Abstract
In the autumn of 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down, I was commanding the United States Army’s V Corps in Germany. I remember one clear November morning particularly well. There was great uncertainty in the air. So I flew to the inter-German border to be with the troops of the famous 11th Armoured Cavalry Regiment. There, I witnessed an unforgettable sight. Lined up at each crossing site in the Corps’ sector for as far as the eye could see were thousands of East German automobiles. As their occupants drove across the border into freedom, jubilant West Germans greeted them with flowers. They hugged one another and openly wept. Even the most jaded eyes shed tears of joy that day.
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© 1996 Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies
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Joulwan, G.A. (1996). Why We Are Here: The New NATO and Its Vision of a New Europe. In: Cobbold, R. (eds) The World Reshaped. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24727-1_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24727-1_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-65453-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-24727-1
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