Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia codename "Danube" 1968.

I remember my father telling me how scary this situation was for Canadian 4 Mechanized Brigade troops that were on permanent  standby for over one month till the the the situation was over and more then one Canadian servicemen told me it was a 'very tense time'
during that crisis! Soviet Spetsnaz Units were one of the first to capture positions within the country, before the main units appeared in Prague.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact_invasion_of_Czechoslovakia


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlRzHCmR-OI

I remember it well, the Regiment I was serving with at the time was on Exercise at Grafenwohr, in the American Zone. In case it was interpreted that Allied forces were massing on the Czech border the Exercise was curtailed and we beat a hasty retreat back to Barracks.

Shelldrake, I can understand where you are coming from as another Canadian told me as he was stationed at RCAF Zweibrucken and he was attached to the C130 Hercules aircraft and he told me it was one of the most terrifying experiences for him, 'personally'! He hasn't been that scared since, but he also told me he never would want to go through that type of experience again!!

Thanks god we didn't go to war over that episode, as the alternative ie, ~Nuclear Armageddon~ would be the "end of human civilization as we know it.

I too was out on one of the 1 (BR) Corps Autumn FTX to the east of Hildesheim fairly close to the inner German border. A Stand Fast was quickly imposed. Many of the locals (who generally had a pretty ambivalent approach to the presence of soldiers on their land) said for once they were glad to have the British Army around.

I would have been just 1 and half years old, when that incident happened, and as we were station in Soest, and according to my parents, and the stories they told me, Dad was at Fort York (2 Battalion,The Royal Canadian Regiment) and was at the fort for almost a month I think? They were only allowed to go for small breaks and the remainder of the time we spent on base, ready for the move out to go to the front lines just in case of a Warsaw Pact invasion of West-Germany! Dad said it was a "tense time" for a while, before things cooled down ie, political wise, behind the Iron Curtain! The M113's half tracks were all loaded up with ammo, and food rations and water and the were't allow to go to far from the area's on bases, just in case the 'balloon went up'

My mum told me if that were the case back then, we(military dependents) were to be escorted out of West-Germany and moved to Ostend,Belgium, and afterwards stated in Great Britain, prior to shipped across the Atlantic to Canada! The likelihood of that happening to is pretty remote as the dire threat of nuclear war happening would been high, and most of not all of western Europe would have been....'wiped off the map' according to news reports and de-classified reports after 1990 stated that the Soviets would have sacrificed Warsaw Pact troops in order to win the war in western Europe in the 1960's.As a last resort! If I can find these documents, I'll post them here for all to see!

I left Soest when I was almost 3 years old, in the late autumn 1969 and hearing many wonderful memories from my parents on there experiences left a strong impression on me, as I went back for the first time in July 2012, to see Soest again and surrounding area's where my dad and I went to see etc. Beautiful region and hearing all the stories of how my parents met and happy memories during the time when 4 Mechanized Brigade was stationed "Up North" with 1 British Corps (BAOR)

A couple of links on this discussion of a possible Soviet & Warsaw Pact invasion of West-Germany and the role of nuclear weapons used in case they were ever going to be used!! a sobering read, indeed!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days_to_the_River_Rhine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Leg (Canadian military support services and military families were to be evacuated in the UK in case of Warsaw Pact invasion of West-Germany.) well...we would have probably never made it back to Canada if nuclear scenario would have been played out!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1563692/Soviet-plan-for-WW3-nuclear-attack-unearthed.html

Training for the invasion of western Europe was carried out by Warsaw Pact troops right up to 1988, prior the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of the DDR regime in 1990.

http://www.dw.com/en/east-germany-was-ready-to-attack-west-berlin-documentary-says/a-5903671