What would happen if the Americans nuked Indochina to save the French?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vulture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vulture
WI:Operation Vulture was launched.
- Thread starter Avrorrange
- Start date
Nothing good I would say. The scariest outcome is that it potentially normalises the use of nuclear weapons, rather than be a major deterrent it's instead being used on a non-nuclear opponent. It would do severe damage to the Viet Minh who as I understand things were almost at breaking point during points of the siege, but in the long-term the French were going to lose and be forced out of the country.
On an unrelated note from reading about Operation Vulture I was rather surprised to learn that Eisenhower made support for the plan contingent on British support. Did the French know about this condition?
On an unrelated note from reading about Operation Vulture I was rather surprised to learn that Eisenhower made support for the plan contingent on British support. Did the French know about this condition?
China backed off in Korea when they learned atomic weapons had been moved to Japan & were ready to deploy to Korea on 48 hours notice. If atomic weapons were within a few days reach of the Viet Minh they might have been pressured by the Chinese to stand down, back off, start a cease fire or whatever that would prevent the use of the weapons. No guarantee this would occur, but there is the example of the Chinese & Korea.
Actually, there is little evidence they ever even noticed the movement of those weapons. It seems the death of Stalin played a bigger role in ending the Korean War then the threat of US nukes.
marathag
Banned
4000+ pound concrete 'Shapes' were dropped over North Korea as test runs
The shapes were suspiciously like the current Mk IV bomb
One can excuse the Japanese for not knowing the significance of the 509th dropping 'Pumpkins' over Japan. DPRK, not as much.
Especially since it was no secret on the new bomb pits for loading nukes were being dug
There was also a battalion of the 28cm cannon for atomic projectiles sent to Japan. Communist spies in Jpan were carefull made cognizant of their presence & readiness for deployment to Korea.
There was also a bad harvest in China, continuing epidemics among the ranks of the Chinese army in Korea. At the time the Communist leaders were seriously evaluating the Allied use of biological weapons. Still the Chinese stopped their stalling techniques in the cease fire negotiations and begain ernest discussions shortly after they learned of the nuclear weapons deployment. I understand the documentation for the decisions of the Chionese leaders is not the same as for say Hoovers decision to withdraw Marines from Nicaragua, but historians like Fehrenbach identify a connection between the news of atomic weapons deployed and the start of serious cease fire negotiations.