ABSTRACT
West Germany, then, is clearly the central focus of the US military presence in Western Europe. A brief discussion of the European structure of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is necessary in order to understand how US forces in West Germany relate broadly to the NATO alliance. The apex of European NATO is the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, by custom always a four-star US general. In wartime or other emergency, as well as during joint NATO maneuvers, the forces come directly under the jurisdiction of the integrated NATO command structure. In the event of war or a crisis involving NATO, most elements of US Army, Europe would come under the command of the Central Army Group, which in turn is a NATO subordinate command of Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT). The ground forces of AFCENT are organized into two groups: Northern Army Group, the Northern Army Group, and CENTAG, the Central Army Group.
