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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110023-8

Military Geography

'''FIGURE 1. Location and comparative areas (U/OU)''' (map)

A. General (U/OU)

East Germany is important from a military standpoint because it is on the North European Plain, is near the entrance to the Baltic Sea, and is the westernmost Soviet-dominated territory in Europe. The eastern border of East Germany is about 200 nautical miles from the U.S.S.R. (Figure 1) and East Berlin is less than 875 nautical miles from Moscow. Soviet forces stationed in East Germany occupy a forefront military position in north-central Europe. Nearly all NATO installations in the Federal Republic of Germany are less than 130 nautical miles from East Germany. Rhein Main Airfield, one of the largest U.S. installations in Europe, is about 60 nautical miles distant, and the Ruhr, the largest steel-producing area in Western Europe, about 100 nautical miles. The industrial complexes of Belgium and northern France and the great ports of the Low Countries are within 250 nautical miles, the chief industrial centers of the United Kingdom, southern France, and northern Italy are only about 500 nautical miles distant. About all of non-Communist Europe is within 1,000 nautical miles of this Soviet-controlled country.

The total land area of East Germany is about 41,800 square miles, slightly smaller than Alabama. The country extends about 315 miles north-south and approximately 225 miles east-west (Figure 21); no point in the country is more than 80 miles from some

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110023-8