How The US Army Planned To Use Tactical Nuclear Weapons On Russia
BySebastien Roblin
US ArmyUS Army M1 Abrams Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Yes, tactical nuclear weapons are all the rage when it comes to a possible war between Russia and NATO over Ukraine. But the US Army had its own Cold War plan: Today the use of nuclear weapons is a near-unthinkable military option of last resort. But back in the 1950s, that norm had yet to be established. The U.S. Army believed then that in the event of war with the Soviet Union, tactical nukes would be landing left and right across the battlefield. It, therefore, fielded the “Pentomic” division to fight on the anticipated nuclear hellscape. It even gave battalion-level commanders access to short-range nuclear shells, which risked blasting the units that fired them.
The motive behind the Pentomic divisions may have been more political than military. In the 1950s, the Eisenhower administration believed nuclear weapons were so powerful that conventional ground troops would be rendered irrelevant. The doctrine of “massive retaliation” dictated that the United States would respond to any Soviet attack with a full-scale nuclear attack. Indeed, Eisenhower even considered going nuclear to prevent Vietnamese and Chinese Communist forces from securing battlefield victories that were hardly direct threats to U.S. national security.
Because the U.S. Air Force and Navy had the majority of nuclear weapons systems, they received the lion’s share of military funding. Under the “New Look” defense budget of 1955, the Army was considered a mere garrison force to protect nuclear weapons facilities. The infantry branch in particular fell from a height of 250,000 personnel during the Korean War to around 130,000.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/03/how-the-us-army-planned-to-use-tactical-nuclear-weapons-on-russia/
