Uploaded June 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Presentation of the history and contribution of the United States to Western defense and the Atlantic Community.
"Introducing the United States" is part of a series originally designed as "Know your Allies", and finally titled "the Atlantic Community Series".
Its objectives were to familiarize public opinion in each of the member country with the other Alliance members and to emphasize the national contributions to Western culture and political traditions, economic reconstruction and allied defense in the framework of NATO.
The series was produced between 1954 and 1956 and financed by the US government in the context of the Marshall Plan with the cooperation of the Information Service of NATO, and distributed by NATO. The films in the Atlantic Community Series received large non-theatrical distribution and, in some cases, were shown in cinemas and on TV. Language versions were made and distributed with the help of the national governments.
“My country and NATO” tells the story of each one of NATO’s members, using a selection of unique archival materials to take you back in time.
Find out more about the United States and NATO: bit.ly/UnitedStatesandNATO
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Discover the untold stories of NATO. from its birth onwards on: bit.ly/NATOdeclassified
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#NATO #NATOhistory #UnitedStates
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IWM (Imperial War Museum) and NATO global licensing distribution partnership. To license broadcast quality video content from the NATO film collection please visit IWM Film ( bit.ly/IWM_NATO ).
For assistance with research or information about access to the collection, please contact: filmcommercial@iwm.org.uk
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Presentation of the history and contribution of the United States to Western defense and the Atlantic Community.
"Introducing the United States" is part of a series originally designed as "Know your Allies", and finally titled "the Atlantic Community Series".
Its objectives were to familiarize public opinion in each of the member country with the other Alliance members and to emphasize the national contributions to Western culture and political traditions, economic reconstruction and allied defense in the framework of NATO.
The series was produced between 1954 and 1956 and financed by the US government in the context of the Marshall Plan with the cooperation of the Information Service of NATO, and distributed by NATO. The films in the Atlantic Community Series received large non-theatrical distribution and, in some cases, were shown in cinemas and on TV. Language versions were made and distributed with the help of the national governments.
“My country and NATO” tells the story of each one of NATO’s members, using a selection of unique archival materials to take you back in time.
Find out more about the United States and NATO: bit.ly/UnitedStatesandNATO
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Discover the untold stories of NATO. from its birth onwards on: bit.ly/NATOdeclassified
SUBSCRIBE to this channel bit.ly/NATOsubscribe
SUBSCRIBE to NATO News bit.ly/NATONewsSubscribe
SUBSCRIBE to NATO History bit.ly/NATOHistorySubscribe
Connect with NATO online:
Visit the Official NATO Homepage: bit.ly/NATOhomepage
Receive NATO updates via email: bit.ly/NATOemails
Find NATO on FACEBOOK: bit.ly/NATOfacebook
Follow @NATO on TWITTER: bit.ly/NATOtwitter
Follow NATO on Instagram: bit.ly/NATOinstagram
Find NATO on LinkedIn: bit.ly/NATOlinkedin
Find NATO on Flickr: bit.ly/NATOflickr
#NATO #NATOhistory #UnitedStates
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
IWM (Imperial War Museum) and NATO global licensing distribution partnership. To license broadcast quality video content from the NATO film collection please visit IWM Film ( bit.ly/IWM_NATO ).
For assistance with research or information about access to the collection, please contact: filmcommercial@iwm.org.uk
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![Four days in autumn - Exercise Autumn Forge in Germany 🇩🇪 | SEP 1978 | NATO Documentary
A documentary presented by Robert MacNeil from NATO headquarters in Brussels and showing a 1978 combined NATO exercise, Autumn Forge, that took place in September 1978 in the Federal Republic of Germany, testing the capacity for rapid reinforcements to NATOs central front in Europe, the most vulnerable area the Alliance has to defend.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
06:23 Day One
11:49 Day Two
18:07 Day Three
22:42 Day Four
25:50 Epilogue
SACEUR, U.S. Army General Alexander M. Haig, placed great emphasis on improving the Three Rs - Readiness, Rationalisation and Reinforcement - in order to counter-balance the growing military capabilities of the Warsaw Pact. One of SHAPEs major tasks during this period was to study how to improve the command and control and flexibility of NATO forces in Europe.
In 1975, Gen. Haig also introduced a major new NATO exercise programme called Autumn Forge, whose best known element was the REFORGER (Return of Forces to Germany) series. These exercises brought together national and NATO exercises, improved their training value and annually tested the ability of the Alliances North American members to reinforce Europe rapidly.
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Excerpt from transcript:
My name is Robert MacNeil, and I’m in the presentation room at NATO headquarters, Brussels, Belgium. NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, shoulders collective responsibility for Western defence. Under the terms of the Treaty, an attack on any one member country would be considered an attack on all of them. Yet NATO has no army of its own. It is a political body in which the members combine to form a defensive force to protect the North Atlantic community. This presentation room is where, in the event of a crisis or a conflict, delegates from member nations would be kept informed. Today, war seems unthinkable, yet those who represent our collective defence, those who work here at NATO, live with that prospect day in and day out. They are pledged to defend an area stretching from way up here in northern Norway to the western approaches of the Atlantic. From the Bosporus to the pillars of Hercules. An area of thousands of square miles of land, sea and air space. Yet for all that, there’s still one area that is more vulnerable than any other: Central Europe, the old battlegrounds of yesteryear. This is NATO’s most critical spot. For, facing Allied forces across the West German border sits the largest arsenal of offensive weaponry the world has ever known. All in the hands of those who have continually believed in a political aim of world domination. Since World War Two, the Soviet Union and their alliance, the Warsaw Pact, have steadily increased their armed strength. Almost everywhere, NATO’s land, sea and air forces are outnumbered. In Central Europe, they face odds of three to one. Yet those who sit here do not fear the intentions of those in the East. Let’s just say they have a healthy respect for their capabilities. And faced with such growing might, they know that NATO cannot drop its guard, especially in Central Europe. This area, on any day of any year is constantly defended. But from time to time combined exercises are needed to ensure that defence.
From Canada and the United States fly combat aircraft, some destined to defend NATO’s icy airspace around the Arctic Circle. Across the seas to the ancient ports of Ghent in Belgium and Rotterdam in Holland come thousands of tons of equipment to aid the land forces. From the United States come troops, airlifted from as far afield as Texas and Washington State, to rapidly reinforce their Europe-based Allies. Hundreds of tanks, trucks, aircraft, equipment and men, all there to defend Europe. In all, a mighty international effort. We’re going to show you just four days of this effort, four days in autumn, in which the Alliance displayed and tested its own capabilities, its own defensive strength.
[...]
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![SACEUR General Alfred M. Guenther on NATO | OCT 1953
Described by NATO’s first Secretary General Lord Ismay as the greatest soldier-statesman I have ever known, General Alfred Maximilian Gruenther was the consummate staff officer, overseeing NATO’s military command with the same attention to detail he had shown as a military strategist in the Second World War. Gruenther served as Chief of Staff to both of his predecessors at SHAPE - Eisenhower and Ridgway - before taking over as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR) in 1953.
His knowledge of the Organization and the challenges he would face were unparalleled. Gruenther oversaw the joining and integrating of the German Armed Forces when the Federal Republic of Germany joined NATO in 1955, a politically sensitive issue, only 10 years after the Second World War. In his three years as SACEUR, Gruenther also saw the integration of nuclear weapons into the strategic level at SHAPE; his “New Approach Group” highlighted the need, for the defence of Europe, to use nuclear weapons alongside conventional troops.
Gruenther’s remarkable rise is attributed to his phenomenal intellect, and particularly his ability to rapidly synthesize huge quantities of information into concrete plans. Eisenhower described him as one of the ablest all-around officers, civilian or military, I have encountered. In 1956, Gruenther featured on the cover of TIME Magazine, which described him as “a human IBM machine, the perfect staff officer, the smartest man in the U.S. Army, the most factual man of his times.” Tasked with cajoling reluctant European political leaders to contribute more to the Alliance, Gruenther would use his huge memory and deft political skills to win support in parliaments across the continent. According to TIME, “Gruenther not only understands, but often startles ministers by reciting production figures of their own countries that they do not know themselves, amazes politicians by quoting election figures down to the tenth of a percentage point. As a result, he has won an admiration among European statesmen that borders on adulation.”
Gruenther was, above all things, a strategist. During the war, he was the chief American planner of both Operation Torch (the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied North Africa) and the Allied invasion of Italy. But even in his personal life, his decisions were calculated. Shortly after his graduation from military college, he noticed that a superior officer enjoyed playing bridge, and so he took up the game as his main hobby. By the time he met Eisenhower, Gruenther was the best bridge player in the US Army, having refereed famous bridge matches—including the “Bridge Battle of the Century” in 1931—and written three books on the subject. When it came time for Eisenhower to pick a second-in-command at NATO, he reportedly said, “I ought to take Bedell Smith [who had served as his chief of staff during the war and had signed the German Instrument of Surrender on Eisenhower’s behalf], but I think Ill take Gruenther because hes the better bridge player.”
As NATO’s commander, Gruenther developed an awed respect among his staff for his efficiency, his energy, and for his ability to work with both a big-picture vision and microscopic detail. He greeted thousands of visitors to NATO every year, detailing the value of the Alliance to their own interests and remembering each person by name. His office had to deal with a constant flurry of “Gruenthergrams”—paper slips bearing his questions and commands—most of which were requests for the huge quantities of raw information her required.
Gruenther oversaw the accession of West Germany to the Alliance in 1955. He also set up the New Approach Group, which officially shifted NATO’s strategy from a troop-based approach supported by artillery and air power, to an atomic-strike approach supported by troop movements.
Ultimately, Al Gruenther’s story is one of humble roots and life-long service. After graduating fourth in his class from West Point, he spent 17 years as a second lieutenant before being promoted to captain. And after taking over as SACEUR, he faced the political challenge of reduced military commitments from nearly all NATO member states. Armed with little more than “a cascade of facts drawn from an incredible memory, an inextinguishable smile and a dry Nebraska lucidity,” Gruenther converted skeptics into supporters and left NATO stronger than he found it.
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