Fulda was a small city in the German State of Hesse that, had it not been for the Cold War, few people outside of its immediate environs would ever have cause to hear of. Instead, the combined accidents of history and geography turned this quiet rural city into ground zero for a Third World War. The end of the Second World War found American troops situated well to the east of Fulda, having occupied all of Thuringia and western Saxony; both of these territories were subsequently added to the Soviet post-war zone of occupation, bringing the line of demarcation right to the foothills of the Thuringian highlands that dominate the eastern approaches to Fulda.

West of Fulda the hills turn into fertile plains that form a natural corridor the so-called Fulda Gap leading straight to Frankfurt, some 60 miles (95 kilometers) to the southwest, and the Rhine River beyond. These were not vast distances. 5,000 men of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and a screening force of around 150 tanks patrolled the Fulda frontier. Further west, along the approaches to Frankfurt, were the three armored brigades of the 3rd Armored Division, comprising another 15,000 men and 350 tanks. Some 30 miles southwest of Frankfurt, on the west bank of the Mainz River, were another 15,000 men of the 8th Mechanized Infantry Division and their 300 tanks. 35,000 men, 800 tanks, and thousands of other armored vehicles, artillery pieces and trucks this was all that stood between the Soviet Army and the Rhine River.

Facing off against this concentration of American combat power were two sizable Soviet formations. The first, the 8th Guards Army, consisting of an armored division and three motorized infantry divisions, comprising some 50,000 men and 1,200 tanks, was responsible for blasting a hole in the American defenses; behind it would come the 1st Guards Tank Army, another 35,000 men and 1,000 tanks whose mission was pursuit and exploitation of a defeated enemy to depths of up to 120 miles after the front was ruptured by initial assault force. A 1979 Soviet exercise allocated seven days for Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops to defeat American and NATO forces and reach the Rhine River; American plans for reinforcing Germany required ten days. Any conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States along the Fulda front would have been, from the outset, a race against time.

Fortunately, for Europe and the World, that race was never run. In 1990, as the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union came to a close, nearly 14,000 American main battle tanks were deployed on European soil, along with over 300,000 military personnel; another 250,000 American troops were ready to be flown in on short notice to marry up with pre-deployed equipment, including tanks, stored in various European depots. A decade later that number had been reduced to a few thousand tanks and 117,000 troops; by 2015 the number was zero tanks and 65,000 soldiers. The United States went from a posture of imminent preparedness for a war in Europe in 1990, to a situation where major ground conflict in Europe no longer factored in American military planning.

The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team (BCT) of the 4th Infantry Division (the Iron Brigade) is one of the premier combat units in the United States Army today. One of 15 Armored BCTs in the army today, the Iron Brigades five maneuver battalions (two armor, one cavalry, one mechanized infantry and one artillery), comprising some 4,700 soldiers, 90 main battle tanks, 150 armored fighting vehicles, and 18 self-propelled artillery pieces, represent the greatest concentration of lethal firepower in an organized combat unit in the American military. In January 2017, this formidable fighting force was deployed from its home base in Fort Carson, Colorado, to Europe as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

Atlantic Resolve is an ongoing initiative on the part of the United States intended to reassure NATO that Americas commitment to collective security in Europe has not diminished in the face of Russian actions in the Ukraine since 2014, including Moscows annexation of the Crimea, an act that violates the principle of European national inviolability that has underpinned European security since 1945. Since 2015, the United States has conducted a series of military deployments and maneuvers designed to demonstrate Americas ability to back this commitment with meaningful military power. The deployment of the Iron Brigade represents the latest manifestation of this commitment, which involves a continued rotation of an armored BCT into Europe every nine months, creating a permanent American armored presence in Europe.

The officers of the Iron Brigade exude confidence in their mission. We are here to deter, the Brigade Commander, Colonel Christopher Norrie, told western media shortly after his arrival in Europe in January 2017. If I were looking at it through the eyes of a potential aggressor, I would say its an exceptionally capable deterrent. His subordinate commanders echoed Colonel Norries words, and confidence. We have been training for this mission for the last year, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Capehart, the commander of an armor battalion, the 1/68 Silver Lions, observed. I think it shows the agility of an armored brigade that can be able to push combat power forward, build it and get it out here firing within ten days.

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NATO Would Be Totally Outmatched In A Conventional War With Russia - HuffPost