Fulda Gap
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The Fulda Gap is a section of territory between the former East German border and Frankfurt, (West) Germany. Named for the nearby town of Fulda, the Fulda Gap was of immense strategic importance during the Cold War. "Gap" refers to lower-lying land (between the mountainous regions of the Hohe Rhön and Knüllgebirge, and between the Spessart and the Vogelsberg) which is suitable for armored troop movement on a large scale. It was one of two obvious routes for a hypothesized Soviet attack on West Germany from its bases in East Germany and Czechoslovakia. (The other obvious route was via the North German Plain; a third, less likely route, involved an attack through Austria up the Danube River valley.)
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[edit] Strategic location
Frankfurt, relatively close to the Gap, was at the heart of West German industrial and financial power, and its loss would have been a serious blow for West Germany and NATO. It was also a civil and military air hub that was important to the defence of West Germany.
Perhaps more importantly, the terrain between the Gap and the river Rhine was less rugged than adjacent regions, offering a favorable pathway for an invading force from Warsaw Pact territory to reach and cross the formidable Rhine before NATO was in a position to prevent it. This route was not as favorable for mechanized movement as the North German Plain, but offered an avenue of advance that struck at the heart of the U.S. military presence in West Germany. Interestingly it is roughly the same route Napoleon had chosen to withdraw his hard pressed armies after his defeat at Leipzig. Napoleon succeeded in beating a Bavarian-Austrian army under Wrede in the battle of Hanau close to Frankfurt and he thus made his way safely home to France.
[edit] The Fulda Gap in the Cold War
Strategic planners on both sides of the Iron Curtain understood its importance and forces were allocated accordingly.
Defence of the Fulda Gap was tasked primarily to the US V Corps. More specifically, the actual East/West border (between Bad Hersfeld and the Hohe Rhön) in the Fulda Gap was protected by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) from 1972 to 1994. Prior to 1972, the 14th ACR had screened the Fulda Gap for twenty-four years, and before that the duties had been performed by the 3rd Constabulary Regiment and 1st Constabulary Brigade.
The 11th ACR's principal adversary was the Soviet 8th Guards Army. The armored cavalry (heavy, mechanized reconnaissance units equipped with tanks and armored personnel carriers) were expected to delay a Warsaw Pact advance long enough for U.S. divisions stationed near Frankfurt to assemble and move to the Fulda Gap. Both opponents were lavishly equipped and generally received a high priority on new equipment.
The Soviet 8th Guards Army was to be followed by a number of additional armies and the Fulda Gap would have been a key Soviet axis of advance in any (hypothetical) major military confrontation in Cold War Europe.
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 former strategic importance but is still recognized as a powerful symbol of the confrontation that was the Cold War.
[edit] See also
- Observation Post Alpha - a Cold war observation post that overlooked the Fulda Gap, now the site of a Cold War memorial.
[edit] Further reading
- Faringdon, Hugh. Strategic Geography: NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and the Superpowers. Routledge (1989). ISBN 0-415-00980-4.
[edit] External links
- US Army Border Operations 1948-83
- Example of 14th ARMD CAV photos at the Fulda Gap
- Another example - there are several more at page bottom
[edit] The 14th Cavalry Association
- Fulda Gap unofficial definition
- 14th ARMD CAV 1948-1972 History overview
- 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment based in part at Fulda and Bad Hersfeld
[edit] 1st Battalion 33rd Armor
- Concerns in 1985
- Site by Bob Decker, assigned to 3rd AD at Gelnhausen in mid-1960s
- Central Front and the Fulda Gap (from Decker site)
- Southern Avenue of Fulda Gap (from Decker site)
- One Soviet Plan (from Decker site)
- Oct and Nov 1962, S. Ave Fulda Gap
- Davy Crocketts in the Fulda Gap 1962
Categories: Hesse | Frankfurt | Cold War
