German Armoured
Corps in Cold War Exercise Schneller Wechsel '74.
This publication
covers one of the most interesting modern German Army exercises held during the
Cold War. Exercise Schneller Wechsel (Rapid Change) took place in the autumn of
1974 as a III Corps exercise. The name was chosen due to the relocation and
repositioning of major units over long distances, often over hundreds of
kilometres, on road marches and by railroad transport. Included were the
crossing of various rivers using engineer bridges with most crossings carried
out at night and were followed by immediate engagements. Road marches were
covered with scenarios such as heavy losses and rapid deployment of maintenance
and repair troops airlifted in. Airborne units supported the andvance as were
units of the U.S. Army. A specific aspect of Schneller Wechsel '74 was its sheer
size and magnitude, today unbelievable and undoable. Participating tank
battalions and armoured reconnaissance battalions were often 600 vehicles
strong! Also of interest are the various generations of MBTs such as the ageing
M 48 A2C or the then brand-new Leopard 1 MBT, often fighting side by
side.
