Welcome to the Bavarian Millitary Community

15 Welcome to the U.S.Army Garrison Grafenwoehr. 1965 Beginning in the mid-1960s, U.S. Army Europe contributes to the car in Viet- nam, by providing personnel. The GTA offers jungle and counter guerilla train- ing for personnel deploying to Vietnam. 1966 January - Charles de Gaulle, leader of the French government, says he will withdraw military forces from NATO. The United States must vacate its bases in France by the end of the year. Consequently, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army Head- quarters merge at Heidelberg in 1967. December - Allies then, Allies now: Bundeswehr Forces welcome United States Army units restationed from France into Germany. 1967 March - President Johnson announces plans to withdraw two divisions from Europe. 1968 August - Approximately 200,000 Warsaw Pact soldiers, led by the Soviet Union invade Czechoslovakia, for the second time. The soldiers were sent to stop political reforms and freedoms and set-up a new government more closely aligned with the Kremlin. 1969 January - The largest NATO Exercise to take place in Europe, the first Exercise REFORGER [from return of Forces to Germany] begins. About 12,000 Sol- diers come from the U.S. to join the 220,000-man, U.S. Seventh Army in West Germany. In addition, 96 F-4 fighter bombers attend from Stateside to participate. The Soviet news agency, Izvestia, describes REFORGER as, “a new western plot directed at increasing tension in Europe”. The exercise is hosted in Bavaria at Grafenwoehr, 50 miles from the Czechoslovak border. 1970 President Nixon’s Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird visits Grafenwoehr, where he meets Helmut Schmidt. Schmidt will later become Chancellor of West Germany. Historical note: Every Cold War West German Chancel- lor with the exception of one, Konrad Adenauer visits the Grafenwoehr Train- ing Area in one capacity or another from 1947 to 1991. May - The M-16AI rifl e, the TOW anti-tank weapon, the AH-1G Cobra and the OH-58A observation helicopter are added to U.S. Army Europe’s arsenal. 1971 November - A Pentagon reorganization study proposes adding more combat units to USAREUR. N ATURERLEBNISBAD S CHNAITTENBACH B ADSTRASSE 13 92253 S CHNAITTENBACH T EL : +49 9622 / 17 22 E-M AIL : INFO @ NATURBAD . SCHNAITTENBACH . DE · I NTERNET : WWW . SCHNAITTENBACH . DE • Local Moving • Long Distance Moving Phone: +49 (0) 961-380100 www.rospeg-weiden.de • Corporate Moving • International Moving History of the Grafenwoehr Training Area