A documentary presented by Robert MacNeil from NATO headquarters in Brussels and showing a 1978 combined NATO exercise, "Autumn Forge", that took place in September 1978 in the Federal Republic of Germany, testing the capacity for rapid reinforcements to NATO's central front in Europe, the most vulnerable area the Alliance has to defend.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
06:23 Day One
11:49 Day Two
18:07 Day Three
22:42 Day Four
25:50 Epilogue

SACEUR, U.S. Army General Alexander M. Haig, placed great emphasis on improving the "Three Rs" Readiness, Rationalisation and Reinforcement in order to counterbalance the growing military capabilities of the Warsaw Pact. One of SHAPE's major tasks during this period was to study how to improve the command and control and flexibility of NATO forces in Europe.

In 1975, Gen. Haig also introduced a major new NATO exercise programme called Autumn Forge, whose best known element was the REFORGER (Return of Forces to Germany) series. These exercises brought together national and NATO exercises, improved their training value and annually tested the ability of the Alliance's North American members to reinforce Europe rapidly.

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Excerpt from transcript:

My name is Robert MacNeil, and I’m in the presentation room at NATO headquarters, Brussels, Belgium. NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, shoulders collective responsibility for Western defence. Under the terms of the Treaty, an attack on any one member country would be considered an attack on all of them. Yet NATO has no army of its own. It is a political body in which the members combine to form a defensive force to protect the North Atlantic community. This presentation room is where, in the event of a crisis or a conflict, delegates from member nations would be kept informed. Today, war seems unthinkable, yet those who represent our collective defence, those who work here at NATO, live with that prospect day in and day out. They are pledged to defend an area stretching from way up here in northern Norway to the western approaches of the Atlantic. From the Bosporus to the pillars of Hercules. An area of thousands of square miles of land, sea and air space. Yet for all that, there’s still one area that is more vulnerable than any other: Central Europe, the old battlegrounds of yesteryear. This is NATO’s most critical spot. For, facing Allied forces across the West German border sits the largest arsenal of offensive weaponry the world has ever known. All in the hands of those who have continually believed in a political aim of world domination. Since World War Two, the Soviet Union and their alliance, the Warsaw Pact, have steadily increased their armed strength. Almost everywhere, NATO’s land, sea and air forces are outnumbered. In Central Europe, they face odds of three to one. Yet those who sit here do not fear the intentions of those in the East. Let’s just say they have a healthy respect for their capabilities. And faced with such growing might, they know that NATO cannot drop its guard, especially in Central Europe. This area, on any day of any year is constantly defended. But from time to time combined exercises are needed to ensure that defence.

From Canada and the United States fly combat aircraft, some destined to defend NATO’s icy airspace around the Arctic Circle. Across the seas to the ancient ports of Ghent in Belgium and Rotterdam in Holland come thousands of tons of equipment to aid the land forces. From the United States come troops, airlifted from as far afield as Texas and Washington State, to rapidly reinforce their Europebased Allies. Hundreds of tanks, trucks, aircraft, equipment and men, all there to defend Europe. In all, a mighty international effort. We’re going to show you just four days of this effort, four days in autumn, in which the Alliance displayed and tested its own capabilities, its own defensive strength.
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