The problems of arranging for new supplies are formidable, as a US military exercise, Reforger 87, showed in September 1987.
The exercise involved the largest movement overseas of US Army forces in peacetime. The 35,000 men of III Armored Corps based at Fort Hood, Texas, were to be sent to West Germany, as if they were reinforcing their Allied colleagues at the outbreak of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.
The troops and all their equipment were scattered over 30 American states in active and reserve units. The troops were flown or driven to the US airfields, and then all 35,000 men were flown to airfields in Europe. They were then taken by road and rail either to depots where they were supplied with NATO equipment, or to ports where they received heavy equipment that had been brought by ship across the Atlantic.
It takes four days longer to carry equipment across the Atlantic by sea in fast merchantmen than by air, so pre-positioned NATO equipment was essential for the first troops.
The Corps then moved to its staging area near Munster and Osnabruck. From there, two days later, each of the two divisions and supporting bridges moved to a tactical assembly area nearby for refueling and re-provisioning (in war, this would also include new supplies of ammunition). From the time they were called up to the time they were in their fighting positions took no more than a week.
Today’s armies are ever more complex, and the need for speed over increasing. Computers can pass on requests instantaneously. Urgent supplies can be flown in by helicopter or STOL (short-take-off-and-landing) transports. In a future war, supertankers, nuclear-powered merchantmen, cargo-submarines and even airships could augment conventional air and sea supplies.
Strategically, though, nothing has changed. However powerful the cutting edge of infantry, armour, artillery and air power may be, once the food, ammunition and fuel runs low, the forward forces are useless. As Marshal Rokossovsky, the famed Soviet tank commander in the Second World War, said: ‘It’s not the troops’ job to think of the rear, but the rear’s job to think of the troops.’
Picture Credit : Google