Fulda Gap

Dieter Krüger is associate professor at the University of Potsdam.Volker Bausch is former director of the Point Alpha Foundation.

• Foreword, Gordon R. SullivanIntroduction, Dieter Krüger and Volker BauschTranslator’s Note, David R. DorondoChapter 1: Fulda Gap: A Flashpoint of the Cold War between Myth and Reality, Helmut H. HammerichChapter 2: The Eighth Guards Army of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany and the Fulda Gap, Matthias UhlChapter 3: The Strategic and Operational Considerations of NATO in Europe since the 1970s, Helge HansenChapter 4: The Development of the Military Conceptions of the Warsaw Pact in the Last Two Decades of the East–West Conflict, Siegfried LautschChapter 5: The Development of NATO Defense Plans for Central Europe in the Final Decades of the Cold War, Gregory W. PedlowChapter 6: The Defense of Highway 84: Recollections of the Commander, B Troop, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1978–1980, Roger CirilloChapter 7: The Fulda Gap: A Personal Perspective from Platoon Leader to Army Group, Crosbie E. SaintChapter 8: The GDR and its Mission in the Warsaw Pact, Torsten DiedrichChapter 9: The Wartime Mission of the Border Troops of the GDR, Detlef RothaChapter 10: Brinkmanship in the Cold War: Theoretical Foundation and Application, Mathias RuppChapter 11: When the Cold War Almost Turned Hot, Albin F. IrzykChapter 12: When the World Stood at the Abyss—and No One Knew It, Volker BauschChapter 13: The Military Relationship of Forces between the North Atlantic Alliance and the Warsaw Pact, Michael PoppeChapter 14: The Alliances and the Fulda Gap: A Balance between Ideology, Politics, Strategy, and Operational Plans, Dieter Krüger

Fulda Gap: Battlefield of the Cold War Alliances, which brings together both scholars and veterans, moves deftly from the strategic context to the on-the-ground reality of serving at the front lines of a cold war that did not erupt (at least there) for some four decades. These essays and recollections illustrate what was real and what was imagined about the Soviet threat, the NATO response, and vice versa. Chief among the particular delights are insights into Soviet and East German planning and force structure—as well as into the American experience at the border—and new evidence in advancing the historical narrative well into the 1970s and 1980s. Above all, Fulda Gap demonstrates how much we can gain from situating a specific place in its context and by placing the operational level at the heart of military history.