Berlin (Exercise Rocking Horse)
- Extended Description
- Berlin (Rocking Horse)
The photograph shows the Alert Platoon, which started at 1800 hrs to 0700 hrs the following morning, every night of the year. They were the first to go out when the claxton went off. During the day the platoon was stood down, but every soldier had his kit ready, and company's had their equipment also ready to move.
Not sure of the date of the following - At about 7am when we where at breakfast, in the cook house, the Rocking Horse claxons went off, which was late for them, as normally they went off in the early hours of the morning. We all just sat there thinking it was a mistake, but when we had officers running (which was rare) we realized something was not quite right, it was for real. The Soviet tanks had rolled into Czechoslovakia in September in 1968 and their was a threat of the Soviet tanks coming to the West Berlin Border. We went to our respective locations and were stood down after approx. 12 hours.
