Operation Iris

Operation Iris was a Warsaw Pact launched as part of Operation Krasnyy 6 with the goal of securing the Jutland peninsula and by extention securing the Northern flank of the larger Warsaw Pact armoured push into West Germany. The operation would also permit the Soviet Baltic and Polish navies to enter the North Sea.

NATO Plan
The NATO plan for the defense of the Baltic Approches command was largely based on the acceptance that the forces present would be incapable of physically holding any major Warsaw Pact attack. However, due to the startegic and political importance of Jutland the area had to be denied to the Soviets. The plan then, devised by British, Dutch West German commanders called for a fighting withdrawal to prepared defenses along the Kiel Canal until such a point that a counter-attack from the West could be attaempted. Due to the need to beef up the areas defences in order to carry out this maneuvre warfare both the 1st and 3rd Panzer Divisions were despatched.

Order of Battle

 * East German 1st Army
 * 9th Tank Division
 * 8th Motor Rifle Division
 * 6th Motor Rifle Division
 * 28th Combinded Arms Army
 * 6th Guards Tank Division
 * 28th Tank Division
 * 50th Guards Motor Rifle Division
 * 120th Guards Motor Rifle Division
 * 11th Combinded Arms Army
 * 40th Guards Tank Division
 * 1st Tank Division
 * 1st Guards Motor Rifle Division
 * 26th Guards Motor Rifle Division

NATO

 * Baltic Approaches Command
 * West German III Corps
 * 6th Panzer Grenadier Division
 * 1st Panzer Division
 * 3rd Panzer Division
 * Schleswig Holstein Division
 * British 1st Infantry Brigade
 * Jutland Division