Akmatov
Posts: 316
Joined: 7/26/2000 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Status: offline
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quote:
Duplicate post? Not really, though related. Here I am wondering how to replicate the real world tactic of using persistent agents to render critical facilities unusable, not questioning the related issue of a general downgrading of the potentials for chemical weapons. quote:
The massive use of WMD in TOAW, like in the real world, would simply make playing any scenario pointless, no? Well, first of all WMD is a large catch all category which include separate and quite different elements, each of which should militarily be considered on its own capacities. Really WMD is far more a political expression than a military one. And yes, the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons could have an enormous impact on any military operation. But to take the attitude expressed once by SPI that to simulate the use of nuclear weapons one should soak the game map with lighter fluid and then ignite it is just silly and totally Western. The Warsaw Pact fully intended to use nuclear weapons from the very beginning. Here are a couple of quotes from the 1964 Warsaw Pact war plan discovered in the Czech Republic in 2007: "To disorganize the leadership of the state and to undermine mobilization of armed forces by surprise nuclear strikes against the main political and economic centers of the country." "Nuclear strikes against the troops of the enemy should be targeted to the depth up to the line Würzburg, Erlangen, Regensburg, Landshut." "In the first massive nuclear strike by the troops of the Missile Forces of the Czechoslovak Front, the front aviation and long-range aviation added to the front must destroy the main group of troops of the first operations echelon of the 7th US Army, its means of nuclear attack, and the centers of command and control of the aviation." "Altogether the operation will require the use of 131 nuclear missiles and nuclear bombs; specifically 96 missiles and 35 nuclear bombs. The first nuclear strike will use 41 missiles and nuclear bombs. The immediate task will require using 29 missiles and nuclear bombs. The subsequent task could use 49 missiles and nuclear bombs. 12 missiles and nuclear bombs should remain in the reserve of the Front." And it goes on, the document quote is available in English, Czech and Russian at the Parallel History Project at http://www.php.isn.ethz.ch/collections/colltopic.cfm?lng=en&id=16239&navinfo=25996 My point would be that to ignore the use of chemical, and nuclear weapons, in modern warfare is to ignore reality. In Gulf War I Saddam had at least one artillery unit with chemical ammunition in place in position for use against Coalition forces. It could have been used, that is reality and it would be nice if TOAW reflected that a little bit better.
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