ABSTRACT
One distinction between flat and rolling terrain important to defenders is that dug-in gun or missile crews on high ground can see and fire into a wider area than if at ground level in flat terrain. The Hamburg metropolitan area borders the northern area on the south. It extends north of the Elbe approximately fifteen kilometers towards Lubeck and south of the river several kilometers east from the town of Harburg. The border zone also includes some less defensible areas of fields several hundred meters to a kilometer or more wide, separated only by lines or isolated clumps of trees. South of the North German Plain the border stretches from the Harz Mountains south, then east, and south again along the Czech border to the Danube valley. Other variations in the south German pattern of wooded hills are the Main and Danube valleys and several large open areas at considerable distances from the frontier.
