1 - Guarantors of Peace and Freedom

Summary

The presence of American, British, and French military forces in West Germany was the vital pledge of allied politics for more than forty years. These troops created security in Germany by re-establishing public order. On October 1, 1945, the agencies of the U.S. military government in Germany was restructured and the U.S. Group Control Council (USGCC) was renamed Office of Military Government for Germany, United States (OMGUS). Army divisions would be stationed in Germany on a permanent basis, and General Dwight D. Eisenhower would be appointed as the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). This was the beginning of the reinforcement of U.S. forces in peacetime. To make West German participation in NATO more acceptable to a skeptical West European public, it was argued that U.S. forces would be able to intervene to check any renewed threat to peace in Europe from the Germans.