Operation Holdfast climaxed a month of the most ambitious maneuvers that NATO's small, green but growing forces have so far staged. On the north German plain, east of the Rhine, 150,000 British, Dutch, Belgian and Canadian troops were holding off a theoretical mass attack from the east. Britain had contributed three armored divisions, equipped with the 52-ton, Korea-tested Centurion tank. Belgium had one division of obsolescent U.S. Shermans.
Three weeks ago, U.S.-French maneuvers aimed at holding several Rhine crossings alarmed the West Germans, who got the impression that NATO's strategic thinking is centered on a defense at the Rhine (which...
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