OUR MISSION
MAIN OBJECTIVE*
The armored cavalry's (heavy, mechanized reconnaissance units equipped with tanks and other armored vehicles) mission in peace was watching the East-West border for signs of pre-attack Soviet army movement. The armored cavalry's mission in war was to delay a Soviet attack until other units of the U.S. V Corps could be mobilized and deployed to defend the Fulda Gap.
The armored cavalry would have also served as a screening force in continuous visual contact with the Warsaw Pact forces, reporting on their composition and activities, and forcing advancing Warsaw Pact forces to deploy while the cavalry fought delaying actions. In order to defend the Fulda Gap and stop a Warsaw Pact advance (as opposed to conducting screening and delaying actions), U.S. V Corps planned to move two divisions (one armored and one mechanized) forward from bases in the Frankfurt and Bad Kreuznach areas.
OBSERVATION POST (OP) ALPHA*
Observation Post Alpha was one of four U.S. Army observation posts along the Hessian part of the inner German border. OP Alpha was manned by the 1st Squadron, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment stationed in Fulda and re-flagged as the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in 1972. To the north were other observation points, OP Romeo, OP India, and OP Oscar, manned by the 3rd Squadron, stationed in Bad Hersfeld. The 2nd Squadron was stationed in Bad Kissingen, and guarded the border at OP Tennessee (OP Sierra) to the south. Jeeps and helicopters were used to patrol the areas in between, with occasional increased border activity with armored vehicles. OP Alpha fulfilled NATO defense reconnaissance south of the East German crossroads town of Vacha, regarding its view of Geisa, then the western-most town of the Eastern Bloc; the Warsaw Pact had counterpart observation posts on their side of the border.
The OP overlooked part of the "Fulda Gap" from atop a 411-meter hill, lying in the center of that section of the NATO defense line. The "Fulda Gap" was considered a strategic location by NATO for a Warsaw Pact invasion. The name OP Alpha dates to its being the first such point; geography also allowed monitoring Communist radio traffic. The use of the AN/PPS-5 ground surveillance radar set in the observation tower allowed 24-hour monitoring of activity on the roads leading into Geisa. At the first sign of an invasion the OP Alpha crew would have withdrawn, as the actual planned battlefields to meet a Warsaw Pact invasion lay a couple of kilometers to the west.
Due to its exposed position, the OP was also referred to as "the hottest spot of the cold war".
*From Wikipedia