<P> Vietnam and the Middle East would later damage the reputation gained by the US during its successes in Europe . </P> <P> The KGB believed that the Third World rather than Europe was the arena in which it could win the Cold War . Moscow would in later years fuel an arms buildup in Africa . In later years, African countries used as proxies in the Cold War would often become "failed states" of their own . </P> <P> When the divisions of postwar Europe began to emerge, the war crimes programmes and denazification policies of Britain and the United States were relaxed in favour of recruiting German scientists, especially nuclear and long - range rocket scientists . Many of these, prior to their capture, had worked on developing the German V - 2 long - range rocket at the Baltic coast German Army Research Center Peenemünde . Western Allied occupation force officers in Germany were ordered to refuse to cooperate with the Soviets in sharing captured wartime secret weapons, the recovery for which, specifically in regards to advanced German aviation technology and personnel, the British had sent the Fedden Mission into Germany to contact its aviation technology centers and key personnel, paralleled by the United States with its own Operation Lusty aviation technology personnel and knowledge recovery program . </P> <P> In Operation Paperclip, beginning in 1945, the United States imported 1,600 German scientists and technicians, as part of the intellectual reparations owed to the US and the UK, including about $10 billion (US $125 billion in 2017 dollars) in patents and industrial processes . In late 1945, three German rocket - scientist groups arrived in the U.S. for duty at Fort Bliss, Texas, and at White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico, as "War Department Special Employees". </P>

What were the immediate consequences of the second world war in europe