A look at Soviet nuclear strategy

[Matt Wiser]

A document at the National Security Archive has an interesting outlook on Soviet strategy, especially when it came to both tactical and strategic nuclear weapons. Though Marshal Grechko wanted to have any war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact go nuclear from the start, there was serious concern among Soviet planners about that, and they began to go to a more conventional strategy, since their conventional superiority was well known. Not to mention that even a limited nuclear attack-such as an attack on NATO airfields only, would spread fallout over Eastern Europe and the Western USSR.

Here's the link to the page with the documents. Chapter III is the one detailing the shift in strategy, along with things like ICBM silo hardening, Fidel Castro wanting nuclear strikes on the U.S. in the 1980s, and so on

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb285/index.htm

[Silent Hunter UK]

Couple of further points:
* It would be difficult for the earlier Soviet SSBNs to be able to launch; they had short range SLBMs and were rather easily detected by SSNs.
* The road mobile stuff, especially RT-21M/SS-20, would have been very hard for NATO to stop.