A Look Ahead Through Mid-September

I hope everyone on this side of the Atlantic had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. And to our friends elsewhere, I hope your weekend and Monday were adequate. 😊 The summer is over and it is back to the grind for everyone, work or school in most cases. I thought it would be useful to …

D+23 (1 August, 1987) 1730-1800 Zulu

Moscow, USSR 1730 Zulu (2130 Local Time) Another meeting between two senior members of the Soviet government was starting just as the one in Dolgikh’s dacha was drawing to a close. This one was happening in the general secretary’s residence inside of the Kremlin compound. Grigori Romanov was seated in a comfortable leather chair near …

D+23 (1 August, 1987) 0700-0900 Zulu

Moscow, USSR 0700 Zulu (1100 Local Time) The 10 AM Politburo meeting began twenty minutes late with the delayed arrival of the general secretary. In normal times, late starts to meetings such as this were the rule rather than the exception. In times of crisis or war it occurred less often, sometimes acting as a …

Politics of Armageddon: The Final Time Out D+22 (31 July 1987)

In his mind, President Reagan did not consider his order to move ahead with plans and preparation for the Kola Peninsula offensive to be final. The first US Marine would not come ashore for forty-eight hours. Reagan intended to exhaust every effort in bringing the war to a conclusion before then. The morning’s NSC meeting …

Politics of Armageddon: Preparations For A Crackdown D+20 (29 July, 1987)

By 2100 hours Moscow time, seventy-five percent of the Politburo’s members were either preparing to depart from Moscow or had already left. Their collective task was to observe events and conditions in whichever theater of operations for eight hours. Afterwards, they would return to Moscow and report their findings to the General Secretary and the …

D+20 Politics of Armageddon: Chebrikov’s Request

The first members of the Politburo to return to Moscow were the members belonging to the Defense Council. This group of men arrived at the Kremlin shortly after 2:00 AM local time and went directly into conference with the General Secretary. Over the next six hours, the rest of the Politburo members, full and candidate, …

Politics of Armageddon: Alliance Politics

While US generals and admirals went to work planning the next phase of military operations in Central Europe, other European theaters and beyond, The leaders of the United States, Great Britain, France and the Federal Republic of Germany discussed what was to come next. Each leader had his or her own concepts and goals. In …

Politics of Armageddon: The Midnight Discussion

President Reagan and General Secretary Romanov held a short discussion not long after midnight. At the request of the US and Soviet embassies in Bern, the Swiss government established a secure, neutral communications link for the talk. Romanov spoke first and wasted no time laying the blame for events in the past twelve hours directly …

D+18 1201-1600 Zulu 27 July, 1987 Part II

Greene, FRG 1240 Zulu (1440 Local Time) His presence on the western bank of the Leine was giving his security detail, as well as 2nd Brigade’s commander fits. 1st Cavalry Division’s commander Major General John Yeosock understood this but did not allow it to deter him from coming forward to personally observe operations. The river …

D+18 Primer

D+18 entries will kick off on Thursday 16 September, 2021. The layout and presentation for this day will be distinctly different from those of the past. We have arrived at a point where minutes and hours count more than days. As a rule now, decisions and actions in one theater will now bring on consequences …