the entire area and along the borders. The territory to be patrolled had an area of over 40,000 square miles (100,000 km2) and included nearly 1,400 miles of international and interzonal boundaries, extending from Austria in the South to the British Zone in the North, and from Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Zone in the East to the Rhine River and the French Zone in the West. Approximately the area of Pennsylvania in size, the United States Zone of Occupation in Germany had similar contours, with flat lands, hills, mountains, and forests, crisscrossed by many rivers and streams. More than sixteen million German people lived in this area, and it included many cities of considerable size. The entire Zone was covered by a network of roads, while here and there were the Autobahnen—the four-lane express highways. Operations At first the Constabulary tried to patrol everywhere in the Zone. Troopers traveled on country roads, through small villages, over narrow and rough mountainous roads. They moved up and down the streets of large cities like Munich and Stuttgart, and of the smaller ones like Fritzlar, Weiden, Hof, and Passau—names which have become as familiar to the Constabulary trooper as Pittsburgh, Akron, Richmond, Clay Center, and Abilene. Wherever patrols operated, they were in constant communication by radio or telephone with their platoon or troop headquarters, which were in turn linked in a chain of communications reaching up to Constabulary Headquarters. The telephone lines used by the Constabulary were, for the most part, those of the German system, although some military lines and equipment were also available. In addition to radio and telephone, the Constabulary was hooked up in a teletype system, which was the most comprehensive and effective communications network operated by the United States Army in Europe. In the performance of their mission, Constabulary patrols visited periodically the German mayors (Bürgermeister), German police stations, United States investigating agencies, and other military units in their areas. They were always prepared to assist any one or all of these. Like the State police units in the United States, Constabulary patrols worked closely with the municipal, rural, and border police, even though the German police were part of the administration of an occupied country. The Constabulary troopers became acquainted with the local policemen, received reports from them of what occurred since the last visit, and worked out with them methods of trapping criminals and of forestalling