Fulda Gap 2016 Fuldat Gap 2016 Player News | Page 17

From 1947 until 1951, the 1st Infantry Division was the sole U.S. division in Germany, although the various Constabulary units taken together were equivalent in size
to another division. U.S. Army forces in Germany were increased in 1951 as a result of President Truman's 10 Dec. 1950 declaration of a National Emergency as a result of the Korean War, with four divisions arriving from CONUS. This included the 4th Infantry Division, which was stationed in the Frankfurt area, and the 2nd Armored Division, which was located with its headquarters at Bad Kreuznach to the west of the Rhine River; both of those were the divisions assigned to the newly activated V Corps. Within six years, unit changes resulted in the arrival (May/June 1956) and stationing of the 3rd Armored Division (3rd AD) around Frankfurt, and the
December 1957 arrival of the 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized) (8th ID) in the Bad Kreuznach area. The two replaced divisions returned to CONUS.
Cold War history from the 1950s of U.S. armor headquartered at Frankfurt (and therefore having an orientation that included the Fulda Gap):[6] 19th Armored Cav Group
activated at Frankfurt on 2 January 1953; on 1 October 1953, the 19th Armd Cav Gp
was re-designated as 19th Armor Group. On 1 July 1955, 19th Armor Group was replaced by 4th Armor Group. The Seventh Army troop list of 30 June 1956 [7] shows 4th
Armor Group attached to V Corps, along with the U.S. divisions, 2d Armored Div, 3d
Armored Div, and 10th Infantry Div. USAREUR Troop Lists dated 30 June 1958[8] show V
Corps as containing 3rd Armored Div.(HQ Frankfurt), 8th Infantry Div. (HQ Bad
Kreuznach), 4th Armor Group (HQ Frankfurt), & 3rd Infantry Div. (which was headquartered at Wuerzburg). After the 1963 ROAD reorganization, the 4th Armor Group was
inactivated, and the 3rd Infantry Division headquartered at Wuerzburg was reassigned
to VII Corps. The deployment of the 3rd Armored Division and the 8th Infantry Division
to V Corps remained stable until the end of the Cold War. In practice, it was unknown
how effective V Corps would have been in the event of war due to the vast numbers of
tanks and infantry that the Soviets were able to field. In response to the quantitative
superiority of the Soviet forces, the U.S. deployed Atomic Demolition Mines for many
years in the Fulda Gap.[9]
11th ACR memorial at the former
Downs Barracks, Fulda, Germany.

Soldier of the U.S. 11th Armored
Cavalry Regiment on duty in the
Fulda Gap during the Cold War.

From 1976 to 1984, the 4th Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division was garrisoned in Wiesbaden and also subordinated to U.S.
V Corps.

For many years, V Corps' principal adversary was the Soviet 8th Guards Army, which was to be followed by additional armies (including the four armored divisions
and one mechanized infantry division of the Soviet 1st Guards Tank Army), making the Fulda Gap a key entry route for the Soviet Bloc to western Europe in any hypothetical battle in Cold War Europe; both armies were well equipped and held high-priority for receiving new equipment.
Beginning in 1975, the Soviet Union's strategy for attacking Western Europe involved the use of Operational maneuver groups to outflank NATO defensive positions
such as the Fulda Gap.[10]
From 1979 onwards, the first V Corps unit detailed to reinforce the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in the Fulda Gap in the event of hostilities was the 8th Infantry
Division's 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment (1-68 Armor), stationed at Wildflecken to the south of the Gap. The mission of 1-68 Armor was to establish a defensive line across part of the Gap, providing a shield behind which other V Corps units could advance and defend. Also located in Wildflecken was the 108th Military
Intelligence (MI) Btn, to which Delta Company Rangers was assigned - the Rangers' mission was to strike at the supply lines and command structures of any invading
Soviet forces. 144th Ordnance Company was in charge of much of the ammunition slated for 8th Infantry Division and 3rd Armor Division, as well as operating ASP #3
in Wildflicken. 144th Ord. was also responsible for chemical and nuclear ammunition for the Fulda Gap sector, operating not only ASP #3 but multiple Forward Storage and Transportation Sites (FSTS). 547th Combat Engineer Battalion was tasked with destroying critical bridges to channel any Soviet advance, as well as provide
critical engineering services to enable 1-68th Armor to engage Soviet forces.
In September 1980, the 533rd Military Intelligence (MI) Battalion was reactivated in Frankfurt and assigned to the 3rd Armored Division.[11] The 533rd MI Battalion
deployed assets in the Fulda Gap to provide electronic warfare capability for the 3rd AD Commander. The missions of the MI battalion were to identify and target
invading forces for artillery and air strikes as well as to intrude on enemy radio networks using radio jamming and deceptive communications by Defense Language
Institute (DLI) trained Russian and German linguists. The 3rd Armored Division was also reinforced with an organic attack helicopter wing, and was the first military
unit to deploy the attack helicopter Boeing AH-64 Apache in 1987.
With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the reunification of Germany in 1990, and the subsequent withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Fulda Gap lost its strategic importance, but it remains a powerful symbol of the Cold War.