 This is the first mountain division of the new German Army. German soldiers who today stand side by side with Americans on freedom's first line of defense in Western Europe. Picture. An official report produced for the armed forces and the American people. Now to show you part of the big picture, here is Sergeant Stuart Queen. And future historians write the moving story of our times. The terrible tragedy of World War II will dominate their thoughts. It was this war which brought destruction and suffering unprecedented in modern history to a nation which was as well known for its technological and scientific achievements as it was for its cultural contributions to the world. In a devastated, unproductive barren land following World War II, their homes and factories in ruins, the German people faced a prospect of reconstruction which seemed almost impossible. From all their former enemies, save one, the people of this stricken land received both help and understanding in their efforts to build anew upon the ruins of the old. In one city alone, the former capital, Berlin, there were scenes of destruction which nearly equalled the damage suffered by entire nations in the previous wars of history. So extensive was this wreckage that merely clearing away the rubble was itself a task of Herculean proportions. Yet in the midst of this, life went on. The shadows of the past began to recede and a new Germany turned her eyes toward the future. With remarkable speed, there emerged from the ruins a new nation, new in respect to both its physical surroundings and in the political environment which was to control the lives and destinies of its people. Busy, prosperous scenes such as these became the rule rather than the exception, but only in that portion of the nation which remained free of communist domination. Germany had emerged as a nation half free and half slave. As they continued the process of reconstruction, the West Germans, together with the whole free world, were reminded time and again of the communist threat to the East, reminded by such leaders as their own freely elected chancellor Dr. Konrad Adenauer. Dr. Adenauer is saying, you are the first soldiers of a new German army. You will have many difficulties overcoming both the shadows of the past and the problems of the future. After years of trial, the German people now belong to a partnership of the free nations of the world. We have equal rights among these nations, but we also have equal obligations. The German people look to you as the defenders not only of their nation, but also as the defenders of our allies. Without this mutual cooperation between all free nations, the defense of one nation would be impossible. The sole goal of the new German army is to aid in this defense, to keep the peace. We mean this from the bottom of our hearts. Chancellor Adenauer made those remarks early in 1956 at the formation of the new German army. Since that time, the German army under the guidance and control of her democratic civilian government has made great contributions to the common defense of our free world. How our government is working with that new German army in our common defense is the subject of today's big picture. This is the United States Embassy in Bonn, Germany, capital of the German Federal Republic. This modern building is itself a striking example of post-war reconstruction. The embassy is also the headquarters of an organization known as the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group, Germany. MAG, as it is commonly known, is a tri-service organization staffed by representatives of all America's armed services. To MAG headquarters on an average day come members of many different branches of Germany's armed forces. For it is MAG which must largely determine what military materiel Germany is to receive under America's Mutual Security Program, and it is MAG which renders the military advice and assistance necessary to see that this equipment is used to its best advantage. Among the American officers who witnessed the birth and growth of Germany's new army from the very beginning is Lieutenant-General Clark L. Ruffner, present commander of the United States Third Army. As a major general, he commanded U.S. MAG Germany during a critical period in the history of Germany's new army. The German buildup, some aspects of which you are about to be shown, dates from early 1956. You might keep this in mind as you see in the scenes to follow some of the things that accomplished in only two years. Germany has staged a remarkable economic recovery since World War II, and a similar performance is demonstrated daily in the development of our armed forces. We are not dealing here with a nation backward in industrial or military know-how. Rather, we deal with a nation whose capabilities have been amply demonstrated in the past. I can assure you the German army is a democratic army. Further, her ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are as firm as our own, and she needs to carry out completely her commitments made to her NATO partners. During this film, you will see some of the things which have been accomplished and other things which are still going on in the German army. With the passage of time, the direct assistance by U.S. personnel, which you will observe in this film, is constantly being decreased as the German armed forces gain self-sufficiency. I trust that this presentation gives you the impression as service with MagGermany has given us that all of us in NATO are joined here by a strong, willing, and reliable nation. One of the first tasks to be faced by U.S. MagGermany was helping to determine what kind and how much equipment the new Federal Republic would require. A flow of equipment had to be created at the same moment that men were being recruited throughout Germany to form the army which would utilize it. The formation of even a small modern army and equipping it with the latest weapons is an exceedingly complicated job. These giant helicopters arriving from the United States late in 1955 were symbolic of advances which had occurred in the few years since Germany last had an army. Much of the new American equipment went from docks at the port of entry to the town of Andernach, about 40 kilometers from Mag headquarters at Bonn and the destined birthplace of Germany's new army. The U.S. Army M-47 tank and later the M-48, named after General George Patton, was the original choice of the new German army. These tanks were furnished under grant A. Subsequently, the German army selected the M-48 for purchase. Throughout the latter part of 1955 and the early months of 1956, American equipment pours into Andernach by the truckload. It is taken in charge by the few experienced German troops who are to be the nucleus of Germany's new army. New weapons for a new Democratic army, an army which in January 1956 still remains largely on paper, but which is ready to grow. Into the railroad station at Andernach now come the first large contingents of those who are to be the backbone of Germany's new army. The first of 1,000 young Germans who will work with U.S. mag advisors to form an important new link in the chain of security which stretches across non-communist Europe. These men have been carefully selected from among the German Federal Republic's youth. As the vanguard of her new army, they will have an important role in determining the character of Germany's armed forces in the decades ahead. The atmosphere which they encounter is strikingly different from that of 15 or 20 years ago. Under the strict control of her civilian government, the new German army is to become an appropriate instrument of a free and Democratic nation. There will be discipline, but it will be applied with reason. As they board the bus for a journey through the tree-covered streets of Andernach, the new recruits cannot fail to be conscious of their own importance, of the magnitude of the tasks which lie before them, and of their opportunity. Within a few months, these men themselves will have become the experienced soldiers and non-commissioned officers of a brand new army. Here in historic Andernach, they are about to begin a new chapter in the history of their country and of Europe. For several months here in the service school at Andernach, the recruits will work with their American MAG advisors, acquiring skill and facility in the handling of the very latest weapons and equipment. Awaiting the recruits at Andernach concern will be not only members of the American MAG staff, but also German officers recently returned from military training centers in the United States. Upon completion of their training by these officers and their American advisors, the recruits themselves will be ready to serve as military instructors in German Army service schools throughout the Federal Republic. First, however, the formalities of becoming a soldier, signing in with a recruiting officer, uniforms. There are certain advantages to being part of a new army. The uniforms, for instance, are also new, and fitted with a keen eye to the recruits' personal requirements. It's not every army private who receives the attention of his own personal tailor. Comfortable shoes are an important part of a soldier's equipment. He spends a lot of time in them and covers a lot of territory. In every army in the world, the first thing the recruit encounters is calisthenics. Soldering requires good health and strong bodies, both of which must be earned through hard work and hard play. Another institution well known to soldiers in every army in the world, dismounted drill, or as it was known to Americans in the last war, close-order drill. By whatever name it is known, it's a standard, though not always popular, form of exercise for soldiers the world around. This portion of the training at Andernach is conducted by German officers and non-coms. The work of MAG advisors will begin once we enter the classroom. In this class, German troops are oriented in the use of the 3.5 rocket launcher, the famous American bazooka for use against tanks and other forms of armor. The U.S. developed bazooka, and Germany's World War II Panzerfaust were among the first successful applications of rockets to modern warfare. With the assistance of a German translator and interpreter, the U.S. instructor conducts his class sentence by sentence, English first and then German. As time went on in the Military Assistance Advisory Program, language barriers became less and less of a problem. MAG instructors acquired a working knowledge of military German and were also surprised to learn that fully 20% of their German students spoke reasonably good English. Working together in their classrooms, MAG instructors and their students generally acquired knowledge not on the formal agenda. In addition to the technical knowledge imparted, they developed a mutual respect and understanding, which will prove valuable both to themselves and to their countries for many years to come. Bilingual classes, such as this one on the carbine, also serve to demonstrate the practicability of the NATO idea, which envisages troops of many different nationalities working together as a smooth functioning unit. Here's another exercise familiar to any soldier or former soldier. Beginners' rifle practice. No shots are fired. The recruit learns from the pre-sighted gun what the target should look like through his gun sights. Next, he tries his own eye by orally directing his instructor's marking pencil toward the bullseye while looking through the gun sight. In this manner, he will have made considerable progress in marksmanship before he ever sets foot on a rifle range. In the intensive training program at Andernach, even recreation hours are a source of new knowledge. Notes are compared, questions answered, and new friendships cemented between the Germans and their MAG advisors. Time is short because these are more than soldiers in the new German Army. They are the nucleus of a fast growing organization which needs trained instructors. The shoes which only a short time ago, it seems, were being fitted in the supply room are now polished to a high gloss in preparation for graduation. Graduation is short and informal. No parades, no brass bands. Just a handshake from the commanding officer and a certificate which says, you are ready to begin practicing what you've learned. These tanks belong to one of the most important service schools to which Andernach graduates may be sent. The German Army Ordnance School at St. Hoffman. At St. Hoffman, the Andernach graduates, now familiar with the Nohmen Plature and basic theory of their American issue equipment, work with German recruits to acquire operational skill with the weapons. MAG instructors are on hand to provide guidance or advice which may be needed. In providing assistance and advice to the new German Army, the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group is helping to forge a strong new link in the defense forces of Western Europe, the NATO forces of which the German Federal Republic is today an important member. Scenes like this are being repeated in many parts of Europe as the NATO countries standardize their military training, tactics and equipment, forging themselves into a great defensive military machine composed of similar interchangeable units. All the NATO countries, including the United States, constant testing is carried on to determine the best possible weapons for use by such troops as these. Also located at St. Hoffman is the new German Army Signal School. Here, too, men of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group for Germany are employed in the task of providing instruction in accordance with the highest American standards for the operation and maintenance of U.S. furnished equipment. At the high point of its operation, U.S. MAG Germany involved only 700 officers and men stationed at German Army installations, a relative handful of men, but one which produced effects far greater than its own numerical size. This is the German Army Paratroop School, an installation which uses U.S. Army equipment in many phases of its training and which, accordingly, employs the services of MAG advisory. There have been many developments in the art of parachuting, as well as in the strategic and tactical employment of such troops, but the essentials are still courage and practice. Because of it, the men will someday be able to leap from low-flying aircraft with less danger than a pedestrian encounters crossing a busy city street. This is Mittenwald, Germany, one of the most scenic locales in the world. The great mountains surrounding Mittenwald mark the border between Germany and Austria. Just outside Mittenwald are the buildings of the Jaeger-Cassonne, home of the first mountain division of the new German Army. To Mittenwald, as to Army installations all over Germany, come both graduates of the German Army Service Schools and representatives of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group. Here at Mittenwald, in many cases, old friendships are renewed between German trainees, now instructors, and their U.S. MAG advisors from other installations. Here, they will work together in the headquarters of an impressive going concern, the first mountain division of a new Army. There is an especially strong camaraderie between the men of this organization and their American advisors. During the war in Europe, mountain troops played an important part. Cracked troops of both the American and the German armies were organized in mountain divisions. Much of the work at Mittenwald involves field maneuvers, during which men of the new German Army, who have already received training elsewhere, begin the task of welding themselves into a smoothly functioning unit. In the time which has passed since the first contingent of 1,000 recruits arrived at Andernach in 1956, the new German armed forces have grown to a well-trained, well-equipped force of about 175,000 men. The fact that they are both well-trained and well-equipped is due in no small part to the few hundred specialists attached to the staff of U.S. MAG Germany. The first mountain division is today one of nine German divisions pledged to the mutual defense of Western Europe. By 1961, the total forces pledged to NATO by the German Federal Republic will consist of 12 full divisions, the results of years of effort on the part of both the Federal Republic and her American allies. As West Germany's Defense Minister recently stated, it is also the result of Germany's determination to help the NATO Alliance in fulfilling its function, which is basically the prevention of war. For three years and more, from the moment of the German Federal Republic's inception, German troops and their U.S. advisors have worked without ceasing to create an efficient military force, which under the firm control of its democratic civilian government can take its place beside the armed forces of the anti-communist democracy. Common tactics, standardized weapons and ammunition, plus well-trained troops add up to a NATO military force of impressive strength. U.S. military assistance advisory groups have played a major role in its creation. The success of the U.S. military assistance advisory group in Germany is nowhere better demonstrated than in this ceremony, marking the formal turning over of the first German mountain division to NATO. Reviewing the division on this occasion is General Hans Spidel, himself a German officer and the commander of the NATO ground forces in central Europe. Our nation alone, to undertake the full defense of communist imperialism, would impose a colossal burden of defense spending on the American people. For other free nations, individually to counter the threat would be impossible. The United States in its own interest and other free nations in their interests have therefore joined a system of collective security in which the efforts of each nation sustains all. The German people who have experienced tyranny at first hand may be expected to remain a keystone of that system. 20th century are in a position to know that totalitarianism is a contagious disease. Wherever it exists, it is a threat to free men everywhere. The German people have perhaps more reason than most to realize the consequence of military unpreparedness in the face of such a threat. In the ranks of free men, they are determined to assist in the defense of that hard-won victory. MAG, the United States military assistance advisory group, is there to help them. Now this is Sergeant Stuart Queen, your host for the Big Picture. The Big Picture is an official report for the armed forces and the American people. Produced by the Army Pictorial Center, presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with the State.