SOUTHAG Southern Army Group
SP self-propelled
SSBN submarine(s), strategic ballistic nuclear
SSM surface-to-surface missile(s)
SSN submarine(s), nuclear
SNFA Standing Naval Force Atlantic
STASS surface-towed array surveillance system
SWAPO South-west Africa People’s Organization
TACCP Tactical Command Post
TAVR Territorial and Auxiliary Volunteer Reserve
UAE United Arab Emirates (in the Persian Gulf)
UAR United Arab Republic
UKADGE United Kingdom Air Defence Ground Environment
UKLF United Kingdom Land Forces
UNCLOS United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea
UNFISMATRECO United Nations Fissile Materials Recovery Organization
UNITA National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
UNRRO United Nations Relief and Repatriation Organization
USAF United States Air Force
USAREUR United States Army in Europe
VLSI very large-scale integration
V/STOL vertical/short take-off and landing
WESTLANT Western Atlantic
WP Warsaw Pact
XO Executive Officer
The publication of this book so soon after the cessation of hostilities between major participants in the Third World War will mean that much of what it contains will be incomplete and, even more, conjectural. In the chaotic conditions prevailing towards the end, in some key centres of power, vast quantities of records disappeared. Some have since come to light. Others probably never will.
It has nevertheless seemed important to the writers, all of whom played a part in the events of 1985 and their aftermath, whether in uniform or out of it, to put on the record as soon as possible some account, however imperfect, of what took place in a time of such transcendental importance to mankind.
We write as Britons, profoundly conscious of our debt to others. The outcome could have been vastly different — and very nearly was. The world has stood on the edge of an abyss. Under providence, through a gradual but significant shift of public attitudes and the work of growing numbers of men of foresight and good sense in the last few years before the outbreak — work often done in the face of vociferous and passionate opposition — it has been held back, but only just, from destruction. The margin, everybody now knows, was a narrow one.
Much will be said and written about these events in years to come, as further sources come to light and further thought is given to this momentous passage in the history of our world. The narrative now set out in only the broadest outline and, of our deliberate choice, in popular form, will be greatly amplified and here and there, no doubt, corrected. It seemed to us sensible, however, before these events move too far into the background of our lives, to seek answers to some important questions, in the hope that this might lessen the probability of another catastrophe from which, this time, we would not so readily escape.
The questions are simple. What happened, and why did it happen? What might have happened, and why did it not?
“Black Horse One Zero, Black Horse One Zero, this is Shovel Six. Confirming Charlie One’s sighting as follows: large armored formation passed through inter-German border Zero Three Zero Five Zulu approximate brigade in size. Composed of Papa Tango 76s, Bravo Tango Romeo 62s, and Tango 72s. Inform Black Horse Six that Shovel is engaging. Out.”
Captain Jack Langtry, Troop Commander, Troop L, 3 Squadron in 11 Armored Cavalry Regiment was speaking into his microphone early on the morning of 4 August 1985 as he stood on hill 402 at Wildech, looking across the border zone over the hills rolling toward East German Eisenach. In the dawn light he saw scores of armored vehicles moving rapidly toward him on both sides of the autobahn. Langtry knew what this was: the advanced guard of an attacking Soviet formation. It could not be anything else.
The 11th Cavalry formed the main strength of the V US Corps covering force, whose job was to give the Corps maximum time in a delaying action. To the north was Kassel, out of the Corps area. To the south the Fulda Gap opened up, dangerously close to the border only 15 kilometers away.
Langtry’s fifteen
