The BALTAP (Baltic Approaches) area is the southern part of NATO’s Northern European Region. It comprises the Kingdom of Denmark and the two northernmost states of the Federal Republic of Germany, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Together, this is approximately equivalent to the size of West Virginia, but with about five times the population. This comparison is slightly misleading, however, since roughly half of the population is concentrated in the peripheral areas of the Danish capital of Copenhagen and in the German city of Hamburg on the river Elbe, the border of the Central Region.
The BALTAP area can geographically be divided into three parts: the Jutland Peninsula in the West, the Funen group of islands in the center, and the Zealand group of islands in the east, with the island of Bornholm acting more as a forward observation post than as a bastion. The land is flat and cultivated, well suited for air drops, but fjords, canals, creeks, and marshy ground hamper fast mechanized operations. The coastline consists of long stretches of sandy beaches, many with gradients sufficient for landing operations. The contiguous seas are shallow. The depths in the southern parts of the North Sea and the Skagerrak, the Kattegat, and the Western Baltic are 20 fathoms or less. Only in the northern parts of the North Sea and the Skagerrak do they exceed this mark, extending in a trench down to 380 fathoms. The real bottlenecks in and out of the Baltic Sea are the Danish Straits: the winding and narrow Little Belt between the Jutland Peninsula and Funen; the Great Belt, between Funen and Zealand with an average width of ten nautical miles; and the narrow sound (only three miles wide at Helsingor) between the island of Zealand and the western coast of Sweden. The main artery is the Great Belt, crossed only by a number of ferry connections.
In average winters, some form of ice has to be expected in the Kattegat, the Danish Straits, and the Western Baltic. This especially restricts small combatants, such as patrol boats and minesweepers. It also impedes submarines transiting on the surface in shallow water, and underwater navigation is hazardous in the Straits. Larger units are still able to maintain considerable maneuverability and fighting capability.
Helmut Kampe