U.S. Army in the Cold War: Forging the Shield - The U.S. Army in Europe, 1951-1962, Atomic Warfare Training, Pentomic, New Look, Berlin Crisis, Building New German Army, Elvis Presley Goes to Europe

Forging the Shield tells the story of the U.S. Army in Europe during the critical 1950s and early 1960s. It spans the period between the return of major U.S. combat forces to Germany in 1951 and the aftermath of the Berlin crisis of 1961-1962. During that time, the troops in Europe became the public face of the Army to Europeans and Americans as well as to the rest of the world. The service directed almost all of its training, equipment, and force development toward that potential day when its troops would face Soviet divisions streaming through the Fulda Gap and into Germany. The establishment of a credible conventional deterrent in Germany, backed up with our nuclear forces, was one of the central linchpins of the U.S. strategy of containment of Soviet power. It was a visible symbol to the world that America had placed its flag and its soldiers—its citizens-in-arms—in harm's way to reinforce its commitment to peace and freedom in Europe. This important volume tells the story of the U.S. Army in the early days of the Cold War as our commitment evolved into the multigenerational defense of Europe and the values of freedom. The Army in Europe has remained a central pillar of U.S. defense and foreign policy throughout the Cold War and into the new reality of post-Cold War Europe.

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Most of the major military conflicts between the end of World War II in 1945 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 were fought in Asia and the Middle East. Ironically, Europe, where no war was fought, was the epicenter of the Cold War. The stakes were highest there for both sides as two fundamentally opposed ideologies and political systems confronted each other across the so-called Iron Curtain. The forces of Western Europe and the United States formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Soviet Union and its European satellites created a rival Warsaw Pact. Both sides saw war in Europe as a potential Armageddon that could bring total victory or catastrophic defeat. As a result, both sides shaped their political and military strategies and arranged their military forces to fight that war. By the time the Cold War ended in 1989 with the destruction of the Berlin Wall—the Iron Curtain incarnate—and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union, both sides had spent huge sums of money and devoted vast human resources to preparing for a war that thankfully never came. In 1951, however, war in Europe seemed imminent and perhaps even inevitable.

Chapter 1 - Setting the Stage * Germany in 1950 * The Emerging Threat and the Move Toward Collective Security * The European Command in 1950 * Perceptions of a Rising Threat * Chapter 2 - The New Mission * Building the Seventh Army * Growing Pains * Reorganization and Realignment * Identifying the Threat * Firepower and Mobility: The Seventh Army's Conventional Doctrine * Early Thoughts on an Atomic Option * Development of the Communications Zone * Logistical Support for the New Mission * Berlin, 1951-1952: Standing Fast and Showing the Flag * The End of the Beginning * Chapter 3 - Growing Into the Role * 1953: The Cold War Takes a New Turn * Keeping a Watchful Eye to the East * Changes in Command and Combat Readiness * The Seventh Army Goes Nuclear * Manning the Force: USAREUR's Personnel Pipeline * Additions and Subtractions: Organizational Changes in USAREUR and the Seventh Army * Hardening the Support Structure * Settling in for the Long Haul * Noncombatant Evacuation Exercises * A Steadying Influence * Chapter 4 - Strengthening the Alliance * Building NATO's Military Capabilities * Integrating USAREUR into the NATO Command Structure * Army Support for Military Assistance Programs in Europe * The Military Liaison Missions and the USAREUR Soviet Relations Advisory Committee * Moving the Alliance Forward * Chapter 5 - Rearming the Germans