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Originally Posted by Targan
Perhaps the first use of nukes was the Soviets launching MIRVs from ICBMs on massed PLA ground forces?
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The first nukes were used on BOTH fronts on the 9th of July.
In the east we had the absolute flattening of the Chinese with massive amounts of tactical nukes.
In the west they were limted in number and scale, at least in the beginning.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blakrider
your also forgetting Legbreaker that it wasnt the one large massive wave of missiles but a few here and a few there. as it states.
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Exactly! There were small numbers of nukes flying about almost on a daily basis. Most may have been falling in Europe and China, but it's possible, even probable that some fell on continental North America too. The nukes that fell within the US borders may not have inflicted the scale of damage they were elsewhere in the world, but they didn't need to. Even just one falling would have been enough to send the entire country into a panic - take a look at the reaction when two planes flew into the world trade centre, the country was effectively at a standstill for days with NO flights and heightened security everywhere. And that was relatively small scale compared to a nuke...
One nuke alone would be enough to ground all flights (EMP), bring public transport (trains, trucks, buses) to a grinding halt, and send anyone in the cities with a car, motorbike, bicycle, or strong legs into the hills. News reports of continuing strikes throughout the world would keep them there.
The exchange in 1998 is almost irrelevant - the damage had already been done.
So yes there may have been time to move some resources around, but the manpower is likely to have been lacking. Also, where are you going to move them to? From one potential nuke site to another... Soviet spies and satellites are sure to have been providing updated target information.