United States Military Forces and Installations in Europe

For many people who live in Europe the presence of substantial US military forces is a matter of concern and debate. Apart from details of a few highly visible or controversial bases, relatively little is known about the size and extent of the US military presence in Western Europe.

In this book Simon Duke provides the background to US basing in Europe, highlighting the historical factors behind the acquisition of bases in the individual countries, explaining the legal agreements that govern the US presence and identifying the forces deployed, their locations and the tasks which they carry out. In addition to the well publicized bases the infrastructure—those facilities that support, link and complement the larger bases and are thus an integral part of the US presence—is examined separately under the headings of command, control, communications and intelligence, and logistics. There are strong economic incentives for both superpowers to reduce the level of militarization in Europe, and in the aftermath of the INF Treaty their discussions are most likely to centre on conventional force reductions or cuts in short-range nuclear systems. The raw data assembled here meet the urgent need for accurate and unbiased information on US forces in Europe and the massive infrastructure which supports them.