History 10/02/20 Plan “charioteer tank destroyer”: how many nuclear bombs the US wanted to reset the Soviet Union
In 1945-1949. the United States holds a monopoly position of a country with nuclear weapons. During this period, the Pentagon drew up several plans involving nuclear destruction of the USSR. One of them is called the Charioteer (in English “charioteer”) – apparently, he was supposed to “take out” of America in a new world without the “Soviet threat”.
“to Undermine the power of Communist forces”
In the beginning of 1948, Pro-Soviet forces strengthened around the world. In Czechoslovakia, the Communist coup occurred, the socialist regimes took shape also in Hungary and Romania, the army of Mao Zedong triumphed over the “Kuomintang” in Central China.
In these circumstances, the government of Harry Truman decided to clarify the foreign policy priorities of the United States. In March, Council met to U.S. national security, which set the objective “the defeat of the forces of world communism led by the Soviets.”
“the United States should take a leading role in organizing the world of counter-offensive aimed at mobilizing and strengthening our own forces, as well as in undermining the power of Communist forces”, – was stated in the adopted document (cited in the book of Professor of the Academy of military Sciences Vladimir Belous “U.S. Nuclear claws of hawks”).
Concrete shape this thesis was acquired in plan view “charioteer tank destroyer” developed by the specialists of the Pentagon.
30 days of bombing
compared to the prepared in December 1945 plan “Totaliti” “charioteer tank destroyer” was more “bloodthirsty”. If the drafters of the “Totaliti” were willing to restrict the dumping of 20-30 nuclear bombs on 20 Soviet cities, the “charioteer tank destroyer” had already anticipated the attack on the 70 settlements of the USSR. During the first stage of the operation the Americans had planned to bring down on the heads of Soviet citizens 133 nuclear bombs. Both the capital in this case would be scorched “at the root” – Moscow it was supposed to destroy eight bombs and the Leningrad family. According to the plan, the destruction is subject to “governmental, political and administrative centers, industrial cities and a selection of facilities refineries sector.”
the Blow was planned to be made suddenly, without a Declaration of war. Within a month of the bombing expected to be using bases in England and Western hemisphere (Hawaii, Greenland, the Pacific ocean). But Washington strategists it seemed a little on the second stage of the operation they had planned to throw 200 more nuclear bombs and 250 tons of conventional explosives.
“In terms of Charioteer emphasized the importance of nuclear attack. This became the core of American strategy, and planners were convinced that only a nuclear war can solve the conflict with Russia. Reductions in forces and budgets have convinced the authors of the plan that effective protection is at the forefront in Europe is impossible,” – said the historian Stephen Ross in the book “American military plans.”
sometimes called the exact date of the planned start of the bombing – April 1, 1949.
Curbing the “hawks”
the development of the ideas of the “charioteer tank destroyer” were adopted in the same 1948 plan “Fleetwood” and operational plan “SAK-EWP 1-4A”. The case has already reached the stage of distribution of the navigation charts the crew who had to fly to the Soviet Union. At the end of 1948 there is another plan “Sisal” – almost a complete copy of the “charioteer tank destroyer”. In short, options Americans a lot, although the main parameters of the attack coincided.
In 1949, appeared “Dropshot” – a detailed large-scale comprehensive plan of war against the Soviet Union. However, as we know, none of the plans was not implemented. And it probably is not in the “peace-loving” policies of Harry Truman, who in his time were ready to help Hitler in the war against the Soviet Union. The preparation of the attack took longer than expected, so by the time the hypothetical beginning of the operation was already known about successful headArsenii the Kurchatov project. Therefore, in the event of an attack, Americans would face a retaliatory nuclear strike. Although the plans for global war, continued to be prepared in the following decades, the real chances of their implementation were not as large as in the late 1940’s.
Timur Sagdiyev
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© Russian Seven
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