Böhm, W. Constant Enforcer. US Army and NATO-Allies fight for the "Fulda Gap"

A focal point during the Cold War was situated along the inner German border in the area between Hesse and Thuringia. Known as the "Fulda Gap", East German territory extended farthest into West Germany in this area. Recent research has demonstrated that the risk of conventional war in this region was in fact extremely high. It was this scenario that served as background for the autumn Exercise "Constant Enforcer" conducted by NATO's CENTAG in 1979. The field training exercise
"Constant Enforcer" was designed as an inter-corps coordination exercise. The main aim was to train cooperation between two NATO corps of different nationalities at the point where their areas of responsibility would join along the forward line of their troops. This included training in the coordination of different types of command procedures, the development of common tactics and technical procedures, providing logistical support, and the identification of friction points that resulted from cooperation along the boundary between two corps. This publication describes "Constant Enforcer 79" using maps and numerous hitherto unpublished exercise photographs primarily of vehicles of the
U.S. Army, but also of vehicles of the Canadian and Belgian armies.