The Fulda Gap is a region of lower elevation between the former East German border and Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Named for the town of Fulda, the Fulda Gap was strategically important during the Cold War. "Gap" refers to a corridor of lowlands (between the Hohe Rhön and Knüllgebirge mountains, and between the Spessart and the Vogelsberg mountains), which is suitable for operations by large-scale armored forces.
The Fulda Gap was one of two obvious routes for a hypothetical Soviet tank attack upon West Germany from Eastern Europe, especially East Germany; the second route was the North German Plain, and the third, less likely, route was up through the Danube River valley in Austria. The concept of a major tank battle along the Fulda Gap was a predominant element of NATO war planning during the Cold War, and weapons such as the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and A-10 ground attack aircraft were developed with such an eventuality in mind.
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Close to the Fulda Gap, the loss of Frankfurt, West Germany's financial heart, would have been a serious German and NATO loss as it was also home to two large airfields (Rhein-Main Air Base) that were designated to receive U.S. reinforcements had war broken out.
The high ground between the two routes are the Vogelsberg Mountains. Perhaps more important, the land between the Fulda Gap and the river Rhine was less rugged, offering favourable terrain for Soviet forces to reach and cross the Rhine before NATO could prevent it. The Fulda Gap route was less suitable for mechanized troop movement than was the North German Plain, but offered an avenue of advance direct to the heart of the U.S. military in West Germany.
It is roughly the same route Napoleon chose to withdraw his armies after defeat at the Battle of Leipzig. Napoleon succeeded in defeating a Bavarian-Austrian army under Wrede in the Battle of Hanau not far from Frankfurt; he safely escaped home to France. The route was also used by the U.S. XII Corps during World War II to advance eastward in late March and early April, 1945.
Strategists on both sides of the Iron Curtain understood the Fulda Gap's importance, and accordingly allocated forces to defend and attack it. NATO defence was primarily by the US V Corps. The actual East-West border in the Fulda Gap (see US Army Border Operations in "External links" below) was guarded by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) from 1972 to 1994.
Before 1972, the 14th ACR patrolled the Fulda Gap for twenty-four years, and before them, the duties had been performed by the 3rd Constabulary Regiment and the 1st Constabulary Brigade.
The armored cavalry's (heavy, mechanized reconnaissance units equipped with tanks and other armored vehicles) mission in peace was watching the East-West border for signs of pre-attack Soviet army movement. The armored cavalry's mission in war was to delay a Soviet attack until other units of the U.S. V Corps could be mobilized and deployed to defend the Fulda Gap.
The armored cavalry would have also served as a screening force in continuous visual contact with the Warsaw Pact forces, reporting on their composition and activities. The divisions assigned to defend the Fulda Gap were the 3rd Armored Division [3rd AD], and the 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized) [8th ID].
The V Corps' principal adversary was the Soviet 8th Guards Army, which was to be followed by additional armies (including the 4 armored divisions and 1 mechanized infantry division of the Soviet 1st Guards Tank Army), making the Fulda Gap a key entry route for the Soviet Bloc to western Europe in any hypothetical battle in Cold War Europe; both armies were well-equipped and held high-priority for receiving new equipment.
As stated, defending the Fulda Gap from a Warsaw Pact invasion would have been the 3rd Armored Division and the 8th Infantry Division of the US V Corps. As the principal defense force, their mission, along with the 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division (1976–1984), would have been to fight and stop invading forces, not delay them. In practice it was unknown how effective they would have been in either role due to the vast numbers of tanks and infantry the Soviets were able to field. According to The History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, Volume VI, 1955-56 by Kenneth W. Condit (Washington: GPO, 1992), Atomic Demolition Mines were in place for many years in the Fulda Gap.
From 1979 onwards, the first V Corps unit detailed to move further into the Fulda Gap in the event of the beginning of hostilities (Note: over two-thirds of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) was stationed along the Inner German Border in the Fulda Gap) was the 8th ID's 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment (1-68 Armor), stationed at Wildflecken, south of the Gap. The mission of 1-68 Armor was to establish a defensive line across part of the Gap, providing a shield behind which other V Corps units could advance and defend. The 3rd Armored Division's 533d Military Intelligence Battalion, garrisoned in Frankfurt, deployed with 11ACR on the Gap, providing Electronic Warfare assets to the 3AD Commander. The mission of 533 MI BN was to identify and target principal invasion elements for artillery and aircraft strikes and to corrupt enemy lines of communication using radio jamming and deceptive communications by Defense Language Institute (DLI) trained Russian and German linguists. The 3rd Armored Division was also bolstered by its own dedicated attack helicopter wing, and was the first military unit to deploy the "tank-killer" Boeing AH-64 Apache in 1987.
With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the reunification of Germany in 1990, and the subsequent withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Fulda Gap lost its former strategic importance, but it remains a powerful symbol of the Cold War.