Russian-American Armies Hold Joint Exercises in Germany

Russian and American troops, who used to square off on either side of the Iron Curtain, launched joint military exercises for the first time on German territory.

About 500 soldiers from both countries were involved in the exercises at the U.S. military base in Grafenwohr in Bavaria in southern Germany, the U.S. army said.

The joint operation was dubbed “Torgau 2005,” named after the city in the eastern part of Germany where the two armies joined up on April 25, 1945, a few days before toppling the Nazi regime.

“We want to remove the barriers so we can cooperate more in the future,” said an American officer taking part in the exercises.

The maneuvers with armored tanks took place on a terrain used by the American army for warfare simulations and testing of new weapons.

Camp Grafenwohr was the principal training ground for the German army under Adolf Hitler.



Link

This is real good news

I wonder who won in the exercises. Any gusses ??

Hm maybe the Americans, maybe the Russians, depends how good the solidiers where on the American or Russian side. But yes that is very good I'm glad America is coroperating with other countries now we just have to hold some major counter-terror exercises with other countries.

It is quiet possible that the two groups that fought the simulated war had both American as well as Russian troops in them. So i guess it would not be possible to know which country had the better of the other

Torgau 2005 was a friendly and cooperative exercise. It was set in two stages, one in the outskirts of Moscow and one in Germany. It was a cooperative exercise of the two armies working together against a third state i believe. On military forums there are plenty of pics of the boys trading toys (russians piloting m1 for instance, saying its easy to operate and comfortable, like a car) and showing eachother their equipment.

A U.S. M1 Abraham tank handled by Russian soldiers fires artillery during a special exercise at a training area in Grafenwoehr, near the southern German town of Nuremberg, June 2, 2005. It is the first time that the U.S. 1st Armoured Division and the Russian 4th Armoured Division have got together for a special drill with weapons, tanks and artillery. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

Russian and U.S. soldiers pose together with a U.S. M1 Abrahams tank during Exercise Torgau 2005 of U.S. Army and Russian Army at the training area at Grafenwoehr, southern Germany, Thursday, June 2, 2005. The soldiers of both armies met for the first time for a joint exercise. (AP Photo/Eckehard Schulz)

A Russian soldier in the turret of a Humvee at Grafenwöhr gets some pointers from an American gunner on how to load and fire the MK-19 automatic grenade launcher.

thanks,
drfunk

Cool pictures! Looks like they are having fun playing around with each other's equipment

Thanks drfunk!

Just voted for you djohnsto77.

And great pics

Did T-90's come too ??

i wonder what the Russian troops really thought of the US stuff and soldiers, wonder how the americans thought about the same?

I know when i trained with the brits it was a blasted and wished I would have got many more chances to train with them, made me want to join the RAF but i trained the HMS army not the raf.

A US general was asked if there were any real differences between the US and Russian soldiers and he said "Yes one noticeable difference, they speak a different language"

And to StealthSpy, I dont believe the Russians used T-90s, though i know the T-80 series was used extensively.

here's a video link, dunno if it still works:

video.rfn.ru...


thanks,
drfunk

[edit on 5-6-2005 by drfunk]

"US Army Brigadier General Michael S. Tucker said, "This is the first time we have trained with Russians at this level. We have done some exchanges with them but this exercise is an exercise at multi echelons. What you are seeing out here today on this range is soldiers are shooting live fire tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles and our sniping weapons."

Tucker went on to compare the Russians with his own troops, saying both armies were made up of professionals, and the only difference between them was language. The soldiers have also found many similarities in the way they approach their work.

A statement from the US side said the exercise represents a continuing soldier-to-soldier bond that began 60 years ago on the banks of the Elbe river in Germany. Similar joint drills are planned at Russia's Solnechhogorsk training area and the Russian Army Combined Arms Academy in Moscow. "

brilliant! i always like to see cooperation and friendships been made, this is all good, it seems that the american soldiers would really enjoy using these reliable weapons huh? haha, this is all great news after all.
i wonder which unit russia sent? likely both sides sent more elite units, after all, theyre all friendly but they'll both want to proove smthing

That sucks, having american-russian exercises on your ground, doesnt give a good feeling to me, as if we were still occupied by those two big powers...

Originally posted by Wodan
That sucks, having american-russian exercises on your ground, doesnt give a good feeling to me, as if we were still occupied by those two big powers...

Yeah i would be pissed too especially if they were firing uranium tiped shells in their live fire exercises with Tanks. In Germany is it like here in Australia where the US can basically do whatever it wants on it's military bases without needing permision from your government? Or did the German government agree to this exercise? Personally i want all of the foriegn military bases out of my country or at the very least they should be here as guests and abide by our rules rather than the bases being like soverign territory for them. Of course unlike Germany we didn't get conquered in war or have a full occupation at any point in time so the situation is probably different.

Originally posted by Trent
Yeah i would be pissed too especially if they were firing uranium tiped shells in their live fire exercises with Tanks. In Germany is it like here in Australia where the US can basically do whatever it wants on it's military bases without needing permision from your government?

The US foothold in Australia is insignificant. We have Pine Gap (joint facility) and apart from that i'm pretty sure every other base in australia is under australian control. Of course the US has access to them though . But seriously you got nothing to complain about.

As for Germany, the bases are still left over from the military occupation by the victorious powers in WWII, then the cold war.

thanks,
drfunk

Originally posted by drfunk

Originally posted by Trent
Yeah i would be pissed too especially if they were firing uranium tiped shells in their live fire exercises with Tanks. In Germany is it like here in Australia where the US can basically do whatever it wants on it's military bases without needing permision from your government?

The US foothold in Australia is insignificant. We have Pine Gap (joint facility) and apart from that i'm pretty sure every other base in australia is under australian control. Of course the US has access to them though

. But seriously you got nothing to complain about.

As for Germany, the bases are still left over from the military occupation by the victorious powers in WWII, then the cold war.

thanks,
drfunk

victourious powers?

French left, British left, Russians left germany, just Americans stayed...

the training ground Grafenwöhr has 350 square miles....



but it causes many problems to the locals over there,

there is a cancer causing stuff, called "Hexogen" in the drinking and ground water cuz of the american military manouvers, the marginal value in germany is 3 microgramms per liter water, in the villages and towns near Grafenwöhr, its instead of that 137 microgramms per liter...