Nuclear fraternity
Somehow, the July 1 date imperceptibly flashed along with the termination of the Warsaw Pact. A quarter of a century has passed since the idea of a military bloc under the auspices of Moscow on its own initiative turned into a geopolitical fiasco.
The Warsaw Pact Organization was publicly and pathetically called fraternity arms. It would be possible to clarify: on nuclear weapons. Although, unlike NATO, only the USSR was a nuclear power in the Department of Internal Affairs.
The United States initiated the military "nuclearization" of Europe. Moreover, the Americans not only placed their own nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies. The Pentagon went further, starting to equip their armies with the means of delivering nuclear and thermonuclear charges, namely fighters, tactical and operational-tactical missiles, heavy howitzers. Nuclear bombs stored in European NATO countries and Turkey, missile warheads, artillery shells were under American control. In the event of war, special ammunition was to be transferred - under the same control - to the allies and applied by them in accordance with the general strategy of the North Atlantic bloc. In addition, Great Britain and France, which was somewhat away from the plans of the USA, had their own nuclear weapons.
East German frontier
The USSR responded to NATO’s nuclear "performances" quite symmetrically. Warsaw Pact armies also received missiles and aircraft for use of nuclear weapons in the continental theater. And the charges for them were placed within these countries, but under Soviet control. Special mobile arsenals, which at hour X were supposed to equip carriers with terrible stuffing and transfer them to the combat units of the rocket forces, were called mobile rocket-technical bases (RTB).
Already in 60, the Soviet Union urgently began to equip the NDR of the GDR with nuclear weapons. Volksarmi began to receive tactical (Luna, then Luna-M, and finally Tochka) and operational-tactical (Р-11М, aka 8К11М, and Р-17, 8К14) from the USSR rockets. They fell to the East Germans and OTRK "Oka". These were the most up-to-date systems at the time of their appearance, moreover, they were handed over to the Allies almost immediately after being adopted by the Soviet army.
With our help, the East Germans deployed two operational-tactical missile brigades (3-I - Tautenkhayn and 5-I-Demen) and 11 of separate tactical missile divisions.
According to information made public by the Committee of Defense Ministers of the Warsaw Pact member states, on July 1 1988, the NNA GDR had 80 launchers of tactical and operational tactical missiles against 26, which had remained in the Bundeswehr by that time. The nuclear missile potential of both German states (taking into account the Soviet and American special combat units envisaged for them) was quite strategic towards each other - the distances were nothing at all. In addition, on the territory of the GDR, in addition to the Soviet PRTB, there were missile brigades and separate rocket regiments of the GSVG (from the 1989 of the year - the Western Group of Forces). The NNA had its own PTTB ready for the adoption of Soviet nuclear weapons.
Learning to start the then German, like the other "brothers in arms" went to the Kapustin Yar training ground. There, the brave Volksarmi officers adored being photographed at the monument to the first Soviet T-series ballistic missile launched in October 1947. Still would! After all, it was reproduced in the USSR V-2 of their countryman Werner von Braun, which we entered into service as the P-1.
To all the sisters of the earrings
Of course, not one GDR received the Soviet rocket technology of small (within the front) range. Fourty missile brigades of operational-tactical purpose acquired Bulgaria (46-I - Samokov, 56-I - Marno Pole, 66-I - Kabile, 76-I - Telish), three - Czechoslovakia (311-I - Jince, 321-I - Rokučany, 331-i - Boritsa-na-Morave), four - Poland (2-i - Hospitable, 3-i - Bedrusco, 18-i - Boleslawiec, 32-i - Orzic), two - Romania (32-i - Tekuch, 37-I - Ineu) and one - Hungary (5-I - Varpalota). And this is not counting several dozen separate battalions of tactical missiles in the armies of these countries, as well as their own PTT. Total west of the Urals at the Warsaw Pact in 1988, there were 1608 PU, which is almost 12 times the number of NATO (136 units). The USSR accounted for the 1221 launcher.
The PRTB of the Soviet Army, which was also intended for the “nucleation” of the allied forces, was stationed in Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and even Bulgaria, where there were no Soviet troops officially, except for the territory of the GDR. There was a part (the same PRTB), whose personnel wore Bulgarian uniform for the sake of conspiracy. According to information from open sources, the transfer of nuclear munitions to the Polish Army was assumed to be the Vistula plan, its Czechoslovak analogue was called Yavor.
As their former chief inspector, Lieutenant-General Retired Dimitar Todorov, writes in the book “The Rocket Forces of Bulgaria”, the transfer of nuclear warheads from storage (without being equipped with means of detonation and without carrying out necessary checks of functionality) into a state of full readiness for docking with the rocket body OTRK 9K72 required 180 minutes, for Luna-M - 90 minutes.
Romania stood somewhat apart, receiving Soviet missiles, but apparently it didn’t quite fit into the Warsaw Pact nuclear planning. Too chaotic policy pursued Ceausescu, who managed to cooperate in the military-technical field, not only with the USSR, but also with China, Yugoslavia, and even with France and Britain. In addition, it is known that the Romanians, under the curtain of their socialism, have advanced quite far in creating national nuclear weapons. Some experts even suggest that Bucharest intended to develop its own nuclear warheads for the P-17 received from the USSR. However, the fall of the Ceausescu regime led to a curtailment of the program.
Long-playing "Oka"
There was an incident with “Oka”. The Americans, who appreciated the military stats of these weapons, achieved their inclusion in the list of medium and short-range missiles to be destroyed according to the 1987 agreement. Of course, Oka and 9М714 with their 450 kilometers did not reach the lower threshold for the reduction (500 km). However, Gorbachev willingly went to meet Washington. As a result, the domestic ground forces were once left without this high-precision system. Taking into account the liquidation of the Temp-S OTRK (900 km range) under the INF Treaty, it turned out that the most long-range army missile system was obsolete 9КХNUMX with Р-72 (17К8) missile. However, the USSR at that time put the newest "Oka" of Bulgaria, the GDR, Romania and Czechoslovakia. And their governments did not sign any agreement with the Americans. And if after the unification the Germans tried to get rid of the Oka as soon as possible, in the other three armies these missiles were in service right up to the start of the 14, that is, before the accession of these countries to NATO. True, now everything is recycled.
In addition to missile weapons, the Soviet Union supplied the Warsaw Pact countries with aircraft carrying nuclear weapons. The first of these were the Su-7B supersonic fighter-bombers, which arrived (in the Su-7BM and Su-7BL) modifications to the Polish and Czechoslovak air forces (for more information, Ivan the Terrible of Khrushchev). Unlike similar machines sold to countries in Asia and Africa, the Polish and Czechoslovak “dryers” had, as in the USSR Air Force, special equipment that allowed the use of nuclear ammunition (a device for precision bombing from a cabrirovanie and a special girder holder). The tactical nuclear bombs that were part of the special equipment of the dryers included the 244Н (8Х69) products, РН-24 and РН-28, created at VNIITF, which is in Chelyabinsk-70 (now Snezhinsk). Polish and Czechoslovak pilots trained to use special munitions. So in nuclear terms, the Warsaw Pact and NATO went nostril to nostril.
The Warsaw Pact Organization was publicly and pathetically called fraternity arms. It would be possible to clarify: on nuclear weapons. Although, unlike NATO, only the USSR was a nuclear power in the Department of Internal Affairs.
The United States initiated the military "nuclearization" of Europe. Moreover, the Americans not only placed their own nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies. The Pentagon went further, starting to equip their armies with the means of delivering nuclear and thermonuclear charges, namely fighters, tactical and operational-tactical missiles, heavy howitzers. Nuclear bombs stored in European NATO countries and Turkey, missile warheads, artillery shells were under American control. In the event of war, special ammunition was to be transferred - under the same control - to the allies and applied by them in accordance with the general strategy of the North Atlantic bloc. In addition, Great Britain and France, which was somewhat away from the plans of the USA, had their own nuclear weapons.
East German frontier
The USSR responded to NATO’s nuclear "performances" quite symmetrically. Warsaw Pact armies also received missiles and aircraft for use of nuclear weapons in the continental theater. And the charges for them were placed within these countries, but under Soviet control. Special mobile arsenals, which at hour X were supposed to equip carriers with terrible stuffing and transfer them to the combat units of the rocket forces, were called mobile rocket-technical bases (RTB).
Already in 60, the Soviet Union urgently began to equip the NDR of the GDR with nuclear weapons. Volksarmi began to receive tactical (Luna, then Luna-M, and finally Tochka) and operational-tactical (Р-11М, aka 8К11М, and Р-17, 8К14) from the USSR rockets. They fell to the East Germans and OTRK "Oka". These were the most up-to-date systems at the time of their appearance, moreover, they were handed over to the Allies almost immediately after being adopted by the Soviet army.
With our help, the East Germans deployed two operational-tactical missile brigades (3-I - Tautenkhayn and 5-I-Demen) and 11 of separate tactical missile divisions.
According to information made public by the Committee of Defense Ministers of the Warsaw Pact member states, on July 1 1988, the NNA GDR had 80 launchers of tactical and operational tactical missiles against 26, which had remained in the Bundeswehr by that time. The nuclear missile potential of both German states (taking into account the Soviet and American special combat units envisaged for them) was quite strategic towards each other - the distances were nothing at all. In addition, on the territory of the GDR, in addition to the Soviet PRTB, there were missile brigades and separate rocket regiments of the GSVG (from the 1989 of the year - the Western Group of Forces). The NNA had its own PTTB ready for the adoption of Soviet nuclear weapons.
Learning to start the then German, like the other "brothers in arms" went to the Kapustin Yar training ground. There, the brave Volksarmi officers adored being photographed at the monument to the first Soviet T-series ballistic missile launched in October 1947. Still would! After all, it was reproduced in the USSR V-2 of their countryman Werner von Braun, which we entered into service as the P-1.
To all the sisters of the earrings
Of course, not one GDR received the Soviet rocket technology of small (within the front) range. Fourty missile brigades of operational-tactical purpose acquired Bulgaria (46-I - Samokov, 56-I - Marno Pole, 66-I - Kabile, 76-I - Telish), three - Czechoslovakia (311-I - Jince, 321-I - Rokučany, 331-i - Boritsa-na-Morave), four - Poland (2-i - Hospitable, 3-i - Bedrusco, 18-i - Boleslawiec, 32-i - Orzic), two - Romania (32-i - Tekuch, 37-I - Ineu) and one - Hungary (5-I - Varpalota). And this is not counting several dozen separate battalions of tactical missiles in the armies of these countries, as well as their own PTT. Total west of the Urals at the Warsaw Pact in 1988, there were 1608 PU, which is almost 12 times the number of NATO (136 units). The USSR accounted for the 1221 launcher.
The PRTB of the Soviet Army, which was also intended for the “nucleation” of the allied forces, was stationed in Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and even Bulgaria, where there were no Soviet troops officially, except for the territory of the GDR. There was a part (the same PRTB), whose personnel wore Bulgarian uniform for the sake of conspiracy. According to information from open sources, the transfer of nuclear munitions to the Polish Army was assumed to be the Vistula plan, its Czechoslovak analogue was called Yavor.
As their former chief inspector, Lieutenant-General Retired Dimitar Todorov, writes in the book “The Rocket Forces of Bulgaria”, the transfer of nuclear warheads from storage (without being equipped with means of detonation and without carrying out necessary checks of functionality) into a state of full readiness for docking with the rocket body OTRK 9K72 required 180 minutes, for Luna-M - 90 minutes.
Romania stood somewhat apart, receiving Soviet missiles, but apparently it didn’t quite fit into the Warsaw Pact nuclear planning. Too chaotic policy pursued Ceausescu, who managed to cooperate in the military-technical field, not only with the USSR, but also with China, Yugoslavia, and even with France and Britain. In addition, it is known that the Romanians, under the curtain of their socialism, have advanced quite far in creating national nuclear weapons. Some experts even suggest that Bucharest intended to develop its own nuclear warheads for the P-17 received from the USSR. However, the fall of the Ceausescu regime led to a curtailment of the program.
Long-playing "Oka"
There was an incident with “Oka”. The Americans, who appreciated the military stats of these weapons, achieved their inclusion in the list of medium and short-range missiles to be destroyed according to the 1987 agreement. Of course, Oka and 9М714 with their 450 kilometers did not reach the lower threshold for the reduction (500 km). However, Gorbachev willingly went to meet Washington. As a result, the domestic ground forces were once left without this high-precision system. Taking into account the liquidation of the Temp-S OTRK (900 km range) under the INF Treaty, it turned out that the most long-range army missile system was obsolete 9КХNUMX with Р-72 (17К8) missile. However, the USSR at that time put the newest "Oka" of Bulgaria, the GDR, Romania and Czechoslovakia. And their governments did not sign any agreement with the Americans. And if after the unification the Germans tried to get rid of the Oka as soon as possible, in the other three armies these missiles were in service right up to the start of the 14, that is, before the accession of these countries to NATO. True, now everything is recycled.
In addition to missile weapons, the Soviet Union supplied the Warsaw Pact countries with aircraft carrying nuclear weapons. The first of these were the Su-7B supersonic fighter-bombers, which arrived (in the Su-7BM and Su-7BL) modifications to the Polish and Czechoslovak air forces (for more information, Ivan the Terrible of Khrushchev). Unlike similar machines sold to countries in Asia and Africa, the Polish and Czechoslovak “dryers” had, as in the USSR Air Force, special equipment that allowed the use of nuclear ammunition (a device for precision bombing from a cabrirovanie and a special girder holder). The tactical nuclear bombs that were part of the special equipment of the dryers included the 244Н (8Х69) products, РН-24 and РН-28, created at VNIITF, which is in Chelyabinsk-70 (now Snezhinsk). Polish and Czechoslovak pilots trained to use special munitions. So in nuclear terms, the Warsaw Pact and NATO went nostril to nostril.
Information