This is the fourth volume in the Cold War Berlin series. The previous three volumes previously reviewed are here (and are worth it for the reviewers personal ties to Berlin):

• Cold War Berlin: An Island City Volume 1: The Birth of the Cold War and the Berlin Airlift 1945 – 1950, review by Will Kuhrt
• Cold War Berlin: An Island City, Volume 2: The Berlin Wall, 1950-1961, review by Bob LaBouy
• Cold War Berlin: An Island City Volume 3: US Forces in Berlin Keeping the Peace 1945 – 1994, review by Will Kuhrt

The best summation for this book comes from Author Andrew Long’s Conclusion,

For almost five decades, the United States maintained a garrison in West Berlin, a potent fighting force comprising infantry, armor, artillery, and support troops. They had a small aviation contingent but had to rely on air assets from the Federal Republic of Germany for close air support, which would have struggled to make it through the layers of anti-aircraft defences strung across East Germany. By the same token, resupply or reinforcement by air would have been unlikely, so the US garrison (and other Allies) were forced to be very self-sufficient, with all the training, maintenance, and logistics facilities needed to support a brigade in peace and war. They were over-supplied with tanks, artillery, and ammunition relative to their size and had to work hand in glove with their British and French colleagues, the West Berlin police and local government, far more than on a normal overseas posting. This created a unique force, which was held together under the badge of the Berlin Brigade. They trained hard for war in what would have been a brutal, hard-fought but mercifully brief engagement against Soviet and East German troops, with an important strategic role at the front line of the Cold War – to demonstrate to Moscow the iron will of the Allied governments to protect the city of Berlin, the island of democracy surrounded by a sea of communism, at all costs.

A quick summary of the three volumes leading to this book is that Berlin was split into four sectors at the conclusion of World War II: Soviet (eastern Berlin), American, British and French (western Berlin – composed of around 12,000 combat troops and 21,000 West Berlin police), well inside the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). West Berlin was surrounded by around 420,000 Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG – Soviets), 180,000 Nationale Volksarmee (East German military forces), and 80,000 East German paramilitary troops (Grepos – Grenzpolizei (Border Troops), Trapos – Transportpolizei (Transport Police), VPB – Volkspolizei-Bereitshaften (People’s Police Alert Units – riot police), FDGR – Wachregiment ‘Feliks E. Dzierzynski Guards Regiment)), 200,000 KdA – Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse (Combat Groups of the Working Class – volunteer factory militia), and 73,000 Vopos (Volkspolizei – Militarized People’s Police).

Cold War Berlin: An Island City, Volume 4: US Forces in Berlin - Preparing for War 1945-1994 is a part of Helion and Company’s Europe@War series, No. 41 (HEL1886). The 90-page book is complete with extensive photographs, technical details and specifications, and detailed illustrations, composing the following six chapters:

• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Timeline
• Preface
• Introduction
  1. Infantry
  2. Combat Support
  3. Training for War
  4. Special Forces
  5. Civilian Defence
  6. Planning for War
• Conclusion
• Appendices
  1. Berlin Brigade Estate
  2. Berlin Brigade ORBAT
  3. The Men Behind the Names
  4. Heraldry
• Selected Bibliography and Further Reading
• Notes
• About the Author

The Berlin Brigade is not a typical US Army combat brigade. It evolved from Constabulary units immediately in the aftermath of WWII to police the populace and coordinate with the Soviets. It quickly evolved into combat groups under the US Army’s Pentomic Infantry Division (late 1950s) to the Reorganization Objective Army Division 1965 (ROAD 65) to what it became, three battalions of infantry, two tank companies, a self-propelled artillery battery, engineer company, military police company, and several support detachments. The United States Military Liaison Mission (USMLM – uniformed observers who could travel and observe in East Germany), Special Forces Detachments, and aviation support (helicopters and light aircraft) patrolled the three air corridors (20 miles wide) into Berlin and the Berlin Control Zone (BCZ) that had a 20 mile radius from the center of Berlin, were also included in the US Forces, but not under the Berlin Brigade.

Andrew Long did a great job outlining West Berlin with its infrastructure (including 1,000 km of navigable tunnels under Berlin), training ranges (and training in the “Zone” in West Germany), training methods and capabilities of the Berlin Brigade. Andrew Long’s writing is both informative and entertaining. While describing the US Army’s MILES (Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System), he notes

a laser projector was fitted to the end of the barrel of the weapon and was triggered by the sound of a blank cartridge being fired, sending a coded laser signal downrange where it would hopefully be picked up by receivers worn by the targeted ‘enemy’.

It’s as if he has worn MILES gear himself as those of us who used this system, often hoped it worked, and cussed when it didn’t, but it did get caught on our gear, camo nets, etc. I also now know that the proper nomenclature of the CVKI is combat kill indicator light, not a” whoopie” light as we all referred to it. Further on, he describes the Red Army Faction (an East German terrorist organization) as the RAF “not to be confused with the Royal Air Force”.

As a Soldier stationed in West Germany in the mid-90s, the chapters on civilian defense and planning for war were fascinating. West Berlin “had a very high population density (3,850/km² in the later 1980s, compared to Bremen at 1,647 or Hamburg at 2,100) and non-combatant citizens would have been a problem for defenders and attackers alike.” Ironically, while NEO (Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations for dependents and non-essential government workers) were listed, they weren’t rehearsed in West Berlin.

The war plans chapter was very interesting, and the recently declassified documents really add to the story of the Berlin Brigade.Among the plans was one from 1961 to reflect the Berlin Brigade’s plans to breach the Berlin Wall to reassert their right of access in East Berlin. The Live Oak Plans (created on 4 April 1959) were incremental escalations to deter Soviet/East German aggression. When President Kennedy took office, the plans were reviewed and updated, to reflect the reality that nuclear weapons would not be the first option.The list became so long with every possible scenario that the plans became as large as a “horse blanket”.Realizing this list was unmanageable and unrealistic, it was pared down considerably to become a “poodle blanket”.Poodle Blanket became the name and consisted of four phases ranging from establishing Soviet Union/GDR intent to “demonstrative, selective” use of nuclear weapons.

On 21 October 1961, Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell L. Gilpatric

…was given the job of sending a very clear message to Khruschev about the United States resolve over Berlin: ‘Berlin is the emergency of the moment, because the Soviets have chosen to make it so.’ He told the audience that ‘this nation (the USA) has a nuclear retaliatory force of such lethal power that an enemy move which brought it into play would be an act of self-destruction on his part’, and if Khruschev was in any doubt, he proceeded to list the many tools at his disposal. Regarding Berlin, he said that ‘we are seeking to acquire flexibility rather than rigidity in the options open to us’ including ‘the use of tactical nuclear weapons in a limited war.’

After the fall of the wall and reunification of Germany, the Soviet/GDR offensive plans were learned. The combined Soviet/GDR forces would penetrate from 360 degrees and split Berlin into two halves from north to south. The plan expected their forces to reach their objectives at the end of the first day, completing the occupation by the end of the third day.The plans included prepared maps and street signs with their names, occupation currency, lists of West German and Allied personnel to arrest, and utilization of the Berlin Wall to keep the citizens of West Berlin in place, and they had been “properly ‘converted”. Special medals were for the successful attack and occupation were even minted for a conflict that thankfully never happened.Plans for attacking West Berlin were updated until the wall came down.

This is an incredibly easy to read and informative book about the Berlin Brigade. I only found one error where the illustrations were swapped with the descriptions on pp 47 and 48. As a soldier who was present when the Russians were still in Germany after the fall of the Wall, this book was extremely relevant and eye opening. It is also a good look at the US Army Cold War doctrine in the late 1980s-1990s. For modelers, there are a lot of great color and black and white photographs, and the color illustrations of the Army aviation and combat vehicles include: Cessna Skymaster, Bell ‘Huey’, and Pilatus/Fairchild PC6-B2/H2 Chiricahua in their highly polished and distinctive livery. The armored and light skin vehicles include M61A1 MBT, M60A3 MBT (with the one tank painted in the US Army’s experiment with a distinctive urban camouflage based on the British Berlin Infantry Brigade scheme), M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle (CEV), M109A2, M548A1 Cargo Carrier, M106A2 Mortar Carrier, M38A1C Truck, Utility with M40A1 106mm recoilless rifle, M996 HMMWV with BGM-71C ITOW.

I would like to meet Andrew Long as his writing style suggests someone that would be fun to talk with over a pint. From the Casemate website,

Andrew Long, from Great Britain, is a military history researcher and author. His fascination with the Cold War began with a trip to West Berlin in 1986, travelling through Checkpoint Charlie to visit the East. Andrew’s writing comes from a desire to make sense of an extremely complex period in modern history, weaving together inter-relating stories involving politics, ideologies, personalities, technological advances, and geography. There is still much to be told on this fascinating subject. After a successful career in marketing, Andrew relocated to Cornwall and took up writing full time.

Profuse thanks to Casemate and IPMS/USA for providing the review sample.