Poland releases Warsaw Pact nuclear attack plan
Poland released a 1979 plan detailing how the Soviets & Co. would respond to a NATO nuclear first strike, according to the Guardian.
Apparently the Soviets would just use an attack as an excuse to take Germany. The exercise is called "Seven Days to the River Rhine." Soviet nuclear strikes - marked with red mushroom clouds - would hit Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, but nowhere else.
The article notes that France and the UK are spared nuclear wrath, and suggests the latter's fortune might be because France was not in NATO. Perhaps, but maybe those two countries would be dealt a red mushroom cloud in Phase Two.
It's interesting that the Soviets (like everyone, I suppose) were planning an integrated nuclear and conventional war. My guess would be that the strategy was to occupy land quickly, in hopes that the West wouldn't nuke West Germany, Belgium, etc. Did the allies bomb Nazi-occupied France much? I'm not sure, but it certainly wasn't Dresdenized.
Some folks think conventional wars between states (when nukes could be involved) are a thing of the past - based on the very existance of nuclear weapons - but I tend to disagree. Occupations are painful for the occupier, but they do have advantages.
1979 was a long time ago, but, as the article notes, Putin has said he misses the days of the USSR...
Apparently the Soviets would just use an attack as an excuse to take Germany. The exercise is called "Seven Days to the River Rhine." Soviet nuclear strikes - marked with red mushroom clouds - would hit Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, but nowhere else.
The article notes that France and the UK are spared nuclear wrath, and suggests the latter's fortune might be because France was not in NATO. Perhaps, but maybe those two countries would be dealt a red mushroom cloud in Phase Two.
It's interesting that the Soviets (like everyone, I suppose) were planning an integrated nuclear and conventional war. My guess would be that the strategy was to occupy land quickly, in hopes that the West wouldn't nuke West Germany, Belgium, etc. Did the allies bomb Nazi-occupied France much? I'm not sure, but it certainly wasn't Dresdenized.
Some folks think conventional wars between states (when nukes could be involved) are a thing of the past - based on the very existance of nuclear weapons - but I tend to disagree. Occupations are painful for the occupier, but they do have advantages.
1979 was a long time ago, but, as the article notes, Putin has said he misses the days of the USSR...
posted by bp at
10:15 AM
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