Quote:
Originally Posted by Officer of Engineers
Only the boomers launched from the late 80s on. Before that, they had to goto Cuba to be effective.
But we're getting off topic. We have Soviet Field Marshalls telling us that they were never ready to march to the Rhine. They didn't have the numbers. These are retired officers invited to a NATO project to give an accurate assessment of the Cold War.
I, for one, find their views fascinating. Should we doubt their word?
If not, then, what was the realistic plan according to their doctrines? I think spoiling attacks against the BAOR, V Corps, and VII Corps are well within their capabilities.
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Doubt thier word, no, but look at it closely. According to your sources- they say they didn't have the numbers, not they didn't have the desire. They just did not think they had the correlation of forces required to win. Military officers tend to be conservative, and act as counter point to political enthusiasm for war among political masters.
I agree with them BTW for all but 2 periods of time. From the end of WW2 to early 60's and from the mid eighties on. But the door was wide open 73-75 before the US Army recovered its morale, got better tanks, and the air force got the teen fighters, F-111, and PGW's en masse.
It will never happen for obvious reasons, it I bet whole forests worth of trees died in the paperwork and maps planning to reach the Rhine.