Chapter 2 -- Initial Preparations

THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT

Massive Military Force Withdrawals

Two events profoundly changed the military context of the European continent as preparations for implementing the CFE Treaty were under way: the unification of Germany and the collapse of the Central European Communist governments. In response to these events, Soviet leaders accelerated the massive withdrawal of Soviet military forces from Central Europe. On October 1, 1990, the Soviet Union had 17 divisions (363,700 military personnel) stationed in East Germany. Organized into five armies, the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG) was the largest military force outside the USSR. The Soviets withdrew all of these armies, along with another 337,000 Soviet military personnel stationed in the Central European and Baltic nations, over a five-year period, 1989-94.²³ President Bush, in turn, ordered substantial withdrawals of U.S. military forces stationed in Western Europe. In 1990 the U.S. Army Europe had 217,000 military personnel; three years later, it had 92,200.²⁴

Group of Soviet Forces in Germany
1990--363,700
1994--0

The deployment of thousands of pieces of equipment to the Persian Gulf coincided with the inactivation of U.S. units in Europe.

U.S. Army Europe:

1990 - 217,000
1993 - 92,200

Simultaneous with this American withdrawal, the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force deployed a substantial number of their European combat units to the Persian Gulf in late 1990 in support of the Gulf War deployment, Desert Shield. Following the decisive coalition victory over Iraq in February 1991, many of these American units did not return to Europe but were sent to garrisons and training bases in the United States. Thus, the combination of the Soviet Union's massive force withdrawal and the United States' military redeployments, coupled with the sudden transfer of personnel and materiel to the Gulf, caused massive troop movements across the length and breadth of the European continent during 20 months of the CFE Treaty preparations.

General Crosbie E. Saint, Commander-in-Chief, USAREUR, said that in 1992, his command was "averaging 500 soldiers a day leaving Europe."²⁵ In 1991-92, General Saint inactivated or rotated back to the States 125 army battalions. Compared with 1990 strengths, these battalion reductions were striking: infantry (54%), armor (62%), armored cavalry (50%), field artillery (71%), and air defense artillery (48%). USAREUR inactivated so many of its sites that the United States returned 157 installations, mostly in Germany, to their European host nations. Commanding and managing this American withdrawal was a time-consuming effort that demanded detailed planning. At one point, General Saint compared a battalion leaving a German caserne to painting a floor in a house. "You have to start at the far end and paint yourself out the door. But the 'whole system' does not stop until you are out the door."²⁶ Complicating this extraction process was the American military's practice of announcing and quickly enforcing field grade officer retirements, and accepting voluntary separations from all ranks with alacrity. At the same time, General Saint demanded that the traditional American standards of combat readiness be maintained. In 1992 he had every USAREUR infantry, armor, attack helicopter, engineer, and air defense artillery battalion train in a force-on-force battle at the large range at Hohenfels, Germany. "Soldiers in Europe," Saint declared, "don't have time to sit around feeling sorry for themselves. They train; and when they're finished with that, they train some more."²⁷ The combination of USAREUR's maintaining combat readiness and managing the substantial force withdrawal meant that the CFE Treaty preparations, especially the mock inspections at U.S. Army installations, could become contentious. At OSIA's European Operations Command, the American commanders responsible for preparing inspection teams for implementing the CFE Treaty had to work with the U.S. Army and Air Force in Europe. Those American forces would be subject to CFE inspections; they needed training to be ready. Tensions developed, especially during 1991-92 when CFE Treaty training was most intense and when the U.S. military force reductions were at full flood.²⁸

Thousands of American forces in Europe deployed to the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Shield. Most did not return to Europe after the Gulf War.