The Day After: An American Spinoff of Protect and Survive
- Thread starter Gen_Patton
- Start date
Introduction
The Last War. Armageddon The Russo-American War. The Fire. The Chaos. The War. It goes by thousands of names by thousands of people in thousands of different places. It has scarred and pitted the very foundation of humanity. Its traces can be literally be found in our DNA, winding and twisting its way through our bodies.
All of the survivors have faced The War in different ways. In many countries there are official histories, government records of what happened before during and after The War. Upon reading many histories, I have been thoroughly convinced that each history reflects its nation’s character.
Protect and Survive, the United Kingdom’s volume was not only the first official history published, but also serves as the benchmark by which all histories of the war are compared.
Unbiased, visceral, and scathing in many of its accounts, Protect and Survive reflects the attitude of a normal Briton.
A fierce commitment to truth, reality, and survival underscores every action they seem to take. It is the dedication to truth and reality that truly sets Protect and Survive as a benchmark. We see the government not as the saviors or demons, but as people, with human problems and emotions. The nomination and subsequent awarding of the Nobel prize for literature has come as no surprise to neither historian nor author.
On the other end of the spectrum is the “history” produced by Far East Republic. Little more than a pamphlet of 24 pages (of which 7 are photographs) it is neither realistic nor honest. It treats The War with little respect, glosses over the horrors of the After Year, and includes little primary sources or personal accounts. The larger shame than the poor quality of the pamphlet itself is the general lack literacy of the people of the Far East Republic.
Other accounts of the war are produced by other countries, Land of Sad Songs chronicles the history of the country of Finland, and yet others are produced by local governments, Land of Flatwater was produced by the Nebraska Memorial Board, and some are produced by regional monitors, No Rest For the Wicked is produced by the African Union. Most include personal accounts, it is speculated that Land of Flatwater includes a personal account by one of its authors, government records, all combined with overarching history.
Here the influence of Protect and Survive is plainly seen, as its combination of personal accounts and historical was not only unique but groundbreaking for its time. Until Protect and Survive’s publication few if any official government sanctioned documents show any personal touches, but preferred to remain objective and sterile, free from the human feeling swelling beneath all of us.
The Day After is a history of America after World War III. While official histories have been produced by many state groups including Don’t Mess With The Wolf Pack about New York and That Dammed Bridge the official Memoir of Minnesota, an attempt at an American narrative has proven hard to create.
America still remains a rich land. With many people, and much territory to cover, (the island of Great Briton where Protect and Survive accounts is roughly the size of Idaho) and thus a variety of experiences to account, it is hard to stitch together the threads into an American tapestry that everyone is happy with.
Nevertheless, we have attempted before and will try once again to create an American story. There are many things that pull us together as Americans. They are what pulled us through the After Years together as a nation, and allowed us to rebuild once again into a single coherent nation. While many of us are separated by the oceans of Exclusion Zones and Federal Mandate Areas, we remain one people, a statement that cannot be made about the former Soviet Union.
-James Patton and The Day After Team
February 21st 2011
Introduction:
The Global Influence of Protect and Survive.
All of the survivors have faced The War in different ways. In many countries there are official histories, government records of what happened before during and after The War. Upon reading many histories, I have been thoroughly convinced that each history reflects its nation’s character.
Protect and Survive, the United Kingdom’s volume was not only the first official history published, but also serves as the benchmark by which all histories of the war are compared.
Unbiased, visceral, and scathing in many of its accounts, Protect and Survive reflects the attitude of a normal Briton.
A fierce commitment to truth, reality, and survival underscores every action they seem to take. It is the dedication to truth and reality that truly sets Protect and Survive as a benchmark. We see the government not as the saviors or demons, but as people, with human problems and emotions. The nomination and subsequent awarding of the Nobel prize for literature has come as no surprise to neither historian nor author.
On the other end of the spectrum is the “history” produced by Far East Republic. Little more than a pamphlet of 24 pages (of which 7 are photographs) it is neither realistic nor honest. It treats The War with little respect, glosses over the horrors of the After Year, and includes little primary sources or personal accounts. The larger shame than the poor quality of the pamphlet itself is the general lack literacy of the people of the Far East Republic.
Other accounts of the war are produced by other countries, Land of Sad Songs chronicles the history of the country of Finland, and yet others are produced by local governments, Land of Flatwater was produced by the Nebraska Memorial Board, and some are produced by regional monitors, No Rest For the Wicked is produced by the African Union. Most include personal accounts, it is speculated that Land of Flatwater includes a personal account by one of its authors, government records, all combined with overarching history.
Here the influence of Protect and Survive is plainly seen, as its combination of personal accounts and historical was not only unique but groundbreaking for its time. Until Protect and Survive’s publication few if any official government sanctioned documents show any personal touches, but preferred to remain objective and sterile, free from the human feeling swelling beneath all of us.
The Day After is a history of America after World War III. While official histories have been produced by many state groups including Don’t Mess With The Wolf Pack about New York and That Dammed Bridge the official Memoir of Minnesota, an attempt at an American narrative has proven hard to create.
America still remains a rich land. With many people, and much territory to cover, (the island of Great Briton where Protect and Survive accounts is roughly the size of Idaho) and thus a variety of experiences to account, it is hard to stitch together the threads into an American tapestry that everyone is happy with.
Nevertheless, we have attempted before and will try once again to create an American story. There are many things that pull us together as Americans. They are what pulled us through the After Years together as a nation, and allowed us to rebuild once again into a single coherent nation. While many of us are separated by the oceans of Exclusion Zones and Federal Mandate Areas, we remain one people, a statement that cannot be made about the former Soviet Union.
-James Patton and The Day After Team
February 21st 2011
Last edited:
A Call to Arms
Alright here is my second attempt at an American Protect and Survive. I have put much more thought into the research, writing and style this time as well as deviating from the standard Protect and Survive formula to talk in much more general terms.
However I need help. Coming up with an accurate portrait of the places in America that the Soviet Union attacked becomes harder every time I sit dow. Frankly it is hard to research every airport, bridge, dam, rail yard, and military base in every state. Thus I am asking for help from anyone who is willing.
If you want, please PM me with a list of targets in your state that you believe should be attacked. Every submission is helpful.
Thanks,
Gen_Patton
Alright here is my second attempt at an American Protect and Survive. I have put much more thought into the research, writing and style this time as well as deviating from the standard Protect and Survive formula to talk in much more general terms.
However I need help. Coming up with an accurate portrait of the places in America that the Soviet Union attacked becomes harder every time I sit dow. Frankly it is hard to research every airport, bridge, dam, rail yard, and military base in every state. Thus I am asking for help from anyone who is willing.
If you want, please PM me with a list of targets in your state that you believe should be attacked. Every submission is helpful.
Thanks,
Gen_Patton
von kressenstein
Banned
Hit me up in Email...
dale "at" thebroughmans "dot" com
I can help ya with some stuff
Orville_third
Banned
I've provided info on Civil Air Patrol and the USDA to Chipperback and I would be glad to provide similar stuff to you too!
Meanwhile, I can provide some info on South Carolina, and more specifically the Upstate. (I'm not sure if I can write a timeline or how far back I can go.)
Oddly, a father of a school friend has posted on a AH wiki part of a timeline dealing with a 1980's nuclear war, which is set in Upstate SC.
Meanwhile, I can provide some info on South Carolina, and more specifically the Upstate. (I'm not sure if I can write a timeline or how far back I can go.)
Oddly, a father of a school friend has posted on a AH wiki part of a timeline dealing with a 1980's nuclear war, which is set in Upstate SC.
Here's my post from the Protect and Survive thread on likely targets:
Here is the entire list of nuclear targets by state in case anyone is interested (I got this from a forum on survivalmonkey.com, and it is copied from the site Paladin mentioned. This list, according to the site it is originally from, is from 1990).
ALABAMA
Primary:
Gunter AFB (Montgomery), Maxwell AFB (Montgomery), Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville).
Secondary:
Anniston, Birmingham, Selma, Mobile.
Tertiary:
Muscle Shoals, Gadsden, Childersburg, Tuscaloosa, Phenix City (Columbus GA.)
ALASKA
Primary:
Warning Radar Network at Eielson AFB (Fairbanks), Elmensdorf AFB (Anchorage), Fort Richardson.
Secondary:
Adak Island, Shermya Island (space radar), Clear (BMEWS radar)
Tertiary: none
ARIZONA
Primary:
Davis-Monthan AFB at Tucson (Titan missiles, area within a line con- necting Nogales, Cochise, Mammoth, Eloy, south to Mexican border), Luke AFB (Glendale), Marine Corps Air Station (Yuma), Williams AFB (Chandler), Yuma Proving Ground.
Secondary:
Gilbert, Perryville.
Tertiary:
Phoenix
ARKANSAS
Primary:
Little Rock AFB (Titan missiles, area within a line connecting Shirley, Newport, Des Arc, Little Rock, Russellville, Nogo, back to Shirley), Blytheville AFB (SAC bombers).
Secondary:
Pine Bluff, West Memphis (Memphis Tenn.)
Tertiary:
Fort Smith, Texarkana, Little Rock
CALIFORNIA
Primary:
Alameda NAS, Castle AFB (Merced), Beale AFB (Marysville), Edwards AFB (Kern), El Toro (Santa Ana), George AFB (Victoryville), Hamilton AFB (Marin), March AFB (Riverside), Mather AFB (SAC bombers, Sacramento), McClellan AFB (Sacramento), Miramar NAS (San Diego), Norton AFB (San Bernardino), Oxnard AFB Point Mugu (Point Hueneme), Travis AFB (Fairfield), Vandenberg AFB (Lompoc).
Secondary:
San Francisco (area within a line connecting Pt. Reyes Station, St Hel- ena, Antioch, Palo Alto, Redwood City, and along the coast to Pt. Reyes Station again), San Jose, El Centro, China Lake, Camp Pendleton, Fort Ord, Twentynine Palms, Lemoore, Portola, Los Angeles (area within a line connecting Malibu, Camarillo, Lake Arrowhead, Perris, Laguna, and along the coast to Malibu again), Oro Grande, Oceanside, San Diego, Lathrope, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Ventura, Thousand Oaks, Mt. Laguna, Mill Valley.
Tertiary:
Bakersfield, Barstow, Banning, Gilroy, Milford, Modesto, Monterey, Mojave, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Stockton, Salinas, Fresno, Ridgecrest, Lancaster, Wrightwood, Yermo, Victorville, Warner Springs.
COLORADO
Primary:
Colorado Springs (NORAD HQ.), Warren AFB Complex (Minuteman missiles, area within a line connecting Grover, Briggsdale, Fort Morgan, Sedgwick, and along state line to Grover again), Fort Carson.
Secondary:
Denver, Pueblo
Tertiary:
Aurora, Boulder, Cheraw, Greeley, Pueblo-Boone area, Broomfield, Rocky Flats (targer is 10 miles west of Sedalia).
CONNECTICUT
Primary:
Brookley Field, Groten-New London.
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Bristol, Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk, Stamford.
DELAWARE
Primary:
Dover AFB
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Wilmington, Odessa, New Castle
FLORIDA
Primary:
Cape Canaveral, Elgin AFB (Okalossa), Homestead AFB, Jacksonville NAS, Key West (Caribbean Joint Task Force), MacDill AFB (Tampa), Mayport (Jacksonville), Orlando AFB, Patrick AFB (Cocoa), St. Petersbutg NAS, Tyndall AFB (Panama City), McCoy AFB, Pensacola.
Secondary:
Miami.
Tertiary:
Port St. Joe, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Daytona Beach, Titusville, Sarasota, Ft. Myers, Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale.
GEORGIA
Primary:
Warner-Robins AFB (SAC bombers, Macon), Dobbins AFB (Marietta), Fort Benning, Fort Stewart, King's Bay, Moody AFB, Atlanta.
Secondary:
Albany, Brunswick, Savannah.
Tertiary:
Augusta, Columbus, Stockbridge, Marietta.
HAWAII
Primary:
Honolulu area (all of Oahu except Waimea-Kahuku area & Makapuu Point).
Secondary: none
Tertiary: none
IDAHO
Primary:
Mountail Home AFB.
Secondary: none
*Tetiary:
Boise
ILLINOIS
Primary:
Chanute AFB (Rantoul), Scott AFB (Military Airlift Command HQ.,Belleville).
Secondary:
Chicago, East St. Louis, Springfield.
Tertiary:
Alton, Aurora, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign, Decatur, East Dubuque, Des Plaines, Freeport, Rockford, Zion, Moline, Peoria, Joliet, Elgin.
INDIANA
Primary:
Grissom AFB (Stratotankers, Peru).
Secondary:
Crane, Jeffersonville (Louisville, Ky.)
Tertiary:
Anderson, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Elkhart, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Muncie, New Albany, South Bend, Terre Haute.
IOWA
Primary: none
Secondary:
Burlington, Sioux City.
Tertiary:
Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Des Moines, Davenport, Waterloo.
KANSAS
Primary:
McConnel AFB complex (Titan missiles, Stratotankers, area within a line connecting Eureka, Arlington, Attica, Caldwel, Arkansas City and back to Eureka again). Schilling AFB (Salina), Forbes AFB (Topeka).
Secondary:
Fort Riley, Olathe.
Tertiary:
Elwood (St. Joseph, MO.), Levenworth, Manhattan, Topeka, Kansas City, DeSoto.
KENTUCKY
Primary: none
Secondary:
Fort Campell (Christian), Fort Knox (Harkin), Louisville, Richmond.
Tertiary:
Covinton (Cincinnati, OH.), Henderson (Evansville IN.), Owensboro, Paducah.
LOUISIANA
Primary:
Barksdale AFB (SAC bombers, Shreveport), England AFB (Alexandria).
Secondary:
Fort Polk (Leesvile), New Orleans.
Tertiary:
Baton Rouge, Sterlington, Monroe, Lade Charles, Lafayette, New Iberia.
MAINE
Primary:
Loring AFB, Kittery (Pease AFB at Portsmouth, NH.).
Secondary:
Brunswick, Charleston, Franklin.
Tertiary:
Auburn, Bangor, Portland.
MARYLAND
Primary:
Washington D.C., Camp David-Mt. Weather complex (Presidential survival and command post), Andrews AFB, Fort George Meade, Aberdeen Proving Ground.
*Seconary:
Baltimore-Washington D.C. area (everything within a line connecting Gaithersburg, Reisterstown, Bel Air, Aberdeen, Rock Hall, Annapolis, La Plata, Riverside and the Virginia state line)
Tertiary:
Lexington Park, Wheaton.
MASSACHUSETTS
Primary:
Fall River, Fort Devin (Hyer), Otis AFB (Buzzards Bay), Westover AFB (area of Holyoke).
Secondary:
Boston, Springfield-Chicopee-Holyoke area.
Tertiary:
Fitchberg, Nantucket, New Bedford, Pawtucket (Providence, RI.) Lowell, Worcester.
MICHIGAN
Primary:
Sawyer AFB (SAC bombers, Gwinn), Xinchelee AFB (SAC bombers, Sault Ste. Marie), Selfridge AFB (Mt. Clemens), Wurtsmith AFB (SAC bombers).
Secondary:
Detroit (area within a line connecting Pontiac, Ann Arbor, and Monroe east to state line).
Tertiary:
Alpens, Bay City, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Escanaba, Sault St. Marie, Midland, Saginaw, Muskegan, Flint area, Grand Rapids, Port Huron, St. Claire, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Jackson.
MINNESOTA
Primary: none
Secondary:
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Duluth.
*Teriary:
Anoke, Forest Lake, Rochester.
MISSISSIPPI
Primary:
Columbus AFB.
Secondary:
Biloxi, Gulfport, Meridian.
Tertiary:
Jackson, Meridian Station, Pascagoula.
MISSOURI
Primary:
Whiteman AFB complex ( Minuteman missiles, area within a line connecting Freeman, Richmond, Arrow Rock, California, Gravois Mills, Osceola, Stockton, Sheldon, Rich Hill, west to state line to Freeman again).
Secondary:
St. Louis, Kansas City, Fort Leonard Wood.
Tertiary:
Columbia, Springfield, St. Joseph.
MONTANA
Primary:
Glascow AFB, Malmstrom AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, all area within a line connecting Devon, Highwood, a point 10 miles north of Winifred, Winnett, Melville, Neihart, Wolf Creek, Augusta, Ethridge, and back to Levon).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Butte, Billings, Helena, Missoula.
NEBRASKA
Primary:
Warren AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, all area southwest of a line connecting Henry, Oshkosh, and Chappell, to state line), Omaha (Offut AFB, SAC Headquarters).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Dakota City (Sioux City, IA.), Lincoln.
NEVADA
Primary:
Nellis AFB (Las Vegas).
Secondary:
Hawthorne.
Tertiary:
Fallon, Reno.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Primary:
Pease AFB (SAC bombers, Portsmouth), Portsmouth Harbor.
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Manchester, Nashua (and everything within 20 miles of Lowell, MA.).
NEW JERSEY
Primary:
Fort Dix-McGuire AFB complex (Trenton-Wrightstown), Lakehurst NAS, Fort Monmouth, Perth Amboy.
Secondary:
McKee City, Philadelphia (area within 10 mjles of the Delaware River from Pennsville to Cherry Hill and within 15 miles of the river from Cherry Hill to Trenton), Rockaway (area east of a line from Franklin to Somerville to the state line), Trenton.
Tertiary:
Colt's Neck, Lakehurst, Long Branch, Middletown, Millville.
NEW MEXICO
Primary:
Alamagordo, Cannon AFB (also area east to state line), Kirtland AFB, Walker AFB (Roswell), White Sands (Las Cruces).
Secondary:
Albuquerque.
Tertiary:
Gallup.
NEW YORK
Primary:
Griffiss AFB (SAC bombers, Utica-Rome), Plattsburgh AFB (SAC bombers), Stewart AFB (Newburgh).
Secondary:
New York City area (all south of Stony Point and west of Stony Brook to state line), Buffalo, Syracuse, Watervliet.
Tertiary:
Albany, Binghamton, Brookshaven (Brookhaven National Laboratory), Schenectady, Troy, Rochester.
NORTH CAROLINA
Primary:
Cherry Point (Havelock), Pope AFB (Fayetteville), Seymour-Johnson AFB (SAC bombers, Goldsboro).
Secondary:
Camp Lejeune, Fort Bragg (Fayetteville), Southport, Jacksonville-Midway Park area, Fort Fisher.
Tertiary:
Asheville (south to Henersonville), Carolina Beach, Charlotte, Durham, Graham, Greensboro, Morrisville, Raleigh, Wilmington, Winston-Salem.
NORTH DAKOTA
Primary:
Grand Forks AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, area within a line con- necting Wahalla, Grand Forks, Tower City, Valley City, Devil's Lake, Sarles and the Canadian border), Minot AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, an area within a line connecting Westhope, Eckman, Minot, a point 15 miles south of Towner, Harvey, Mercer, a point 10 miles north of Beulah, Tioga, Portal, and the Canadian border. Danger area extends 10 miles into Canada between Sarles and Wahalla, and between Portal and Westhope).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Grand Forks, Fargo.
OHIO
Primary:
Lockbourne AFB (Rickenbacker AFB on some maps), Wright-Patterson AFB.
Secondary:
Cleveland, Youngstown-Warren area.
Tertiary:
Akron, Bellaire, Canton, Columbia, Dayton, Lima, Mansfield, Middletown, Miamisberg, Springfield, Steubenville, Windham, Toledo, Vandalia.
OKLAHOMA
Primary:
Altus AFB, Clinton-Sherman AFB (Custer), Tinker AFB (Oklahoma City), Vance AFB (Enid).
Secondary:
Fort Sill (Lawton).
Tertiary:
El Reno, Tulsa, 10 miles southeast of McAlester, Oklahoma City.
OREGON
Primary:
Adair AFB (Mulheur).
Secondary:
Portland, Mt. Hebo.
Tertiary:
Canby, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Madras, Salem.
PENNSYLVANIA
Primary: none
Secondary:
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Scranton, Willow Grove.
Tertiary:
Allentown, Altoona, Beaver, Bethlehem, Chester, Erie, Harrisburg, York, Johnstown, Lancaster, Natrona Heights, Mechanicsburg, Reading, Waynesboro.
RHODE ISLAND
Primary: none
Secondary:
Newport, Quonset Point.
Tertiary:
Providence, Westerly.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Primary:
Charleston complex (submarine base, area east of Summerville between Goose Creek and Folly Beach), Myrtle Beach AFB, Shaw AFB.
Secondary:
Parris Island Marine Base.
Tertiary:
Aiken, Columbia, Greenville, Greer, Hardeeville (Savannah, Georgia), North Augusta.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Primary:
Ellsworth AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, SAC bombers, entire area within a line connecting Albion, Montana to a point 10 miles north of Faith, Midland, point 10 miles south of Velvidere, Scenic, Sturgis, Spearfish, and along state line to Albion again).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Rapid City, Sioux Falls.
TENNESSEE
Primary: none
Secondary:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Anderson), Memphis.
Tertiary:
Alcoa, Bristol, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Signal Mountain.
TEXAS
Primary:
Bergstrom AFB (Austin), Brooks AFB (San Antonio), Carswell AFB (SAC bombers, Fort Worth), Dyess AFB (SAC bombers, Abilene), Goodfellow AFB (San Angelo), Kelly-Lackland AFB (San Antonio), Laredo AFB, Laughlin AFB (Del Rio), Randolf AFB (Universal City), Reese AFB (Lubbock), Sheppard AFB (Wichita Falls), Webb AFB (Big Spring).
Secondary:
Beeville, Corpus Christi, Fort Bliss (El Paso), Fort Hood (Killeen), Houston, Kingsville, Sherman-Dennison, Texarkana.
Tertiary:
Alice, Beaumont, Brownsville, Bryan, Caddo Lake, Dallas, Freeport, Galveston, Harlington, Lake Jackson, Longview, McAllen, Midland, Odessa, Tyler, Waco.
UTAH
Primary:
Hill AFB (Ogden).
Secondary:
Dugway Proving Ground (Chemical Warfare Center, Tooele).
Tertiary:
Salt Lake City, Orem-Provo.
VERMONT
Primary: none
Secondary:
Tertiary:
Burlington.
VIRGINIA
Primary:
Leadership bomb and fallout shelter (Mount Weather) Berryville, Washington D.C. area (see Maryland), Cape Charles AFB, Dulles Inter-national Airport, Langley AFB (Hampton), Norfolk-Portsmouth, Oceana NAS (Virginia Beach).
Secondary:
Richmond, Newport News, Mt. Vernon, Radford.
Tertiary:
Blackstone, Chincoteague, Ft. Eustis, Hopewell, Lynchberg, Manassas, Petersburg, Guantico, Roanoke, Yorktown.
WASHINGTON
Primary:
Bremerton (submarine base), Fairchild AFB (SAC bombers, Spokane), McChord AFB (Tacoma).
Secondary:
Everett, Oak Harbor, Richland (Hanford reactor and storage complex), Seattle (naval complex, Tacoma (Ft. Lewis), Walla-Walla.
Tertiary:
Copalis Beach, Spokane, Vancouver.
WEST VIRGINIA
Primary:
Leadership bomb and fallout shelter (Greenbrier Resort) White Sulphur Springs.
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Charleston, Cedar Grove, Huntington, Wheeling (area north of Moundsville).
WISCONSIN
Primary: none
Secondary:
Madison.
Tertiary:
Appleton, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, Miquon, Milwaukee, Onalaska, Oshkosh, Racine, Superior, Waukesha.
WYOMING
Primary: Warren AFB (Minuteman missiles, area within a line connecting Cheyenne, Federal, point 10 miles northwest of Wheatland, Guernsey, and along the state line to Cheyenne again).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Casper.
Keep in mind, however, that in the Protect and Survive universe10 to 20 percent of these targets might avoid being hit, because of the error rate. Or, additionally, they may not be targeted at all, for whatever reason.
Would you also focus on the leadup to war in the U.S., Gen_Patton?
Waiting for the next post.
Here is the entire list of nuclear targets by state in case anyone is interested (I got this from a forum on survivalmonkey.com, and it is copied from the site Paladin mentioned. This list, according to the site it is originally from, is from 1990).
ALABAMA
Primary:
Gunter AFB (Montgomery), Maxwell AFB (Montgomery), Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville).
Secondary:
Anniston, Birmingham, Selma, Mobile.
Tertiary:
Muscle Shoals, Gadsden, Childersburg, Tuscaloosa, Phenix City (Columbus GA.)
ALASKA
Primary:
Warning Radar Network at Eielson AFB (Fairbanks), Elmensdorf AFB (Anchorage), Fort Richardson.
Secondary:
Adak Island, Shermya Island (space radar), Clear (BMEWS radar)
Tertiary: none
ARIZONA
Primary:
Davis-Monthan AFB at Tucson (Titan missiles, area within a line con- necting Nogales, Cochise, Mammoth, Eloy, south to Mexican border), Luke AFB (Glendale), Marine Corps Air Station (Yuma), Williams AFB (Chandler), Yuma Proving Ground.
Secondary:
Gilbert, Perryville.
Tertiary:
Phoenix
ARKANSAS
Primary:
Little Rock AFB (Titan missiles, area within a line connecting Shirley, Newport, Des Arc, Little Rock, Russellville, Nogo, back to Shirley), Blytheville AFB (SAC bombers).
Secondary:
Pine Bluff, West Memphis (Memphis Tenn.)
Tertiary:
Fort Smith, Texarkana, Little Rock
CALIFORNIA
Primary:
Alameda NAS, Castle AFB (Merced), Beale AFB (Marysville), Edwards AFB (Kern), El Toro (Santa Ana), George AFB (Victoryville), Hamilton AFB (Marin), March AFB (Riverside), Mather AFB (SAC bombers, Sacramento), McClellan AFB (Sacramento), Miramar NAS (San Diego), Norton AFB (San Bernardino), Oxnard AFB Point Mugu (Point Hueneme), Travis AFB (Fairfield), Vandenberg AFB (Lompoc).
Secondary:
San Francisco (area within a line connecting Pt. Reyes Station, St Hel- ena, Antioch, Palo Alto, Redwood City, and along the coast to Pt. Reyes Station again), San Jose, El Centro, China Lake, Camp Pendleton, Fort Ord, Twentynine Palms, Lemoore, Portola, Los Angeles (area within a line connecting Malibu, Camarillo, Lake Arrowhead, Perris, Laguna, and along the coast to Malibu again), Oro Grande, Oceanside, San Diego, Lathrope, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Ventura, Thousand Oaks, Mt. Laguna, Mill Valley.
Tertiary:
Bakersfield, Barstow, Banning, Gilroy, Milford, Modesto, Monterey, Mojave, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Stockton, Salinas, Fresno, Ridgecrest, Lancaster, Wrightwood, Yermo, Victorville, Warner Springs.
COLORADO
Primary:
Colorado Springs (NORAD HQ.), Warren AFB Complex (Minuteman missiles, area within a line connecting Grover, Briggsdale, Fort Morgan, Sedgwick, and along state line to Grover again), Fort Carson.
Secondary:
Denver, Pueblo
Tertiary:
Aurora, Boulder, Cheraw, Greeley, Pueblo-Boone area, Broomfield, Rocky Flats (targer is 10 miles west of Sedalia).
CONNECTICUT
Primary:
Brookley Field, Groten-New London.
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Bristol, Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk, Stamford.
DELAWARE
Primary:
Dover AFB
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Wilmington, Odessa, New Castle
FLORIDA
Primary:
Cape Canaveral, Elgin AFB (Okalossa), Homestead AFB, Jacksonville NAS, Key West (Caribbean Joint Task Force), MacDill AFB (Tampa), Mayport (Jacksonville), Orlando AFB, Patrick AFB (Cocoa), St. Petersbutg NAS, Tyndall AFB (Panama City), McCoy AFB, Pensacola.
Secondary:
Miami.
Tertiary:
Port St. Joe, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Daytona Beach, Titusville, Sarasota, Ft. Myers, Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale.
GEORGIA
Primary:
Warner-Robins AFB (SAC bombers, Macon), Dobbins AFB (Marietta), Fort Benning, Fort Stewart, King's Bay, Moody AFB, Atlanta.
Secondary:
Albany, Brunswick, Savannah.
Tertiary:
Augusta, Columbus, Stockbridge, Marietta.
HAWAII
Primary:
Honolulu area (all of Oahu except Waimea-Kahuku area & Makapuu Point).
Secondary: none
Tertiary: none
IDAHO
Primary:
Mountail Home AFB.
Secondary: none
*Tetiary:
Boise
ILLINOIS
Primary:
Chanute AFB (Rantoul), Scott AFB (Military Airlift Command HQ.,Belleville).
Secondary:
Chicago, East St. Louis, Springfield.
Tertiary:
Alton, Aurora, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign, Decatur, East Dubuque, Des Plaines, Freeport, Rockford, Zion, Moline, Peoria, Joliet, Elgin.
INDIANA
Primary:
Grissom AFB (Stratotankers, Peru).
Secondary:
Crane, Jeffersonville (Louisville, Ky.)
Tertiary:
Anderson, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Elkhart, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Muncie, New Albany, South Bend, Terre Haute.
IOWA
Primary: none
Secondary:
Burlington, Sioux City.
Tertiary:
Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Des Moines, Davenport, Waterloo.
KANSAS
Primary:
McConnel AFB complex (Titan missiles, Stratotankers, area within a line connecting Eureka, Arlington, Attica, Caldwel, Arkansas City and back to Eureka again). Schilling AFB (Salina), Forbes AFB (Topeka).
Secondary:
Fort Riley, Olathe.
Tertiary:
Elwood (St. Joseph, MO.), Levenworth, Manhattan, Topeka, Kansas City, DeSoto.
KENTUCKY
Primary: none
Secondary:
Fort Campell (Christian), Fort Knox (Harkin), Louisville, Richmond.
Tertiary:
Covinton (Cincinnati, OH.), Henderson (Evansville IN.), Owensboro, Paducah.
LOUISIANA
Primary:
Barksdale AFB (SAC bombers, Shreveport), England AFB (Alexandria).
Secondary:
Fort Polk (Leesvile), New Orleans.
Tertiary:
Baton Rouge, Sterlington, Monroe, Lade Charles, Lafayette, New Iberia.
MAINE
Primary:
Loring AFB, Kittery (Pease AFB at Portsmouth, NH.).
Secondary:
Brunswick, Charleston, Franklin.
Tertiary:
Auburn, Bangor, Portland.
MARYLAND
Primary:
Washington D.C., Camp David-Mt. Weather complex (Presidential survival and command post), Andrews AFB, Fort George Meade, Aberdeen Proving Ground.
*Seconary:
Baltimore-Washington D.C. area (everything within a line connecting Gaithersburg, Reisterstown, Bel Air, Aberdeen, Rock Hall, Annapolis, La Plata, Riverside and the Virginia state line)
Tertiary:
Lexington Park, Wheaton.
MASSACHUSETTS
Primary:
Fall River, Fort Devin (Hyer), Otis AFB (Buzzards Bay), Westover AFB (area of Holyoke).
Secondary:
Boston, Springfield-Chicopee-Holyoke area.
Tertiary:
Fitchberg, Nantucket, New Bedford, Pawtucket (Providence, RI.) Lowell, Worcester.
MICHIGAN
Primary:
Sawyer AFB (SAC bombers, Gwinn), Xinchelee AFB (SAC bombers, Sault Ste. Marie), Selfridge AFB (Mt. Clemens), Wurtsmith AFB (SAC bombers).
Secondary:
Detroit (area within a line connecting Pontiac, Ann Arbor, and Monroe east to state line).
Tertiary:
Alpens, Bay City, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Escanaba, Sault St. Marie, Midland, Saginaw, Muskegan, Flint area, Grand Rapids, Port Huron, St. Claire, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Jackson.
MINNESOTA
Primary: none
Secondary:
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Duluth.
*Teriary:
Anoke, Forest Lake, Rochester.
MISSISSIPPI
Primary:
Columbus AFB.
Secondary:
Biloxi, Gulfport, Meridian.
Tertiary:
Jackson, Meridian Station, Pascagoula.
MISSOURI
Primary:
Whiteman AFB complex ( Minuteman missiles, area within a line connecting Freeman, Richmond, Arrow Rock, California, Gravois Mills, Osceola, Stockton, Sheldon, Rich Hill, west to state line to Freeman again).
Secondary:
St. Louis, Kansas City, Fort Leonard Wood.
Tertiary:
Columbia, Springfield, St. Joseph.
MONTANA
Primary:
Glascow AFB, Malmstrom AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, all area within a line connecting Devon, Highwood, a point 10 miles north of Winifred, Winnett, Melville, Neihart, Wolf Creek, Augusta, Ethridge, and back to Levon).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Butte, Billings, Helena, Missoula.
NEBRASKA
Primary:
Warren AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, all area southwest of a line connecting Henry, Oshkosh, and Chappell, to state line), Omaha (Offut AFB, SAC Headquarters).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Dakota City (Sioux City, IA.), Lincoln.
NEVADA
Primary:
Nellis AFB (Las Vegas).
Secondary:
Hawthorne.
Tertiary:
Fallon, Reno.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Primary:
Pease AFB (SAC bombers, Portsmouth), Portsmouth Harbor.
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Manchester, Nashua (and everything within 20 miles of Lowell, MA.).
NEW JERSEY
Primary:
Fort Dix-McGuire AFB complex (Trenton-Wrightstown), Lakehurst NAS, Fort Monmouth, Perth Amboy.
Secondary:
McKee City, Philadelphia (area within 10 mjles of the Delaware River from Pennsville to Cherry Hill and within 15 miles of the river from Cherry Hill to Trenton), Rockaway (area east of a line from Franklin to Somerville to the state line), Trenton.
Tertiary:
Colt's Neck, Lakehurst, Long Branch, Middletown, Millville.
NEW MEXICO
Primary:
Alamagordo, Cannon AFB (also area east to state line), Kirtland AFB, Walker AFB (Roswell), White Sands (Las Cruces).
Secondary:
Albuquerque.
Tertiary:
Gallup.
NEW YORK
Primary:
Griffiss AFB (SAC bombers, Utica-Rome), Plattsburgh AFB (SAC bombers), Stewart AFB (Newburgh).
Secondary:
New York City area (all south of Stony Point and west of Stony Brook to state line), Buffalo, Syracuse, Watervliet.
Tertiary:
Albany, Binghamton, Brookshaven (Brookhaven National Laboratory), Schenectady, Troy, Rochester.
NORTH CAROLINA
Primary:
Cherry Point (Havelock), Pope AFB (Fayetteville), Seymour-Johnson AFB (SAC bombers, Goldsboro).
Secondary:
Camp Lejeune, Fort Bragg (Fayetteville), Southport, Jacksonville-Midway Park area, Fort Fisher.
Tertiary:
Asheville (south to Henersonville), Carolina Beach, Charlotte, Durham, Graham, Greensboro, Morrisville, Raleigh, Wilmington, Winston-Salem.
NORTH DAKOTA
Primary:
Grand Forks AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, area within a line con- necting Wahalla, Grand Forks, Tower City, Valley City, Devil's Lake, Sarles and the Canadian border), Minot AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, an area within a line connecting Westhope, Eckman, Minot, a point 15 miles south of Towner, Harvey, Mercer, a point 10 miles north of Beulah, Tioga, Portal, and the Canadian border. Danger area extends 10 miles into Canada between Sarles and Wahalla, and between Portal and Westhope).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Grand Forks, Fargo.
OHIO
Primary:
Lockbourne AFB (Rickenbacker AFB on some maps), Wright-Patterson AFB.
Secondary:
Cleveland, Youngstown-Warren area.
Tertiary:
Akron, Bellaire, Canton, Columbia, Dayton, Lima, Mansfield, Middletown, Miamisberg, Springfield, Steubenville, Windham, Toledo, Vandalia.
OKLAHOMA
Primary:
Altus AFB, Clinton-Sherman AFB (Custer), Tinker AFB (Oklahoma City), Vance AFB (Enid).
Secondary:
Fort Sill (Lawton).
Tertiary:
El Reno, Tulsa, 10 miles southeast of McAlester, Oklahoma City.
OREGON
Primary:
Adair AFB (Mulheur).
Secondary:
Portland, Mt. Hebo.
Tertiary:
Canby, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Madras, Salem.
PENNSYLVANIA
Primary: none
Secondary:
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Scranton, Willow Grove.
Tertiary:
Allentown, Altoona, Beaver, Bethlehem, Chester, Erie, Harrisburg, York, Johnstown, Lancaster, Natrona Heights, Mechanicsburg, Reading, Waynesboro.
RHODE ISLAND
Primary: none
Secondary:
Newport, Quonset Point.
Tertiary:
Providence, Westerly.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Primary:
Charleston complex (submarine base, area east of Summerville between Goose Creek and Folly Beach), Myrtle Beach AFB, Shaw AFB.
Secondary:
Parris Island Marine Base.
Tertiary:
Aiken, Columbia, Greenville, Greer, Hardeeville (Savannah, Georgia), North Augusta.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Primary:
Ellsworth AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, SAC bombers, entire area within a line connecting Albion, Montana to a point 10 miles north of Faith, Midland, point 10 miles south of Velvidere, Scenic, Sturgis, Spearfish, and along state line to Albion again).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Rapid City, Sioux Falls.
TENNESSEE
Primary: none
Secondary:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Anderson), Memphis.
Tertiary:
Alcoa, Bristol, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Signal Mountain.
TEXAS
Primary:
Bergstrom AFB (Austin), Brooks AFB (San Antonio), Carswell AFB (SAC bombers, Fort Worth), Dyess AFB (SAC bombers, Abilene), Goodfellow AFB (San Angelo), Kelly-Lackland AFB (San Antonio), Laredo AFB, Laughlin AFB (Del Rio), Randolf AFB (Universal City), Reese AFB (Lubbock), Sheppard AFB (Wichita Falls), Webb AFB (Big Spring).
Secondary:
Beeville, Corpus Christi, Fort Bliss (El Paso), Fort Hood (Killeen), Houston, Kingsville, Sherman-Dennison, Texarkana.
Tertiary:
Alice, Beaumont, Brownsville, Bryan, Caddo Lake, Dallas, Freeport, Galveston, Harlington, Lake Jackson, Longview, McAllen, Midland, Odessa, Tyler, Waco.
UTAH
Primary:
Hill AFB (Ogden).
Secondary:
Dugway Proving Ground (Chemical Warfare Center, Tooele).
Tertiary:
Salt Lake City, Orem-Provo.
VERMONT
Primary: none
Secondary:
Tertiary:
Burlington.
VIRGINIA
Primary:
Leadership bomb and fallout shelter (Mount Weather) Berryville, Washington D.C. area (see Maryland), Cape Charles AFB, Dulles Inter-national Airport, Langley AFB (Hampton), Norfolk-Portsmouth, Oceana NAS (Virginia Beach).
Secondary:
Richmond, Newport News, Mt. Vernon, Radford.
Tertiary:
Blackstone, Chincoteague, Ft. Eustis, Hopewell, Lynchberg, Manassas, Petersburg, Guantico, Roanoke, Yorktown.
WASHINGTON
Primary:
Bremerton (submarine base), Fairchild AFB (SAC bombers, Spokane), McChord AFB (Tacoma).
Secondary:
Everett, Oak Harbor, Richland (Hanford reactor and storage complex), Seattle (naval complex, Tacoma (Ft. Lewis), Walla-Walla.
Tertiary:
Copalis Beach, Spokane, Vancouver.
WEST VIRGINIA
Primary:
Leadership bomb and fallout shelter (Greenbrier Resort) White Sulphur Springs.
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Charleston, Cedar Grove, Huntington, Wheeling (area north of Moundsville).
WISCONSIN
Primary: none
Secondary:
Madison.
Tertiary:
Appleton, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, Miquon, Milwaukee, Onalaska, Oshkosh, Racine, Superior, Waukesha.
WYOMING
Primary: Warren AFB (Minuteman missiles, area within a line connecting Cheyenne, Federal, point 10 miles northwest of Wheatland, Guernsey, and along the state line to Cheyenne again).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Casper.
Keep in mind, however, that in the Protect and Survive universe10 to 20 percent of these targets might avoid being hit, because of the error rate. Or, additionally, they may not be targeted at all, for whatever reason.
Would you also focus on the leadup to war in the U.S., Gen_Patton?
Waiting for the next post.
Orville_third
Banned
I don't see much of a problem with that choice. (Note that Charleston AFB could be considered part of the complex.)
Parris Island is more a recruit training base. Fort Jackson near Columbia would be where Army units were actually based. Beaufort MCAS could also qualify. (Ditto North AF, and McEntire ANGB). Also the Savannah River Site might qualify, as it's a major nuclear weapons facility. (As a side note nuclear weapons facilities are underrepresented on the target list. Idaho National Engineering Lab (Idaho Falls, Idaho), and Pantex (The major US nuclear weapons assembly facility) (Amarillo Texas) are not on the list, and I'm not sure if Savannah River (Aiken, SC), Mound (Miamisburg, OH), Feed Materials Production Center (Fernald, OH) or other, smaller plants are reasons for areas being tertiary targets.)
I might add York (Charlotte, NC). Tertiary targets are primarily industrial and manufacturing centers, though some targets could be airports. (Donaldson Center is an old USAF base south of Greenville, far enough away from the city for it to come through mostly intact- assuming they aren't targeting the city for the textile mills...or thinking the USAF still has mobile communication vans based there.)
Here in Greenville, the City and County would have a shelter beneath City Hall. (Oddly, there is a "Fallout Shelter Road" leading to a city-owned water treatment facility near Paris Mountain Park. I'm not sure what's up there.) There's a National Guard Armory down at Donaldson, while there's also an Army Reserve Center on Laurens Road, near the Downtown Airport. (I'm not sure if CAP was at Downtown or Donaldson then.) The USAF reserve was based downtown, while Naval Reserve is based at Donaldson.
Wow! This is a great list! I'll have to do some research into each target in order to determine how many as well as what bombs will be used on each target.
Coming up with the radiation map would be tedious work. I'll try for each state, however there are some nifty ones out there on the internet I could easily modify...
Nice to hear that y'all are waiting. I plan to do bi-weekly updates probably on Wednesdays and Fridays. I obviously don't have enough free time to update every day.
As for the lead up I can do it. I but I think both Chipperback and Macraggle1 have covered it in so much detail that I would simply be covering covered ground. However some things need to be said.
It's hard to write concisely on the build up to war. So many personal decisions were made by powerful men who aren't alive (Andropov) or close to (Reagan) some material from the Early War may make its way to Mt. Weather or other archives.
I'll work with Macraggle and Chip to build an overview TL
However I could do it if y'all are interested enough. It would add some interesting times to the TL that's for sure.
I will definitely be covering the day before the bombs fall!
-Gen_Patton
This is a very good list. I would add Columbus and Cincinnati to it, though. You could probably write off nearly all of the US State capitals.
Is Cleveland's survival still canon?
What is to follow isn't exactly cannon, I don't know how the first or second Berlin Crisises started. Macraggle left them ambiguous on purpose. These are my conjectures. Enjoy!
Part 1: Whispers of the Past
February 11th 1983 – January 1st 1984
Update.
THE DAY AFTER
In 1972, President Jimmy Carter dissolved Civil Defense as a federal organization and replaced it with a new government entity, FEMA. Agreeing with a majority of analysts, the American government had come to the conclusion since the peaceful resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 that nuclear war would never happen. FEMA, while in theory still retained post nuclear war capability, placed its focus in more conventional emergencies.
FEMA’s lack of preparation for nuclear war is a product of the collective American ideology. To all Americans there could, THERE WOULD never be a nuclear war. Nuclear weapons were a deterrent, much in the same way that many Americans treated their firearms. A gun was to always be there in case of attack, but never to be used to attack someone.
Most histories agree that the actual conflict itself was catalyzed by two events: the Royal Dutch airliner which was shot down by a Warsaw Pact fighter on January 29th, and the bombing of an American cargo aircraft by Soviet agents on February 9th. Yet Soviet and American relations had been deteriorating since the election of President Reagan. The Soviets feared a hard line Conservative, and with Reagan’s March 1983 announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative a program attempting to shift the balance of power in America’s favor, their fears appeared to be correct. America was willing to tip the scales of MAD in their direction, a dangerous prospect for the Soviets.
Under these fears various events, which alone would have meant little change between the relations of the nuclear superpowers, began to have ominous underlines. American incursions into Soviet airspace throughout February of 1983, and FleetEx 83, the largest naval exercise ever, taking place right along their borders continued to increase Soviet paranoia. On September 1st, 1983, the Soviet Union shot down Korean Airlines Flight 007 (an event that ominously echoed the downing of KAL 1 in January) and later that month received a “false alarm” from their early warning system. By October, Soviet leaders were at their wits end. Was America going to attack or not?
In October of 1983, the Soviets carried out what they then called a “Self Defense Drill.” Mobilizing a majority of their forces allotted for East Germany, they conducted a massive war-game along the West and East German border, simulating a NATO attack. Much of the planning and conduct of the war game itself was made in complete secrecy and America’s surprise was apparent when it gingerly asked Soviet diplomats if civil war had broken out between Soviet and East German forces. Their intention of scaring NATO worked.
Unable to get a positive or negative response from the Kremlin, NATO forces in Berlin were raised to DEFCON 3 throughout the Soviet exercise. West Berlin prepared for siege, shops closed, food warehouses were double checked, schools were closed, and almost 40% of West Berliners failed to show up to work. The West feared that it was on the brink of war. Their fears abated when the exercise ended, the Soviet Forces went home, and normal guard schedule resumed. Forces were placed back on DEFCON 4 and war was averted.
The Second Berlin Crisis, the first had taken place years earlier during the Cuban Missile Crisis, was due to miscommunication. The American government had come to the conclusion that the Soviets must be preparing for a nuclear war. Fearing that it would be left unprepared for war, America enacted various war-games to test its capacity to respond to a nuclear attack. Of these war-games, the most dramatic was Able Archer 83.
Initially planned to take place in early November, Able Archer was a war-game similar, yet vastly different to the Soviets October one. Designed to test movement through all DEFCON alert levels, Able Archer included many major NATO politicians participation. British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, participated alongside American President Ronald Reagan, Vice President George HW Bush, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinburger, and National Security adviser Robert McFarlane.
Able Archer 83 was for all intents and purposes a success. All participating American, British, German, and joint NATO commands and units smoothly and successfully prepared for each DEFCON level. Much like its Soviet counterpart, Able Archer 83 was conducted in complete secrecy. Soviet spies, uncovering the exercise (much like their American counterparts) believed that the West was now preparing for nuclear war.
The Soviet High Command panicked. Their forces were raised to the second highest alert state, yet they abstained from attacking American conventional forces. They were still unsure if NATO was beginning an attack. In the event of Western attack, bunkers were readied and people were beginning to evacuate major cities. After the conclusion of Able Archer without an actual attack, the Soviet forces were taken off of alert. Yet the fears still lingered.
December 1983 was very eventful for the whole world. Perhaps coming to the realization that their government was marching them toward oblivion, East German students broke out in what appeared to be spontaneous protest. From what we can discern from the few survivors in Germany, the temperament for protests had been brewing for months. East Germans in general were afforded more freedoms than your average Warsaw Pact member. Perhaps because they didn't truly feel as if they belonged in the Pact. Perhaps it was because they were better educated than your average Warsaw Pact member. Yet for what ever reason, students rioted all across East Germany. Waving pro-democracy banners, chanting pro-democracy slogans, singing pro-democracy songs, the East German student movement was powerful.
But then 1956 happened again. As the world watched with horror, the same Soviet units that had participated in the earlier "Self Defense Drill" turned on the students. All across television, what few images and videos (taken mostly by the protesters them selves and then smuggled across the border) showed pure horror. Tanks firing into crowds. Tear gas and live ammunition used in the same frame. It was in short a massacre.
Yet no matter how brutal the repression was, the students only grew in force and determination. As the world watched stunned, East Germany became a conflagration of flame, blood, and anger and conscript and protester met face to face across the world.
<Something here on Cuba December 29, 1983>
Among all the miscommunication, intrigue, and violent rhetoric by both sides, it is unsurprising that one small event could quickly escalate into full scale war…
*The Reporter looked down on the bridge from his binoculars. Something was going on at a border crossing. A grey truck was trying to get to West Germany on the A2, but the East German border guards were not letting it through. One of the men motioned it to an inspection station.
He passed the pair of binoculars over to the man sitting next to him.
“What do you think is going on over there?”
The second reporter looked through the glasses.
“Probably standard inspection, nothing serious, Easterners being Easterners”
The second reporter turned away and took a swig out of a water bottle.
“Happy New Year by the way.”
“Yeah let’s hope 1984 was better than ’83.” Said the Reporter looking up.
“Why are we out here anyway?” the second reporter asked munching on a sandwich.
The Reporter put down his binoculars.
“We’re supposed to get a picture of a specific car passing through this checkpoint, 2B” he said motioning to the gate the truck was just trying to get through.
“License plate WA 12 990, something about American politicians.”
“Whose car is it?” the second reporter asked dully. “Oh wait I know some high level bureaucrat no one cares about visiting his mistress in West Berlin. We can’t get any good assignments can we?”
“Well the car does belong to…”
The Reporter stopped.
Something was happening to the grey truck.
The border guard inspecting the back was shouting as waving.
Other guards were running up.
A figure leapt out of the back tackling the border guard, others followed him falling out of the truck.
One of the figures was racing around the corner trying to get across the border.
The guards were shouting.
One raised his gun.
“Would you look at that?” the second reporter’s mouth was agape “an old fashioned escape attempt. That hasn’t been tried since… ’62 was it?”
Among all the commotion, a black sedan was creeping its way to gate 2B.
On the ground chaos still reigned
The guard and the figure were still wrestling.
One of the figures was trying to cross on to the American side, the American soldier wasn’t letting him across.
She begged the American soldier.
He said nothing.
A illegal was held up to a chain link fence rifle but raining down on his back.
The Reporter clicked away on the camera.
The black sedan crept closer to the gate.
A shout.
Shots fired!
More pictures.
Click!
The sedan came to a calm halt.
More gunfire.
Shattered glass.
A stray bullet!
American soldiers shouting at the Germans.
Germans shouting back.
More gunshots.
Americans firing.
Germans firing.
Chaos.
12:07 am January 1st 1984. Happy New Year everyone.
THE DAY AFTER
In 1972, President Jimmy Carter dissolved Civil Defense as a federal organization and replaced it with a new government entity, FEMA. Agreeing with a majority of analysts, the American government had come to the conclusion since the peaceful resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 that nuclear war would never happen. FEMA, while in theory still retained post nuclear war capability, placed its focus in more conventional emergencies.
FEMA’s lack of preparation for nuclear war is a product of the collective American ideology. To all Americans there could, THERE WOULD never be a nuclear war. Nuclear weapons were a deterrent, much in the same way that many Americans treated their firearms. A gun was to always be there in case of attack, but never to be used to attack someone.
Most histories agree that the actual conflict itself was catalyzed by two events: the Royal Dutch airliner which was shot down by a Warsaw Pact fighter on January 29th, and the bombing of an American cargo aircraft by Soviet agents on February 9th. Yet Soviet and American relations had been deteriorating since the election of President Reagan. The Soviets feared a hard line Conservative, and with Reagan’s March 1983 announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative a program attempting to shift the balance of power in America’s favor, their fears appeared to be correct. America was willing to tip the scales of MAD in their direction, a dangerous prospect for the Soviets.
Under these fears various events, which alone would have meant little change between the relations of the nuclear superpowers, began to have ominous underlines. American incursions into Soviet airspace throughout February of 1983, and FleetEx 83, the largest naval exercise ever, taking place right along their borders continued to increase Soviet paranoia. On September 1st, 1983, the Soviet Union shot down Korean Airlines Flight 007 (an event that ominously echoed the downing of KAL 1 in January) and later that month received a “false alarm” from their early warning system. By October, Soviet leaders were at their wits end. Was America going to attack or not?
In October of 1983, the Soviets carried out what they then called a “Self Defense Drill.” Mobilizing a majority of their forces allotted for East Germany, they conducted a massive war-game along the West and East German border, simulating a NATO attack. Much of the planning and conduct of the war game itself was made in complete secrecy and America’s surprise was apparent when it gingerly asked Soviet diplomats if civil war had broken out between Soviet and East German forces. Their intention of scaring NATO worked.
Unable to get a positive or negative response from the Kremlin, NATO forces in Berlin were raised to DEFCON 3 throughout the Soviet exercise. West Berlin prepared for siege, shops closed, food warehouses were double checked, schools were closed, and almost 40% of West Berliners failed to show up to work. The West feared that it was on the brink of war. Their fears abated when the exercise ended, the Soviet Forces went home, and normal guard schedule resumed. Forces were placed back on DEFCON 4 and war was averted.
The Second Berlin Crisis, the first had taken place years earlier during the Cuban Missile Crisis, was due to miscommunication. The American government had come to the conclusion that the Soviets must be preparing for a nuclear war. Fearing that it would be left unprepared for war, America enacted various war-games to test its capacity to respond to a nuclear attack. Of these war-games, the most dramatic was Able Archer 83.
Initially planned to take place in early November, Able Archer was a war-game similar, yet vastly different to the Soviets October one. Designed to test movement through all DEFCON alert levels, Able Archer included many major NATO politicians participation. British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, participated alongside American President Ronald Reagan, Vice President George HW Bush, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinburger, and National Security adviser Robert McFarlane.
Able Archer 83 was for all intents and purposes a success. All participating American, British, German, and joint NATO commands and units smoothly and successfully prepared for each DEFCON level. Much like its Soviet counterpart, Able Archer 83 was conducted in complete secrecy. Soviet spies, uncovering the exercise (much like their American counterparts) believed that the West was now preparing for nuclear war.
The Soviet High Command panicked. Their forces were raised to the second highest alert state, yet they abstained from attacking American conventional forces. They were still unsure if NATO was beginning an attack. In the event of Western attack, bunkers were readied and people were beginning to evacuate major cities. After the conclusion of Able Archer without an actual attack, the Soviet forces were taken off of alert. Yet the fears still lingered.
December 1983 was very eventful for the whole world. Perhaps coming to the realization that their government was marching them toward oblivion, East German students broke out in what appeared to be spontaneous protest. From what we can discern from the few survivors in Germany, the temperament for protests had been brewing for months. East Germans in general were afforded more freedoms than your average Warsaw Pact member. Perhaps because they didn't truly feel as if they belonged in the Pact. Perhaps it was because they were better educated than your average Warsaw Pact member. Yet for what ever reason, students rioted all across East Germany. Waving pro-democracy banners, chanting pro-democracy slogans, singing pro-democracy songs, the East German student movement was powerful.
But then 1956 happened again. As the world watched with horror, the same Soviet units that had participated in the earlier "Self Defense Drill" turned on the students. All across television, what few images and videos (taken mostly by the protesters them selves and then smuggled across the border) showed pure horror. Tanks firing into crowds. Tear gas and live ammunition used in the same frame. It was in short a massacre.
Yet no matter how brutal the repression was, the students only grew in force and determination. As the world watched stunned, East Germany became a conflagration of flame, blood, and anger and conscript and protester met face to face across the world.
<Something here on Cuba December 29, 1983>
Among all the miscommunication, intrigue, and violent rhetoric by both sides, it is unsurprising that one small event could quickly escalate into full scale war…
*The Reporter looked down on the bridge from his binoculars. Something was going on at a border crossing. A grey truck was trying to get to West Germany on the A2, but the East German border guards were not letting it through. One of the men motioned it to an inspection station.
He passed the pair of binoculars over to the man sitting next to him.
“What do you think is going on over there?”
The second reporter looked through the glasses.
“Probably standard inspection, nothing serious, Easterners being Easterners”
The second reporter turned away and took a swig out of a water bottle.
“Happy New Year by the way.”
“Yeah let’s hope 1984 was better than ’83.” Said the Reporter looking up.
“Why are we out here anyway?” the second reporter asked munching on a sandwich.
The Reporter put down his binoculars.
“We’re supposed to get a picture of a specific car passing through this checkpoint, 2B” he said motioning to the gate the truck was just trying to get through.
“License plate WA 12 990, something about American politicians.”
“Whose car is it?” the second reporter asked dully. “Oh wait I know some high level bureaucrat no one cares about visiting his mistress in West Berlin. We can’t get any good assignments can we?”
“Well the car does belong to…”
The Reporter stopped.
Something was happening to the grey truck.
The border guard inspecting the back was shouting as waving.
Other guards were running up.
A figure leapt out of the back tackling the border guard, others followed him falling out of the truck.
One of the figures was racing around the corner trying to get across the border.
The guards were shouting.
One raised his gun.
“Would you look at that?” the second reporter’s mouth was agape “an old fashioned escape attempt. That hasn’t been tried since… ’62 was it?”
Among all the commotion, a black sedan was creeping its way to gate 2B.
On the ground chaos still reigned
The guard and the figure were still wrestling.
One of the figures was trying to cross on to the American side, the American soldier wasn’t letting him across.
She begged the American soldier.
He said nothing.
A illegal was held up to a chain link fence rifle but raining down on his back.
The Reporter clicked away on the camera.
The black sedan crept closer to the gate.
A shout.
Shots fired!
More pictures.
Click!
The sedan came to a calm halt.
More gunfire.
Shattered glass.
A stray bullet!
American soldiers shouting at the Germans.
Germans shouting back.
More gunshots.
Americans firing.
Germans firing.
Chaos.
12:07 am January 1st 1984. Happy New Year everyone.
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I would be interested in seeing this info. A nicely started story Gen.
Not every target on the secondary or teritary list will be hit. Even some primary targets, like SAC bomber bases, may survive due to warheads over- or under-shooting, failing to initiate, etc. Or in the case of coastal SAC bases, or targets in Hawaii, the missile sub set to launch on those targets was sunk.
