excellent notes postings. I'm excited to go through the reports themselves, some very interesting and amusing anecdotes in there, like this one from a US-Soviet Christmas party in 1977: "The quip which set the tone for the affair was delivered by MAJ Stepanov, with reference to President Carter; "Certainly hope you have better luck with your Georgian than we had with ours!"" I would love to know if Darth Stalin could dig up any of that extremely detailed information like he did on the 145th Indep Tank Regiment, that would be fantastic!
  5. Hey everyone, I just had some questions about the German LW F-4F. I know these were a simpler version of the US F-4E, but that's about all I can find. I know they had no sparrow capability, but were any other major features not present? I know the Germans deployed them to 2 fighter/interceptor Geschwader, and 2 fighter-bomber Geschwader. Would their F-4Fs have roughly the same ground-attack capabilities as US F-4Es employed in the fighter-bomber role? Any help/opinions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Max
  6. Fantastic thread! Very impressive research by all, particularly the flow of equipment in the 145th TR! A question I've been wondering for a long time... did T-64's ever serve with the southern armies of the GSFG (8GCAA and 1GTA)? I know they are well known with 2GTA, 20GCAA, and 3CAA; T-64A started replacing older tanks there in 1976, and T-64B started making an appearance in 1981/82 time-frame. I also know the generally accepted knowledge has T-80B going to the southern armies first, then to the northern armies as more became available. But I have not found a single intel report, picture, anything, stating T-64s with the southern armies. So this leads one to conclude that they went straight from T-62 to T-80 in the later 1980s, correct? The Lenskii chart on the Soviet Tanks thread on the AFV forum has those two armies with only 242 T-80s between them in Jan 1987, so unless they received T-64s, many units would still be running T-62s until the wave of T-80s wept them away in 87-89. Would love to hear people's thoughts/opinions. Thanks! -Max
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