Evening star., 1958-07-07
BY CROSBY s. MOVES
star star Writer

30 far as the reporters were
concerned. the Combat Opera
tions Center for NATOs Cen
tral European air defense was
somewhere in Germany" And.
although the indifferently
camofiaged former Wehrmacht
bunker may be pinpointed on
many a Russian war map, the
security orders are severely Inn
pressed on visitors.
Outside the concrete tunnel
pierced into the side Of q TO-
foot sandstone hill, huge COM
pressors and generators chug
away. pumping life into the
multistoried hidden fortress.
At the entrance you notice tie
dank. indefinable odor Of Ger
man World War II fortifica-
tions which the intervening
years and millions Of dollars
worth Of renovation have not
dispelled.
The long corridors inside are
teeming with busy soldiers Of
q half dozen nationalities.
NATO is in the midst Of one Of
its continual exercises and the
command post is the nerve CEN
ter Of the operation. The visi-
tors are hurried along to a large
war room where blue curtains
discreetly hide the situation
maps on the walls.
A scholarly colonel, COM
mander of the post, is on hand
to explain things. This is, he
says, the first group of civil
ians ever to visit the operations
center. which the Air Force has
occupied since 1854.
Il opposed your coming" he
says. And I'm delighted you
came anyway"
The operations center, says
the colonel, is essentially g.
communications point provid-I
ing immediate simultaneous
contact with all allied tactical
air bases and radar stations in
the central European area. Be-
yond that, the lines flow out
ward from the bunker to other
NATO headquarters and other
command posts of the ground
forces and the Strategic Air
Force.
Within a short time equip
ment will be installed to permit
the colonel somewhere in
Germany" to talk directly in
code with the central COM
mand post somewhere near
Washington"
1t is, however, more than
Just a communications center.
Packed within this sandstone
hill is all the intricate ma
chinery Of modern war. There
are electronic digital COM
puters for calculating bombing
missions, for reading detailed
war plans punched out on
cards and for providing an
swers from a memory" con-
tanning all known intelligence
data on military targets within
the Soviet area.
Such information as exact
location elevation and charac-
ter of each target, what weap-I
ons would serve best, who has
the primary responsibility for
delivering them, the range and
azimuth of the targets from
every NATO strike force-all
this is available for instant use.
How many targets? The
colonel smiles:
Il would say, about 10000
within a factor of 10, that is"
Whether the right figure is
closer to 1000 or 100000. the
colonel politely declines to say.
Among other features of the
combat operations center: A
complete weather bureau, pho
tofax equipment for receiving
and transmitting reconnaissance
photographs of enemy targets.
self-contained electric and air.
conditioning plants, the latter
of which can be reversed to
expel air contaminated by radi-
alton; a private well for water,
rations for 10 days for the 200
men who operate the post.
'Theater' For War
Heart of the whole thing is
the Combat Operations Room.
1t is a theater-like affair, semi
circular in shape, dimly lighted.
packed with people and eerily
silent. The audience peers out
from balconies on three levels.
The bottom balcony is reserved
for air defense. the second for
offensive operations, which
would call the atomic strikes
for the Supreme Allied Com
mand. At the top level is the
command room, where the top
brass watches the show and
passes down the orders.
The show they are watching
so intently, appears on a huge