This German town will wave goodbye to American GIs because of Angela Merkel’s frosty relationship with Donald Trump.

Here's the inside track on Grafenwöhr https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/12/german-garrison-towns-say-auf-wiedersehen-generation-american/

"Grafenwöhr is really two towns. There is the German town, with its cobbled market square and its 15th century town hall. And there is the American town where the Hallowe’en decorations are already in place"

More than 30,000 Americans live in Grafenwöhr

Grafenwöhr is part of the largest American military base outside of the US

It is littered with pick-up trucks and is home to a street named Elvis Presley Strasse

The US military is preparing to withdraw a third of the 36,000 troops it currently has stationed in Germany.

Almost half will be transferred to other European countries such as Poland and Belgium

Mr Trump has accused Germany of spending too little on its own military and freeloading on the US for its defence

The President has already withdrawn 8,400 troops from Afganistan and 2,000 from Iraq

“He’s just doing this because he wants to punish Merkel," says George Tatten, an American living in Germany

"According to diplomatic sources in Berlin Mrs Merkel decided early in his presidency there was no point in attempting to cultivate a personal relationship with Mr Trump, so set was he against her"

A poll for @YouGov found 47% of Germans were in favour of reducing the number of American troops on their soil, and 21% expressed no opinion

"The US did not choose Grafenwöhr by chance. The town lies just 25 miles from the Czech border. Until 1989, it was part of the Iron Curtain. It was also one of the main points at which the Soviets were expected to cross in the event of an invasion"

Mrs Merkel has responded by saying, “The times when we could rely on others are past. We have to look at the vision of one day creating a real, true European army”

A European army remains a distant vision for now. The German military is so cash-strapped its soldiers had to use broomsticks instead of guns at a Nato exercise a few years ago

Grafenwöhr's mayor, Edgar Knobloch, says “Nothing’s decided yet. We don’t know where the withdrawals will be. We might not be affected”

What do you think will become of Grafenwöhr?