Posted on by Mike

WWIII 1987 Odds and Ends

With D+24 set to launch later this weekend, I felt this would be a good time to catch up on a few blog-related odds and ends.  Sometimes I don’t keep up with the flow of this blog as well as I’d like to. As a result, the pile of loose ends and subjects I haven’t had the time to talk about yet continues to grow on my desk. I will take a little time to whittle it down and hopefully pass along some useful tidbits of information to the readership.  

Postwar Focus

When the guns fall silent, and the war concludes it will not mean the end of this blog. I’ve talked now and then about some topics the blog will continue to cover, yet I haven’t taken the time to discuss the direction the WWIII 1987 entries will go in. Postwar, there will be a lot left to go through. Below are a few of the topics I intend to explore and tackle after the day-to-day narrative of World War III in 1987 draws to a close.

Unit Histories- The number of NATO and Warsaw Pact combat units involved in World War III is extensive. Unfortunately, the involvement of many combat divisions, fighter wings and warships has been either just briefly examined or entirely overlooked. In the future I intend to rectify this error and look at individual units from both alliances and the roles they placed through the summer of 1987.

Battle Analysis- Similar to above. Many clashes on land, sea and air were not been discussed in great detail earlier. They will have their day soon though.

Casualties and Equipment Losses– In modeling out a world war, combat casualties and equipment losses were monitored through the course of the war. This is a topic that certainly deserves to be placed under the microscope and examined closely.

Events Leading to World War III– Also a subject very worthy of close examination. Wars do not break out spontaneously….well, at least not world wars. 😊 There is always a trail of events and decisions going back decades in some cases that are contributing factors. World War III is no exception.

WWIII Bibliography- This will include all of the material I’ve consulted in preparing WWIII 1987. Books, videos, movies, wargames, interviews and discussions I’ve had with people, etc. It will probably encompass a few long entries when the time comes. I know many of you have asked about it in the past, and I can say with confidence there will be a WWIII bibliography posted here by the end of 2022.

Modeling the Third World War– I’ve talked a lot about the role wargames played in modeling out this conflict. It is worth mentioning that wargaming was only one aspect utilized in creating multiple theater models. This is where my good friend Mister Cray came in handy, as well as the assistance of some colleagues and even former professors. The saga of modeling the conflict is certainly worth a series of blog entries. Everyone will enjoy it, especially those of you that already know who Mister Cray is. 😊

14 Replies to “WWIII 1987 Odds and Ends”

  3. If as it looks like your WW3 blog ends in nuclear war, check out the UK’s Royal Obserever Corps who like the Military Liaison Missions in East Germany that kept the Cold War cold are one of the unsung ( and some might say eccentric ) hero’s of the Cold War. They would mave manned 872 Royal Observer Corps posts called ROC Posts ( being 3 man nuclear bunkers ) dotted about the British countryside, many located in the corner of farmers fields and were manned by volunteers in RAF style uniforms; who in the event of a nuclear attack on the UK would have forsaken friends and family to man the posts and report back to ROC Sector HQ’s where the bomb struck and how badly the UK was being affected by fallout. I include the ROC Recruitment video here which explains in a nutshell what the ROC did during the Cold War. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnEUGpBjLNY

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    1. No comment how it ends, John 🙂

      I have heard about the ROC posts thanks to this very video. Very interesting and essential job they had during the Cold War and even before that. Their service goes back to the early days of World War II. Thanks for mentioning this.

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      1. Thanks Mike, Just in case your WW3 in 1987 ends up going nuclear like in the nuclear attack film ‘Threads’ myself and a number of ROC fans in the UK would love you to record a hyperthetical ROC Posts final days. Making their last report to ROC HQ before they finally succumb to nuclear fallout, in their ROC Post that for them will be their last post before it becomes a tomb. See the Paul Rose film clip below where he checks out an abandoned ROC post along the Yorkshire Wolds Way. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p051y66v

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        1. A hypothetical ROC post or a look at wartime ROC operations could be done. In fact, that sounds like an interesting couple of posts to write up one day

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          1. Thanks again Mike glad to see the ROC has tickled your fancy of course it doesn’t have to be a hyperthetical ROC. Although many posts were abandoned following the Cold War in 1991. A number of them have been restored by enthusiasts, as well as a complete ROC Sector HQ in Dundee, Scotland. Any one of the restored posts & HQ would be ‘tickled pink’ to be featured in any ‘what if’ nuclear attack on the UK, you have planned in your blog or even your WW3 book. Of the restored posts in England there’s Broadway, Buckminster, Cuckfield & Upton on Seven with an EH restored Sector HQ in York. In Scotland we have the Arbroath & Skelimore ROC posts, this one being situated on the outskirts of Glasgow with great views of the Clyde and of course Scotland has a restored Dundee sector HQ at Craigebarns, Dundee ( check out their restoration FB Site at https://www.facebook.com/28Group/ ) Finally the SubBrit ROC Post database is an indispensable guide to all the known ROC Posts in Britain at https://www.subbrit.org.uk/categories/nuclear-monitoring-posts/

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            1. I replied to this post but I’m not sure it went through. Damn. I’ll write up another reply tomorrow when I get a bit of time. You know, I spent a good amount of time in England and should’ve explored the ROC sites a bit

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  5. Glad to see there will be more posts after the fighting ends. The aftermath of war is a history of itself.

    Curious about a couple of things, should they find their way into your post-war work. One, did Romanov and company kill Gorbachev or is he locked up in a dacha somewhere (only to see Yeltsin again take center stage…)? I ask because the details of the coup itself would be fascinating. Two, if the unit histories are to include those of ships, I’d love to hear how USS Enterprise faired in her World War given how distinguished her predecessor’s WWII career was. If I recall correctly, she was still in the Pacific Fleet after her long 1979-82 overhaul.

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    1. True, the aftermath of the war will not be a short undertaking. 🙂

      Enterprise is steaming towards the Western Pacific at this point in the war. She really hasn’t played a role, sad to say.

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