ABSTRACT
The significance of allied access to France's logistic infrastructure can scarcely be overstated. The logistic demands of conventional contingencies in Central Europe could, depending on the case, be greater than those of World War II. Central Army Group's most important wartime lines of communications ran through France. Numerous practical arrangements that France condones in peacetime, and might allow to continue during the early phases of a crisis, could well come to an abrupt end. The major logistic facilities in France may be grouped into five categories: airfields and airspace; ports and inland waterways; railroads and highways; pipelines, oil refineries and other sources of energy; and other installations for communications and the maintenance and transfer of personnel and materiel. Although West Germany maintains military storage sites in France, there are apparently no United States equipment stockpiles.
