How many troops were in Europe during the peak of the cold war?

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Or at least from say '81 to '88, roughly?

[dragoon500ly]

The source is Military Technology Magazine Issue 12 "The Military Balance 1983/84"

Stationed in Europe
Military personnel (all branches)
NATO: 1,764,000
US: 222,000
USSR: 871,000
WP: 843,000
total of 1,744,000

Total Manpower in Uniform
NATO: 2,855,000
US: 2,136,000
USSR: 5,050,000
WP: 1,018,000

Total Reserves (all services)
NATO: 4,390,000
US: 955,000
USSR: 5,000,000
WP: 1,718,000

Divisions...
In Europe and manned in peacetime:
NATO: 23 armored, 22 2/3 mech and 39 1/3 other (AB, AA, Inf, Marine)
US: 2 1/3 armd, 2 1/3 mech, 1/3 other (AB task and ACRs)
USSR: 16 tank, 27 motor rifle
WP: 15 tank, 25 motor rifle, 2 other

Manned and available for immediate reinforcement:
NATO: 1 2/3 mech, 2 1/2 other
US: 1 2/3 armd, 2 2/3 mech, 2 1/3 other
USSR: 8 tank, 12 motor rifle, 5 other
WP: 1 2/3 tank

Extra divs available on mobilizing reserves:
NATO: 1/3 armd, 16 mech, 15 other
US: 3 1/3 armd, 3 2/3 mech, 8 1/3 other
USSR: 16 tank, 30 motor rifle
WP: 13 motor rifle

[dragoon500ly]

So here is what military balance had to say about ground forces equipment:

NATO would field roughly 20,722 tanks (5,000 US)
WP would field roughly 44,690 tanks (32,200 USSR)

In artillery and MRLs,
NATO fields 8,996 (562 US)
WP fields 21,830 (15,000 USSR)

SSM Launchers
NATO has 300 (144 US)
WP has 1,337 (1,002 USSR)

Antitank Guns
NATO fields 946 (0 US)
WP fields 3,674 (3,339 USSR)

ATGM (crew served)
NATO fields 2,080 (700 US)
WP fields 2,172 (672 USSR)

AA Guns
NATO fields 6,062 (120 US)
WP 6,886 (3,986 USSR)

SAM launchers
NATO fields 2,103 (180 US)
WP 6,293 (4,893 USSR)

[dragoon500ly]

Just flipping through Military Balance 1983/84 and musing on just how many nukes were floating around back then.

The US had:

264 Trident C-4 SLBM (8x100KT warheads)
304 Poseidon C-3 SLBM (10x50KT warheads)
450 Minuteman II ICBM (1 2MT warhead, some sources claim 1.75MT)
550 Minuteman III ICBM (3x170KT or 3 335KT warheads)
45 Titan II ICBM (1x9MT warhead)
90 B-52H (SAC nuclear-ready bombers)
151 B-52G (tagged as conventional bombers, but can carry cruise missiles)
56 FB-111A (SAC nuclear-ready bombers)
1,140 AGM-69A SRAM (1x200KT warhead)
200 nuclear armed Tomahawk cruise missiles (1x200KT warhead)
108 Pershing I IRBM 1x60-400KT warhead)
72 Lance SSM (1x50KT warhead)
the M-110 203mm can fire 1KT, 2KT, or 0.5KT shells
the M-109 155mm can fire 2KT, 0.5KT or 4-5KT shells

The USSR had:

20 SS-N-20 SLBM (6-9x200KT?)
224 SS-N-18 SLBM (3x200KT or 1x450KT or 7x200KT)
286 SS-N-8 SLBM (1x1MT or 1x800KT)
12 SS-N-17 SLBM (1x1MT est)
438 SS-N-5 SLBM (1x1MT)
550 SS-11 ICBM (1x1MT or 3 100-300KT)
60 SS-13 ICBM (1x750KT)
150 SS-17 SLBM (4x750KT or 1x6MT or 4x2KT)
308 SS-18 ICBM (1x20MT or 8x900KT or 10x500KT or 10x750KT)
330 SS-19 ICBM 6x550KT or 1x5MT or 6x550KT)
16 SS-5 IRBM (1x1MT)
360 SS-20 IRBM (1x1.5MT or 3x150KT)
223 SS-4 MRBM (1x1MT)
100 Tu-95 Bear (nuclear-mission bombers)
43 Mya-4 Bison (nuclear-mission bombers)
220 Tu-16 Badger G (nuclear-mission bombers)
125 Tu-22 Blinder (nuclear-mission bombers)
110 Tu-22M Backfire (nuclear-mission bombers)
1,500 FROG/Scud/Scaleboard SSM (can be armed with nuclear warheads)
(SSMs carried 1x200KT)

The UK had:
64 Polaris A-3 SLBM (3x200KT)

France had:
84 M-20 SLBM (1x1MT)
18 SSBS S-3 IRBM (1x1MT)
34 Mirage IVA (nuclear-mission bombers)
46 Pluton SSM (can be armed with nuclear warheads) (1x10KT)

[Fusilier]

That's a lot of nukes - and it doesn't seem to cover the air dropped/free fall types or the artillery fired types.

[dragoon500ly]

That's a lot of nukes - and it doesn't seem to cover the air dropped/free fall types or the artillery fired types.

there is not a lot of info on the WPs artillery fired weapons, I've seen everything from .5K to 2KT, available for the 130mm,152mm and 203mm guns and the 240mm mortar...although I wouldn't want to be within 9000m of a nuke of any size!

As for the air dropped bombs, there has never been any sort of reasonable count, they would range from 5KT to 15MT.

Perhaps one of the issues that I've always had about T2K was the whole idea of a limited nuclear exchange. Reading the RL non-classified material one gets the impression that both sides were more than willing to escalate (rapidly) once the first nuke was used.

[RN7]

Strategic nuclear weapons delivery systems (1985)
Land-based ICBM
US
450: Minuteman II (450 warheads)
250: Minuteman III (750 warheads)
300: Minuteman III (Mk. 12A) (900 warheads)
045: Titan II (45 warheads)
USSR
260: SS-11 (260 warheads)
260: SS-11 Mod 3 (780 warheads)
060: SS-13 (60 warheads)
030: SS-17 Mod 2 (30 warheads)
120: SS-17 Mod 3 (480 warheads)
308: SS-18 (2,208 warheads)
060: SS-19 Mod 2 (60 warheads)
300: SS-19 Mod 3 (1,800 warheads)

Sea-based SLBM
US
304: Poseidon C-3 (3,040 warheads)
264: Trident I C-4 (2,112 warheads)
USSR
048: SS-N-5 (48 warheads) (* Intermediate missile range)
628: SS-N-6 (628 warheads)
289: SS-N-8 (289 warheads)
012: SS-N-17 (12 warheads)
224: SS-N-18 (1,680 warheads)
020: SS-N-20 (200 warheads)
UK
064: Polaris A-3 (800 warheads)
France
012: M-4 (72 warheads)
080: M20 (80 warheads)

Strategic Bombers
US
272. B-52D/G/H (2,570 warheads including 200+ ALCM)
USSR
100: Tu-95 (200 warheads)
045: M-4 (90 warheads)

[RN7]

Intermediate nuclear weapons delivery systems (1985)
Land-based
US
108: Pershing II (108 warheads)
464: GLCM (464 warheads) (* by 1988)
USSR
223: SS-4 (223 warheads)
016: SS-5 (16 warheads)
360: SS-20 (1,080 warheads)
France
018: SSBS-S-3 (18 warheads)

Sea-based
US
900: SLCM (900 warheads) (* by 1987)
400: Poseidon/Trident warheads (* Declared to NATO)
USSR
030: SS-N-13 (30 warheads)

Bombers
US
056: FB-111A (336 warheads)
156: F-111E/F (936 warheads)
USSR
500: Tu-16
165: Tu-22
180: Tu-22M
** Unknown number of warhaeds but well over 1,000 warheads and air launched missiles)
France
033: Mirage IVA (33 warheads)

[RN7]

Tactical nuclear delivery systems
180: Pershing 1A missiles (72 German Air Force) (* US Pershing IA being replaced by Pershing II)
097: Lance missile (US, British, German, Italian, Dutch & Belgian armies)
090: Honest John missile (Greek & Turkish armies)
044: Pluton missile (French Army)

NATO Tactical nuclear stock pile in Europe
2,250: Artillery shells
1,850: Free-fall bombs
0,700: Nike Hercules SAM
0,300: Atomic mines
0,400: ASW weapons
** Excluding British owned warheads, all warheads in US custody

British Army
012: Lance Missiles (* over 60 Lance missiles held in stock)
116: SP Artillery weapons

[pmulcahy11b]

That's a lot of nukes - and it doesn't seem to cover the air dropped/free fall types or the artillery fired types.

Or the "backpack" nukes the ADM guys had. (Is there still an ADM MOS anymore?)