Blueprints for Battle: Planning for War in Central Europe, 1948-1968

by Jan Hoffenaar (Editor), Dieter Krüger (Editor), David T. Zabecki (Editor)

Overview

While scholarship abounds on the diplomatic and security aspects of the Cold War, very little attention has been paid to military planning at the operational level. In Blueprints for Battle, experts from Russia, the United States, and Europe address this dearth by closely examining the military planning of NATO and Warsaw Pact member nations from the end of World War II to the beginning of d?tente. Informed by material from recently opened archives, this collection investigates the perceptions and actions of the rival coalitions, exploring the challenges presented by nuclear technology, examining how military commanders' perceptions changed from the 1950s to the 1960s, and discussing logistical coordination among allied states. The result is a detailed study that offers much-needed new perspectives on the military aspects of the early Cold War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813139821
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	10/05/2012
Series:	Foreign Military Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jan Hoffenaar is head of the research division at the Netherlands Institute of Military History, The Hague, and professor of military history at Utrecht University. He is coeditor of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency: Irregular Warfare from 1800 to the Present. Dieter Krüger is associate professor (privatdozent) of contemporary history at the Martin Luther University of Halle–Wittenberg and historian at the Military History Research Institute (MGFA), Potsdam. Major General David T. Zabecki, AUS (Ret.), is the author of The German 1918 Offensives: A Case Study in the Operational Level of War and editor emeritus of Vietnam magazine. He holds the Shifrin Distinguished Chair in Military and Naval History at the United States Naval Academy and is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the War Studies Programme at the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom).

Table of Contents

Foreword David T. Zabecki vii

Preface Dieter KrÜger xi

A Note on the English Edition xxxiii

List of Abbreviations and Common Terms xxxv

Introduction: The Plans of the Warsaw Pact and NATO Jan Hoffenaar Dieter Krüger 1

1 Strategic Problems and the Central Sector, 1948-1968: An Overview Lawrence S. Kaplan 5

2 Aims and Realities: NATO's Forward Defense and the Operational Planning Level at NORTHAG Bruno Thoss 21

3 Soviet and Warsaw Pact Military Strategy from Stalin to Brezhnev: The Transformation from "Strategic Defense" to "Unlimited Nuclear War," 1945-1968 Matthias Uhl 33

4 Waiting to Be Kissed? NATO, NORTHAG, and Intelligence Richard J. Aldrich 55

5 East German Military Intelligence for the Warsaw Pact in the Central Sector Jan Hoffenaar 75

6 Waste and Confusion? NATO Logistics from the Dutch Perspective Herman Roozenbeek 93

7 The Logistics System of the Soviet and Warsaw Pact Armed Forces in the 1950s and 1960s Dimitri N. Filippovych 109

8 Soviet Union Military Planning, 1948-1968 Viktor Gavrilov 121

9 War Games in Europe: The U.S. Army Experiments with Atomic Doctrine Donald A. Carter 131

10 Fighting for the Heart of Germany: German I Corps and NATO's Plans for the Defense of the North German Plain in the 1960s Helmut Hammerich 155

11 The German Democratic Republic Torsten Diedrich 175

12 The British Army of the Rhine and Defense Plans for Germany, 1945-1955 Robert Evans 203

13 The Dutch Contribution to the Defense of the Central Sector Jan Hoffenaar 217

14 Concluding Remarks: Warfare in the Central Sector Gregory W. Pedlow 239

List of Contributors 245

Index 249

Editorial Reviews

The Cold War has been indifferently plumbed by scholars, especially regarding the Eastern bloc. This book, with its wealth of new and fascinating information on the subject, is especially welcome.

former John Biggs Chair of Military History at the Spencer C. Tucker

Essential reading for any serving officer and should be required reading for senior defense officials. Blueprints, if read, would go a long way toward correcting the apparent memory loss of the purpose of armies and illusions of whether or not the Cold War was complicated or complex.

Army Magazine

Contains a host of fascinating observations about a period for which the historical records are only just emerging. Although many books have analyzed the diplomatic and national security aspects of the early Cold War, few have gone down to the next level to examine how national strategies translated into specific military plans and actions.

Jonathan M. House

"Readers of these conference offerings are given a sweeping vista of the war plans developed by the two alliances fort the arena of Central Europe during the first two decades of the Cold War." — Tal Tovy, H-War

From the Publisher

The Cold War has been indifferently plumbed by scholars, especially regarding the Eastern bloc. This book, with its wealth of new and fascinating information on the subject, is especially welcome.

Spencer C. Tucker