The discovery of a large landing exercise with live ammunition of the Turkish armed forces in the area of Phocaea (where the Turkish Marines Brigade is located) has caused particular concern to the information agencies of the Greek General Staff. The exercise was revealed completely by chance due to a tragicomic event when a Turkish artillery projectile instead of hitting the objective … hit the podium from where Turk commanders where watching the exercise! As a result 15 men of the Turkish armed forces were wounded and transferred to the state hospital at Phocaea, most of them with serious injuries.
Apart from the specific artillery unit’s disgraceful performance, the accident resulted in revealing and drawing attention to a landing scenario exercise according to which units should obtain operational capability in the minimum time possible in a combined action of Marines with specific units of the Su Alti Savunma / SAS and Su Alti Taaruz / SAT.
The exercise included recognition on the coast of the “blue island” from the SAT, suppression of forward military guards and then the landing of the Marines brigade with the support of the artillery. It is the first time that the Turks amid summer perform such an exercise, whose scenario clearly points to an operation against a Greek island.
Note that according to information gathered by Greek services, particular emphasis was put on the readiness for action of the Turkish special units. It was attempted to compress the time at the lowest possible level of … 1.5 hours! So after 1.5 hours from the moment they receive the command, they should be within the means that will transport them to the objectives.
The scenario of the exercise, especially now that the Turkish behavior is very nervous, because of the imminent commencement of drilling in the EEZ of Cyprus and the possibility to try some sort of distraction, have automatically alerted the Greek Headquarters. Besides the forces implicated by the Turks, indicate more “dress rehearsal” for potential operational strike than anything else.
Source: defencenet.gr