The "Battle" of Gorleben

[soprano54]

I'm trying to find out some information on the Gorleben incident from Oct 1966. A border dispute between East and West Germany took place on the Elbe and involved units from 7 Armd Bde. Were 3RTR involved at all?

[roger319]

Recce troop were sent up to the border, I belive the Regt Transporters did not arrive, one Sqn started off on tracks up the Autobahn in hot pursuit was the German police.
T
he trouble is I cannot Remember what the end was.

[alfredo]

If that was the one where the dredger was on the wrong side of the Elbe,yes we were involved.I do know that a troop from A Sqn was fully bombed up,food and fuel and we were sent to a form up point, told to hold until called forward.As it was the dredger was allowed to proceed after the third attempt and we were stood down.Hope this helps Andy.

[soprano54]

Nov 16, 2009 12:24:25 GMT roger319 said:

Recce troop were sent up to the border, I belive the Regt Transporters did not arrive, one Sqn started off on tracks up the Autobahn in hot pursuit was the German police.
T
he trouble is I cannot Remember what the end was.

Nov 16, 2009 12:48:45 GMT alfredo said:

If that was the one where the dredger was on the wrong side of the Elbe,yes we were involved.I do know that a troop from A Sqn was fully bombed up,food and fuel and we were sent to a form up point, told to hold until called forward.As it was the dredger was allowed to proceed after the third attempt and we were stood down.Hope this helps Andy.

Thanks for the info Gents, I asked my Dad about it and it transpires he was there, you learn something everyday!

[texas]

I can remember lying in bed @ 14/3 Schiller Str. and saying to the Boss what the flipping hell is that , as a Sqn of Centurions were pounding up the Autobahn. It was the talk of the NAFFI the next day , but don't ask me about the outcome.

[mikebutton]

I was in the Education Centre when 'Quick Train' was called at about 8 in the evening. (Unusual as it was normaly called at some ungodly hour in the morning) This made me think it could be real. B Sqn did the normal 'Quick Train' action by getting down to the tank park with weapons etc and we soon found out that it was 'real'. We were briefed that 3 tank transporters were on their way but if they did not arrive we were to start driving to the border. Thank god they did arrve and B were stood down.

[soprano54]

Gents once again thanks for the info! The plot thickens I recieved this snippet from a guy from 2RTR - Trevor Dady:-

I was the Recce Troop Staff Sergeant of 2RTR at the time of the Gorleben incident. Recce Troop 2RTR were due to go on a border patrol when we were alerted to go to the village of Gorleben on the river Elbe. There had been an incident beween the East and West Germans over the rights of navigation when river surveys were carried out. As I understood it, the West German survey vessels were allowed to anchor or moor on the East German side of the river for survey purposes although the border ran through the middle of the river. On this occasion the East German patrol vessels would not permit the West German Survey vessel "Hitzacker" to go near the eastern river bank. To prevent the West German vessel mooring on the east side, the East German patrol vessels formed a barrier in the middle of the river by lashing their vessels from the stern of one vessel to the bows of another vessel forming a barrier. I think they had about six to eight vessels forming this barrier. The West German Survey vessel "Hitzacker" tried to push through the barrier without success. I belive a shot was fired by an East German boat crewman at the survey vessel during this. The water borne Bundesgrenzshutz were brought in to try to reslove the situation and gain access to the east side of the river, without success.
At this point the situation deteriorated diplomatically, so Recce Troop 2RTR and a Centurion tank troop of 3RTR were ordered to Gorleben. We in 2RTR Recce Troop "bombed" up our Ferrets with .30 ammo for our Brownings, rations and water.
Recce Troop 2RTR under command of Recce Squadron Leader Major David Flood moved out of Caen Barracks, Hohne, to Gorleben where we bivvied up. 3RTR moved to Gorleben by transporter and took up a postion in the woods a few hundred yards back overlooking the river and Gorleben. The 3RTR Troop Sergeant was Sergeant Gater. Our little "Battle Group" was under command of Brigadier Worsley. Diplomatic methods to resolve the situation were getting nowhere. It was then decided to have a show of force to the East Germans. 2RTR Recce Troop moved out of the village and formed a line abreast fifty metres apart along the west river bank, wheels up and in full view of the East Germans. At this point the river is only about 150 metres across. The East Germans then reacted by bringing up machine guns and anti tank guns and aimed at us. We sweated a little at this point I must admit! They then tried to read the riot act to us in German over a series of vehicle borne loudspeakers.
Things got a little bit tense so Brigadier Worsley ordered us to put on our steel helmets!! More shouting and abuse followed from the east. After a few minutes of this, Brigadier Worsley ordered us to load our Brownings and to stand by for further orders. The Brigadier then ordered us to remove the fifth round from our ammunition belts. If things got worse he would nominate which Ferret callsign was to engage a target that he would indicate. By removing the fifth round from our ammunition belt would prevent a sustained volley of automatic shots at the other side which would enable the East Germans to reconsider their actions???!!!
I must again admit that had we opened fire I think we would have been in real trouble. This was where the 3RTR troop would have come foward to our aid from the wood to engage the East Germans with their main armament.
The West German Bundesgrenzshutz in the meantime had called for backup and increased their numbers and boats. They decided that they were going to get to the east bank by ramming through the East German vessels barrier. They advanced on to the East German vessels and rammed them hard until they broke through and got to the east bank of the river. There was a lot of shouting and a few fists were flying. Having achieved the aim of the "exercise" and having broken through to the east bank, the East Germans permitted the survey vessel "Hitzacker" to continue its duty of doing the river survey.
The whole incident was filmed from a Wessex helicopter on our side of the river. We stayed one more night in the village of Gorleben before returning to Hohne and 3RTR to Fallingbostel.
As already stated in earlier articles on the "Battle" we were a little worried as I don't think we in our "wheels up" Ferrets would have been much of a match against their anti tank guns.
The above account is as I remember the incident.
Trevor Dady