How REFORGER Proved NATO Could Reinforce Europe in a War

Описание: From 1969 until the final years of the Cold War, Exercise REFORGER, Return of Forces to Germany, served as NATO’s most visible test of its reinforcement strategy. Designed to prove that U.S.-based divisions could deploy rapidly across the Atlantic, draw prepositioned equipment from POMCUS sites, and integrate into West Germany’s defensive sectors, REFORGER became a recurring, documentable demonstration of alliance logistics capacity. This documentary examines how Military Airlift Command sorties, Military Sealift Command shipping, Deutsche Bundesbahn rail coordination, NATO fuel pipeline networks, and prepositioned armored equipment sets were synchronized under compressed timelines. It analyzes how after-action reports reshaped infrastructure investment, how host-nation support agreements were institutionalized, and how Warsaw Pact intelligence monitored each iteration. Through the documented history of REFORGER exercises from 1969 to 1988, this film shows how logistics performance, not rhetoric, defined NATO’s Cold War reinforcement credibility.

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