Germany's Fulda Gap

The Fulda Gap is an area between the Hesse-Thuringian border (the former intra-German border), and Frankfurt am Main that contains two corridors of lowlands which tanks might have driven in a surprise attack effort by the Soviets and their Warsaw Pact allies to gain crossing(s) of the Rhine River. Named for the town of Fulda, the Fulda Gap was strategically important during the Cold War and is near the Knüllgebirge (or Knüll). It is a small, heavily forested, mountain range in Hesse,  located in the Northern part of Hesse approximately 45 km South of Kassel. The highest peak is the Eisenberg having an altitude of 635.5m. The only major  town is Schwarzenborn with a population of 1,158 (2006), which is also the site of German/W. German army Jägerregiment 1 headquarters.

During the Cold War the Fulda Gap concidered an obvious routes for a hypothetical Soviet tank and/or East German attack upon West Germany and thus dominated much of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) war planning during the Cold War. High kill rate weapons like nukliar missiles, nuclear recoilless gun, the actical launcher Davy Crockett, Special Atomic Demolition Munitions along with the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, and A-10 ground attack aircraft which were developed with such an eventuality in mind. Geography was a major issue as Nepolion and the US Army found out earlyer. The northern route through the Gap passes south of the Knüllgebirge and then continues around the northern flank of the Vogelsberg Mountains; the narrower southern route passes through the Fliede and Kinzig Valleys, with the Vogelsberg to the north and the Rhön mountains and Spessart mountains to the south. The lead to the easy going landskape of the Rhine Vally, which would have favour a Soviet attempt to set up an avanced bace and ultinatly cross the Rhineand the less obstructive Main River before NATO could intervine properly.

The Fulda Gap route was less suitable for mechanized troop movement than was the North German Plain, but it offered an avenue of advance direct to the heart of the U.S. military in West Germany, Frankfurt am Main. The Main River is a tributary of the Rhine River. Frankfurt/Main was not only West Germany's financial heart, but also home to two large airfields (the Rhein-Main Air Base) that were designated to receive U.S. reinforcements in the event of war.