The Central Front: Command And Control On The Nuclear Battlefield D+24 (2 August, 1987) Part II

NATO’s retaliation for the nuclear attack against I NL Corps came in the form of two nuclear warheads targeted at two separate targets and delivered by a pair of US Army Pershing II medium-range ballistic missiles. The first and more valuable target was the Group Soviet Forces Germany’s wartime forward command bunker outside Stendal. This …

Black Jack Dawn D+24 (2 August, 1987) 0400-0450

0415 Zulu- SACEUR submits a final target recommendation to President Reagan. The US leader reviews it with the Joint Chiefs and NSC members first. Next comes a discussion with the leaders of Great Britain, France and the Federal Republic. There is general agreement with SACEUR’s selection. For the Germans, however, their approval is understandably reluctant. …

The Central Front D+22 (31 July 1987) Part II (Bravo)

1200-1800 Hours, NORTHAG Sector 1230- As most the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment halts near Gifhorn, air and armored cavalry reconnaissance patrols push ahead. They discover Soviet units dug in on the eastern side of the Elbe Lateral Canal. The regiment is awaiting the arrival of 2nd Brigade, 2nd Armored Division and a British Regiment promised …

The Central Front D+13 (22 July, 1987) Part III

The meeting took place at the same location as the one held ten days earlier; a luxury home in Waldsiedlung, a suburb north of Berlin that served as an exclusive residential zone for senior GDR politicians and party officials. Snetkov arrived shortly before 2100. The journey from Stendal to this exclusionary neighborhood outside of Berlin …