This Cold War-era map from Poland reportedly depicts war plans to interdict a NATO attack on the Warsaw Pact. Those red clouds indicate nuclear response. One can only imagine that their offensive plans were just as ruthless.
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Thanks for posting this. Very interesting (and disturbing) stuff.
Make no mistake about it, we had a lot of tactical nukes too. And we had every intention of using them if the Soviets attacked. Hell, the fact was we didn’t think we could even hold them for more than 72 hours without the nukes.
The sobering part was that most of us expected to see the contrails of the ICBMs passing overhead in route the US anyway. Especially if we did manage to achieve tactical success and stop their ground advance.
I don’t miss those days.
TLB
Good to see I’m not the only one who hasn’t forgotten this.
Next story “nuclear winter, and you, how to survive…”
When the wall fell and DDR unified with BRD, the Volksarmee plans fell into NATO hands as well. Armed Forces Journal had a graphic of plans back in the early 90s.
Their offensive plans were just as gruesome. Basically most of the cities in northern Germany, e.g., Hannover, were to be nuked and bypassed. The first day had over 80 targets in the northern German plain alone being hit with tactical nuclear weapons.
Looking at the Map above, one can see that the REFORGER ports and POMCUS sites were going to be glowing by the time US reinforcement arrived….which is probably a cynical reason for the majority of US forces to not be based in Germany.
Remember seeing those liberated plans, 3rd shock army right hooking into Osnabruck, an army against my Armd Bde….oh dear..
Sounds like bad days for everyone.
Keep in mind – both DDR’s and Polish plans that leaked were all created by the USSR that occupied their countries for 50 years after the WWII.
I lived in Poland for a year in 84 and was stationed in FRG ’88-90. The Poles would not have allowed the Russians to use their territory as LOCs without some serious problems. Several of the SF Teams in Germany had Polish as a secondary language.
Damn, seeing “Lariat Advance” still makes my heart skip a beat. I remember taking a shower at my apartment off base in Germany one early morning, and my wife coming in, saying, “Someone just called…something about Larry.” Where we were located, there was no NEO (Noncombatant Evacuation Order) plan for them. We were too close to the border for any sort of orderly evacuation to happen. When we were at one of the NEO briefings, watching the plans for places such as Frankfurt or Mannheim families to mount buses and head to the airports further to the west, there was no mention of a plan for the Grafenwoehr area. Another spouse asked my wife what our plan was, and my wife shrugged, and said, “Just grab a rifle; we aren’t going anywhere.”
Seeing the old USSR tactical battle maps from the Cold War era, which I served during, brings back a lot of memories. I remember memorizing Cyrillic military markers for mines, gas, NBC, etc. Also, during BCT we learned to react to a tactical nuke strike in the field, to include full MOPP and DECON exercises. Times back then were pretty damn scary.
Thanks for the memories SSD. I remember estimates that 80% of our unit (3AD) would be casualties if the balloon went up. Something to consider in light of our current casualty aversiveness and our supposed determination to deter or even fight.
From observations of recent Russian exercises their doctrine doctrine seems to have lowered the threshold for release of nukes. http://gruntsandco.com/sitrep/nato-conducts-joint-exercise-poland-latvia-russia-irked/
Russia is also currently testing intermediate range nukes prohibited by the 1988 INF treaty. http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-chaos/posts/2015/06/09-russia-violates-nuclear-treaty-pifer
Many have characterized any discussion of Russia as a threat as obsolete Cold War mentality. Comparing the past and present the obvious similarities are striking. Funny, many of those same individuals don’t think radical Islam is much of a threat either.
MajRod is spot on as anyone willing to pay any attention to Russia’s behavior over the last few years can see that there is still a very real belief inside the Kremlin that this war will be fought in the future against US/NATO nations. From strategic bomber and sub patrols off the coasts of the US , a full court press to modernize their nuke force, the reopening of The Lordes electronic eavesdropping facility in Cuba, etc,etc. I cannot see why more people aren’t noticing their behavior. I hate to say this but I believe their side may even see this as a foregone conclusion ( Russian paranoia is alive and well). Our side seems oblivious at the same time. Very concerning to say the least !!!