They’re in the Army Now--but Troops May Wonder Which One

Nearly half a century after U.S. troops helped defeat Germany, a new NATO arrangement was formally inaugurated Thursday to let German commanders give orders to some American service people in wartime.

Several U.S. soldiers interviewed at random said the idea, announced earlier this week, was fine with them. Others weren’t so sure.

“I didn’t join the German army. I joined the American army,” said Sgt. Darrell Dewitt, a 28-year-old military policeman from Rapid City, Ill.

But U.S. Army and German commanders officially set up two joint U.S.-German army corps Thursday.

If the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ever gets into a war, U.S. troops in one corps will be led by German generals and German soldiers in the other will be commanded by U.S. generals.

During peacetime, the troops remain under national control.

In its more than 40 years of existence, NATO has never been drawn into real combat.

However, NATO aircraft recently began enforcing a U.N.-imposed “no-fly” zone over the former Yugoslav state of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The arrangement represents one of many ways NATO is trying to adapt to the era after the Cold War.

Two other multinational corps are also planned--one German-Dutch and one German-Danish.

Mixing units is intended to lessen the burden on NATO nations that cannot afford to field the big military formations they once did.

The mingling of German soldiers with allied troops will also reduce the impression that Germany remains occupied by foreigners.

At Thursday’s ceremony in Giebelstadt, about 75 miles east of Frankfurt, the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division was attached to Germany’s 2nd Corps, and the German 5th Panzer Division at Diez was attached to the U.S. 5th Corps based in Frankfurt.

The 16,000 to 20,000 soldiers in each division will not move from their bases.

Each multinational corps will total between 50,000 and 70,000 soldiers.