“Tip of the Spear”: The Formation and Expansion of the Bundeswehr, 1949–1963

Abstract

Starting with the election of Germany's first postwar government in 1949, the Western Allies, most notably the United States and Great Britain, came to the conclusion that in order to strengthen the defenses of Western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion, a viable German Army, free of the militarism and influence from its World War II predecessor, would be necessary for the defense of not only Germany but of Western Europe itself. After surmounting serious French objections to the creation of standing German Army on its border, the government of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer set about to create a West German Army or “Bundeswehr” based on democratic principles and practices. This article, the first of four on the post-World War II German Armed Forces, is a history of the problems, organization, and fielding of what became the “tip” of NATO's sharp spear guarding against the Soviet Army from overrunning Western Europe – the West German Bundeswehr.