Editing Fulda Gap (section)

{{Short description|Cold War strategically important area}}
[[File:Germany topo Fulda Gap.jpg|thumb|300px|Theoretical attack routes through the Fulda Gap. The southern one through [[Fulda]], the northern one through [[Alsfeld]]. The [[Vogelsberg Mountains]] rise between the two routes.]]
{{Location map+ |Cold War Germany
|float = right
|width = 300
|caption = {{center|1='''Fulda Gap deployments c. 1985'''<br />RHQ – Regt Hq, 1/11 – 1st Squadron / 11th ACR, CAS – aviation, CSS – support<br />Soviet units are [[8th Guards Army (Soviet Union)|8th Guards Army]], US units are [[V Corps (United States)|V Corps]]<br />ACR = armored cavalry regiment (US)&nbsp;&#124;&nbsp;CAS = close air support&nbsp;&#124;&nbsp;CSS = combat service support&nbsp;&#124;&nbsp; D= Division&nbsp;&#124;&nbsp;G = Guards&nbsp;&#124;&nbsp;MR = Motor Rifle&nbsp;&#124;&nbsp;Regt Hq = regiment headquarters&nbsp;&#124;&nbsp;RHQ = regional headquarters&nbsp;&#124;&nbsp;T = Tank}}
|places =
 {{Location map~ | Cold War Germany
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 |lat_deg= 50 | lat_min= 52
 |lon_deg= 09 | lon_min= 42.5
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 {{Location map~ | Cold War Germany
 |label=<small>[[Bad Kissingen|2/11]]</small>
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 {{Location map~ | Cold War Germany
 |label=<small>[[Fulda|RHQ<br />1/11<br />CAS<br />CSS]]</small>
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 |marksize=5
 |lat_deg= 50 | lat_min= 33
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 {{Location map~ | Cold War Germany
 |label=<small>[[Frankfurt|3rd Armd Div]]</small>
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 |lat_deg= 50 | lat_min= 8.5
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 {{Location map~ | Cold War Germany
 |label=<small>[[Bad Kreuznach|8th Mech Div]]</small>
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 |mark=Green pog.svg
 |marksize=8
 |lat_deg= 49 | lat_min= 51
 |lon_deg= 07 | lon_min= 52
 }}
 {{Location map~ | Cold War Germany
 |label=<small>[[Jena|79th GTD]]</small>
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 |marksize=8
 |lat_deg= 50 | lat_min= 55.5
 |lon_deg= 11 | lon_min= 35
 }}
 {{Location map~ | Cold War Germany
 |label=<small>[[Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|27th GMRD]]</small>
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 |mark=Red pog.svg
 |marksize=8
 |lat_deg= 51 | lat_min= 29
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 {{Location map~ | Cold War Germany
 |label=<small>39th GMRD</small>
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 |marksize=8
 |lat_deg= 50 | lat_min= 50
 |lon_deg= 10 | lon_min= 44
 }}
 {{Location map~ | Cold War Germany
 |label=<small>[[Naumburg|57th GMRD]]</small>
 |position=left
 |background=white
 |mark=Red pog.svg
 |marksize=8
 |lat_deg= 51 | lat_min= 09
 |lon_deg= 11 | lon_min= 49
 }}
}}

The '''Fulda Gap''' ({{langx|de|Fulda-Lücke}}), an area between the Hesse-Thuringian border, the former [[Inner German border]], and [[Frankfurt am Main]], contains two corridors of lowlands through which [[Armoured forces|tanks]] might have driven in a surprise attack by the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] and their [[Warsaw Pact]] allies to gain crossings of the [[Rhine River]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Fulda-Gap |title=Fulda Gap |access-date=October 31, 2020 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |archive-date=November 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128204422/https://www.britannica.com/place/Fulda-Gap |url-status=live }}</ref> Named for the town of [[Fulda]], the Fulda Gap became seen as strategically important during the [[Cold War]] of 1947–1991. The Fulda Gap roughly corresponds to the route along which [[Napoleon]] chose to withdraw his armies after defeat (16–19 October 1813) at the [[Battle of Leipzig]].<ref name=fulda>{{cite web |url=https://www.blackhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/fuldagap.pdf |title=The Fulda Gap |access-date=October 31, 2020 |last=Wilson |first=W. B. |date=June 2015 |publisher=The Blackhorse Association |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122094038/https://www.blackhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/fuldagap.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Napoleon succeeded in defeating a [[Bavaria]]n-[[Austria]]n army under [[Karl Philipp von Wrede|Wrede]] in the [[Battle of Hanau]] (30–31 October 1813) not far from Frankfurt. From there he escaped back to [[France]].

From 1815, the area appeared of minimal strategic importance, as it lay deep within the borders of the [[German Confederation]] and from 1871 of the [[German Empire]]. German military planning presumed any war would be effectively lost, long before an enemy reached that far into the homeland. The route became important again at the end of [[World War II]] when the [[XII Corps (United States)|U.S. XII Corps]] used it in their advance eastward in late March and early April 1945.<ref name=fulda /> The U.S. advance had little consequence for Germany's strategic position, which was hopeless by that point, but it allowed the Americans to occupy vast swaths of territory which the [[Yalta Conference]] of February 1945 had assigned to the [[Soviet occupation zone]]. This did much to compel the Soviets to honor the [[Yalta Conference]] agreement, meaning that Western [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] got access to [[Berlin]]. In exchange, the U.S. Army withdrew in July 1945 from [[Thuringia]] and [[Saxony]], to the line agreed upon in Yalta.

During the Cold War, the Fulda Gap offered one of the two obvious routes for a hypothetical Soviet tank attack on [[West Germany]] from [[Eastern Europe]], especially from [[East Germany]]. The other route crossed the [[North German Plain]]. A third, less likely, route involved travelling up through the [[Danube River]] valley through neutral [[Austria]]. The concept of a major tank battle along the Fulda Gap became a predominant element of [[NATO]] war planning during the [[Cold War]]. With such an eventuality in mind, weapons were evolved such as nuclear tube and missile artillery, the nuclear recoilless gun/tactical launcher [[Davy Crockett (nuclear device)|Davy Crockett]], [[Special Atomic Demolition Munition]]s, the [[AH-64 Apache]] attack helicopter, and [[Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II|A-10 ground attack aircraft]].