REFORGER 82 and its field training exercise Carbine Fortress were held at a time of increasing East-West tension in Europe. Since the mid-1970s, the Warsaw Pact was engaged in a large-scale build-up of its theatre forces stationed in Eastern Europe and in the western regions of the USSR. Carbine Fortress took place, therefore, against a darkening horizon, characterised by a determined and steady effort of the Warsaw Pact to develop a concept of operations and capabilities that, in a hypothetical war in Europe, would have overwhelmed NATO’s forward defences. Aside from new tactical aspects Carbine Fortress also served as the proving ground for new military technology, first and foremost the new M1 Abrams main battle tank that was deployed during the exercise alongside its predecessors of the M60 tank family. In this publication, both the exercise phases and the deployed military vehicles are shown in many hitherto unpublished action photographs.

Quantity Photos and Illustrations:
Illustrated with 106 colour photographs, 19 b&w photographs plus 11 graphics and maps
Text - Language:
English Text
Number of Pages:
64