Massive armored forces and 600,000 Warsaw Pact soldiers storm Czechoslovakia unexpectedly, crushing the Prague Spring. Dubcek and key government officials are arrested. 27 Soviet divisions with 6,300 tanks enter the country: despite peaceful resistance, there are 90 dead, 500 wounded, thousands arrested, and 1,526 convicted. On the other side of the Czechoslovakian border, in West Germany, the Americans listen and move. Complaints from Red Army elements are intercepted, demanding orders to halt at the border with West Germany. The 12th Panzer Division of the German Armed Forces in Tauberbischofsheim, along with elements of the U.S. Army, with tanks, armored reconnaissance vehicles, and guns, moves along the autobahn toward Nuremberg and the Czechoslovakian border. Along the way, other U.S. units join up. Over and over again, Czechoslovak cars pass by on the highway, and those inside wave the victory sign, presumably hoping that they would push the Russians out of their country. But NATO forces only reach the border and remain there for several weeks to observe troop movements on the other side.
