SHAPE and ALLIED COMMAND EUROPE 1951-1971 TWENTY YEARS IN THE ESRVICE OF PEACE AND SECURITY SHAPE AND ALLIED COMMAND EUROPE TWENTY YEARS IN THE SERVICE OF PEACE AND SECURITY 1951 -1971 PREFACE Th e articl es in this book w ere written to commemo­ rate the twentieth anniversary of the activation on 2 April 1951 of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and Allied Command Europe. These articles are scheduled to appear simultaneously in a special issue of NATO's Fifteen Nations magazine devoted to the anniversary. The authors — all members of Allied Command Europe — represent not only a variety of nationalities but also a wide range of knowledge and experience covering the most significant areas of interest and concern to this command. This book is dedicated to the many men and women representing NATO nations who, as members of Allied Com­ mand Europe, have served the twin causes of peace and security. Their dedication to the principles of individual liberty and collective action, as embodied in the North Atlan­ tic Charter, has helped guarantee two decades of peace, stability and growing prosperity in the Western World. For the decades ahead, such dedication insures that Allied Command Europe w ill continue in the service of both peace and security as an effective military instrument of the Atlantic Alliance. A.J. GOODPASTER General, United States Army Supreme Allied Commander 2 April 1971 SHAPE, Belgium All or part of this publication may be reproduced, with credit given to NATO's Fifteen Nations Magazine, in which this material first appeared. A complimentary copy of any publication which reprints this material should be sent to PID-SHAPE, B-7010 BELGIUM. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .......................................................................... IN THE SERVICE OF PEACE ......................................... General Andrew J. Goodpaster, Supreme Allied Commander Europe SHAPE : BULWARK OF DEFENSE — A LESSON IN COOPERATION ......................................................... Colonel Robert K. Sawyer, SHAPE Historian THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOVIET MILITARY POWER IN THE PAST 20 YEARS ............................................ A SHAPE Report THE CHALLENGE IN THE NORTH .......................... General Sir Walter Walker, KCB, CBE, DCO, Com­ mander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Northern Europe THE CHALLENGE IN THE CENTER .......................... General Jürgen Bennecke,Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Central Europe THE CHALLENGE IN THE SOUTH............................ Admiral Horacio Rivero, Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe ILLUSTRATIONS 6 THE EVOLUTION OF AIR DEFENSE IN ALLIED COMMAND EUROPE .................................................... 99 Air Commodore Joannes H. Knoop, Chief, Air Defense Component, Operations Division, SHAPE ACE LOGISTICS ............................................................. 113 Wing Commander Rupert L. Walker, Logistics Division, SHAPE HOT LINES — COMMUNICATIONS IN ALLIED COMMAND EUROPE.................................................... 129 Major Genera l Eberhard Gralka, Assistant Chief of Staff, Communications and Electronics Division, SHAPE AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING IN ALLIED COMMAND EUROPE.................................................... 141 Air Vice Marshal A. H. W. Ball, CB, DSO. DFC, RAF, Assistant Chief of Staff, Automatic Data Processing Division, SHAPE CHRONOLOGY OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN SHAPE AND ACE ........................................................... 149 IN THE SERVICE OF PEACE by General Andrew J. Goodpaster United States Army Supreme Allied Commander Europe The annals of wo rld histo ry are fi lled with reports on alliances formed to achieve the objec­ tives of war. But when on April 2, 1951, in Paris, the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Eisenhower, signed General Order Number One establishing SHAPE, it was a notable — and un­ precedented — event. Coming into existence for the first time in history was an Allied military o rganization devoted not to war but to peace. The creation of SHAPE was a meaningful manifestation of the determination of the peoples of the Atlantic Alliance to safeguard their freedom, common heritage and civilization. This union in a collective defense effort has succeeded in the service of peace and it has withstood the tests of the past two decades. Europe's political sta­ bility, its general economic health and, above all, the peace and security its people have enjoyed these many years all attest to the success of SHAPE'S efforts on behalf of the peoples of the Atlantic Alliance. 8 Encouragement can be drawn from the success of the past. Accomplishments of the present also ho ld out hope for the time ahead. As SHAPE and Allied Command Europe begin their third decade, we are encouraged by the results of the North Atlantic Council and the NATO Defense Planning Committee Meetings in December of last year in Brussels. These meetings marked the culmination of a year of hard, but productive work. They set the course for NATO defense efforts in the 197O's. Decisions which were taken in the context of both NATO and Europe infuse fresh impetus and new spirit in NATO and its Allied Commands. Those decisions should have the in­ terre lated effects of continuing an undiminished American presence in Europe, of generating a greater effort by European members of NATO to shoulder a larger share of Europe's defense, and of identifying priority areas where further work to strengthen our defenses is needed. But if we are encouraged today it is because over the years men and women assigned to NATO, to SHAPE and Allied Command Europe have dedicated themselves to the noble cause of peace and freedom. An understanding of NATO and of SHAPE'S origins provides a perspective to SHAPE and Allied Command Europe today. For this, it is necessary to recall the moods and attitudes, the circumstances and the challenges of 1945. In the aftermath of World War II there was hope — the same hope held in 1918 — that a war had been won to end war. But a fog of fear hung over Europe. Powerful military forces of the Soviet Union remained mobilized and, with the formidable 9 backing of the Red Army, the Communists already were fomenting strife. This was the period when Greece was threatened by a Communist take-over, when Turkey was being pressed to yield bases along its borders to Russia, and when brutal Communist tactics seized Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania and Poland. In 1948 the Berlin blockade began and democracy was ruthlessly stifled in Czechoslovakia. The masters in the Kremlin were drawing an Iron Curtain across Europe from the Arctic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. In those days the question heard was not " Will there be war ? " but rather, " In w h a t m onth will war start ? " An exhausted Western Europe, weakened and weary of war, faced a new threat — and it seemed only a matter of time until the threat would be carried out. That was the cli­ mate — the harsh, numbing, almost paralyzing climate — into which NATO was born. Less than two years after the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in April 1949, General Eisen­ hower was invited to become the first SACEUR, and the organizational work and planning to develop Allied Command Europe was started. General Eisenhower pointed out that in 1951 there had been " serious questions as to the state of public morale among the European members of NATO ". But by 1952 he could write that there had been a profound change in morale. Where in the beginning there had been scarcely fifteen divisions in Europe, by 1952, as a result of the collective efforts of the members of the Alliance, there were nearly double that number. Where national units pledged to 10 Allied Command Europe had been " for the most part poorly equipped, inadequately trained, and lacking essential support in both supplies and installations, " by 1952 they had markedly improved their combat readiness. The supply system behind them was also steadily expanding. Perhaps of even greater importance, a command organization had been formed to plan and direct their coordinated efforts. All this had been accomplished, in that sho rt time, by dint of NATO's collective efforts. In words General Eisenhower often used, the NATO Allies achieved a result which, if they had acted separately, would have been beyond the reach of any or of all. SHA PE/ACE TODAY In the twenty years since the creation of SHAPE, there have been further remarkab le and solid achievements in the defense posture of Allied Command Europe. Some of the more significant of these accomplishments are described in the articles following in this book/ We have today an organized military structure with strong forces of earmarked divisions, air squadrons and ships. There are international headquarters, with integrated military command and control communications systems, and an air defense system. The forces in readiness consist of conventional, tactical nuclear and strategic nuclear forces with effective plans and procedures under an agreed strategic concept of flexibility of response and forward defense. In addition, the very process of Allies cooperating in 11 an integrated Alliance has played a substantial part in the development of a more unified European and North Atlantic Community. This in itself has contributed to our security and prosperity. But as we note the achievements of Allied Command Europe — a vital part of the mi litary instrument of NATO — we must view those achie­ vements in relation to the objectives of the Alliance which NATO's military instrument