"Forging the Shield" tells the story of the U.S. Army in Europe during the critical 1950s and early 1960s. It spans the period between the return of major U.S. combat forces to Germany in 1951 and the aftermath of the Berlin crisis of 1961-1962. During that time, the troops in Europe became the public face of the Army to Europeans and Americans as well as to the rest of the world. The service directed almost all of its training, equipment, and force development toward that potential day when its troops would face Soviet divisions streaming through the Fulda Gap and into Germany. The establishment of a credible conventional deterrent in Germany, backed up with our nuclear forces, was one of the central linchpins of the U.S. strategy of containment of Soviet power. It was a visible symbol to the world that America had placed its flag and its soldiers-its citizens-in-arms-in harm's way to reinforce its commitment to peace and freedom in Europe. This important volume tells the story of the U.S. Army in the early days of the Cold War as our commitment evolved into the multigenerational defense of Europe and the values of freedom. The Army in Europe has remained a central pillar of U.S. defense and foreign policy throughout the Cold War and into the new reality of post-Cold War Europe today.
About the Author: Donald A. Carter was born in Albany, New York, and grew up in Oneida, New York. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1977 and served as a Field Artillery Officer until 1992. During that time, he received a Ph.D. in history from the Ohio State University in 1985 and served as a military history instructor, both at West Point and at the U.S. Army Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. After leaving the Army he joined the U.S. Army Center of Military History as an archivist. In 1995 he left CMH to serve with the Gulf War Declassification Project and the U.S. Army Declassification Activity. He returned to CMH in 2003 as a historian. His publications include "Eisenhower Versus The Generals," in Journal of Military History (October 2007); "The U.S. Military Response to the 1960-1962 Berlin Crisis," for a National Archives pamphlet commemorating the release of Cold War records; and "Wargames in Europe: The U.S. Army Experiments with Atomic Doctrine," in Blueprints for Battle (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). He is married with two children and lives in Dale City, Virginia.