NATO under attack: why the Western Alliance can fight outnumbered and win in central Europe without nuclear weapons

Book · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:6000038

von Mellenthin, F W; Stolfi, R H.S.; Sobik, E

This controversial book charges that military analysts, in failing to recognize important strengths of the NATO armed forces and equally important Soviet weaknesses, have inaccurately and pessimistically portrayed the military balance of forces in Central Europe as favoring the Warsaw Pact. This assessment has led observers to the mistaken conclusion that NATO forces are inadequate to deter war, that they would be defeated in a conventional armed conflict, and that this imbalance must be corrected by the increased deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. The book challanges all these conclusions by questioning the perception on which they are based, as well as the assumption that nuclear weapons would need to be employed to defend Western Europe against a Warsaw Pact invasion. The authors base their claim on a detailed analysis of historical armed confrontations involving the principal European powers, and on a study, grounded in the Soviet military literature, of the command style of Soviet armed forces.

• OSTI ID: 6000038
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290600 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
450202* -- Explosions & Explosives-- Nuclear-- Weaponry-- (-1989)
ASIA
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
EASTERN EUROPE
EQUIPMENT
EUROPE
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
MILITARY EQUIPMENT
NATO
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
SECURITY
USSR
WARFARE
WEAPONS
WESTERN EUROPE