Harvey Black
The Red Effect
About the Author
A qualified parachutist, Harvey Black served with British Army Intelligence for over ten years. His experience ranges from covert surveillance in Northern Ireland to operating in Communist East Berlin during the Cold War where he feared for his life after being dragged from his car by KGB soldiers. Since then he has lived a more sedate life in the private sector as a director for an international company and now enjoys the pleasures of writing. Harvey is married with four children. For more from Harvey, visit his website at www.harveyblackauthor.org.
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Foreword
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the continent.
At the end of World War Two, the already strained relationship between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies broke down completely.
With the West angry over Stalin’s refusal to give up land occupied by the Red Army during the advance to Berlin and Stalin’s paranoia and fear over the atomic bomb, relations stiffened and a mutual distrust developed.
With some high ranking officials in both America and Britain pushing for an immediate attack on the Red Army using captured German forces if necessary, both sides maintained large armies in Germany as a bulwark against attack. It wasn’t until the detonation of the first Soviet atomic bomb in 1949 that the threat of a conventional land war receded. In its place, developed a proxy war which became known as the ‘Cold War’. While the Soviet Union and the USA couldn’t attack each other directly for fear of triggering an all-out nuclear war, they did use their allies to hinder and frustrate each other.
With the Soviet Union and her Warsaw Pact allies in the East and the US and NATO in the West a game began of ‘my enemy’s enemy must be my friend’. This resulted in the democratic West courting and supporting despots and dictators around the world, supplying them with arms and training as long as they propagated an anti-Communist agenda.
The Soviets, meanwhile, trained and armed Marxist and Communist rebels whose aim was to overthrow any government who were friendly to the West, with notable successes in Cuba, Africa and Asia. The rise of Communism in Asia during the 1950s and 60s was a major concern to successive American administrations and led to the deployment of Western ground forces in Korea and Vietnam. With Soviet backing, the Viet Cong inflicted an embarrassing and damaging defeat on the US military — an achievement the CIA were happy to reciprocate in Afghanistan during the Russian’s ill-fated invasion of the late 1970s.
In place of the large set piece wars, the Cold War became one of spying and espionage. Vast teams from the CIA and their Soviet counterparts, the KGB, were dispatched across the world to cause mischief and trouble for the other side.
Spy planes flew over enemy territory to determine their latest strengths and distributions. The space race was a direct consequence of the need to keep ahead of the other side, the pride and prestige of winning the race meant more to the Soviets than any actual advantage they may have gained by it.
While the chances of World War Three breaking out were relatively slim, both sides maintained huge armed forces as a buffer and a deterrent against invasion. For example, in the mid 1980s, the Soviet Air Force had some 770,000 men fielding 7,260 combat aircraft. Compare those numbers to 594,500 and 3,925 for the US Air Force, respectively. In effect it meant that for every 106 Soviet airmen, a Soviet interceptor or strike fighter was available for action somewhere. For the US, only one aircraft per 151 airmen was present.
The Soviets supported their large inventory by keeping older equipment in service long past the time when other nations would have retired them. From the late 1970s to mid 80s; the Soviets had nearly 51,000 tanks for an army of 1,800,000 men. During the same period, the US made do with 12,000 tanks in a ground force of 780,000. While it looks impressive, a large portion of the Soviet tanks were old and inferior T-54/55 series vehicles. But, with the introduction of the T-64, T-72 and T-80 main battle tanks, quality was catching up with the West. Despite this, Soviet generals believed that given the numbers, the balance of forces was in their favour.
All of this hardware and men cost huge amounts of money, the US alone was spending 426 billion dollars by 1985. For the Soviets their creaking and antiquated economy couldn’t keep up with the powerhouse that was the West and its spending power. It was clear to most Soviet generals and politicians that the war was going to be lost and as we know, Mikhail Gorbachev managed to end the Cold War without triggering a conflict with the West.
But what would have happened if Gorbachev hadn’t become leader of the Communist party? What if a more belligerent man had the reins of power and had been backed by an aggressive general staff to lead the Soviet Union into a show down with the West?
As a member of British Army Intelligence, the author was on the front-line at the height of the Cold War. From dodging his KGB minders to trying to get pictures of the latest Soviet troop movements, Harvey lived and breathed the tension and excitement of Cold War Berlin. He brings that experience to the fore to tell the story of the Russian invasion in his new book, The Red Effect.
Nick Britten — History Blogger
readinggivesmewings.wordpress.com
Introduction
‘Today, West German imperialism is United States’ chief ally in Europe in aggravating world tension. West Germany is increasingly becoming the seat of the war danger, where revenge-seeking passions are running high…The policy pursued by the Federal Republic of Germany is being increasingly determined by the same monopolies that brought Hitler to power.
‘The Rhineland politicians fancy that, once they get the atomic bomb, frontier posts will topple and they will be able to achieve their cherished desire of carving up the map of Europe again and taking revenge for defeat in the Second World War.
‘One of the most ominous factors endangering peace is the bilateral military alliance that is taking shape between the ruling circles of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany. This factor remains an objective of unflagging attention.’
Chapter 1
I repeat again and again: we do not seek military superiority. We have never intended and do not now intend to threaten any state, or group of states. Our strategic doctrine is a purely defensive one. Allegations that the Soviet Union is building up its military might on the European Continent on a scale not called for by its defence requirements have nothing to do with reality. This is a deliberate deception to the public at large.
He sat behind his large, over two metres wide, heavy, leather-topped, teak desk leafing through some papers brought in by his secretary earlier that morning. Directly in front of him stood an extension to his desk, like a large ‘T’; a meeting table of the same style extending away from him. Capable of accommodating up to sixteen visitors sat around it. On his desk, to the right, sat two telephones, a multi-compartmented container for pens and pencils, and, to his left, his elaborate intercom system: thirty buttons linking him to various offices and members of his Politburo within the Kremlin.