Letters to a great-granddaughter (2)

In a later post I want to talk about nuclear proliferation and Cold War 2.0, but this blog is about the original Cold War.

By the time I was born the Americans had used atomic weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The Japanese then surrendered, the Emperor addressing his people for the first time in a reedy voice and saying 'The war has proceeded not exactly to Japan's advantage.'   Russia entering the war also played a part in the Japanese decision.   It  has been argued that Nagasaki was bombed because the Americans wanted to try out a different type of weapon (a plutonium bomb).

Within a few years Russia had also tested an atomic weapon and the UK raced to catch up.  Thousands of servicemen were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation in tests in Australia and the Pacific and their descendants are still feeling the effects today.   By detonating a very big A-bomb, Britain managed to hoodwink the Americans into thinking they had a H-bomb and could therefore be given nuclear secrets.

My first post-war political memory is of being in Coverack in Cornwall on holiday and hearing about the war in Korea on the radio.   There was reference to the possibility of a third world war and I asked mu parents what that meant.

The Suez crisis simply revealed Britain's reliance on the United States in an asymmetrical special relationship.

I was 15 and on half-term holiday at the time of the Cuba crisis which had me really scared.  Fortunately, Kennedy was a cool decision-maker and restrained his military such as air force general Curtis Le May ('bombs away with Curt Le May.')  He did a secret deal with the Soviet Union to remove American missiles from Italy and Turkey after a few months.

However, we came very close to armed confrontation.    A Soviet submarine with an exhausted crew nearly launched a nuclear tipped torpedo at the US vessels enforcing the blockade of Cuba, but were restrained by the boat's political officer.   If the US had invaded Cuba, as they were preparing to do, local commanders could fire 'tactical' nuclear weapons at them without getting authorisation from Moscow.

Britain relied in the 1960s on its 'V' bombers to deliver its nuclear deterrent.   They were dispersed around various airfields.   One was stationed near Leicester when I was at university and we heard and saw it making endless slow circles overhead when there was a Middle East crisis.

Curiosity and the desire to earn some extra money from NATO exercises led me to join the now disbanded United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (technically I was a RAF reservist and had a RAF uniform).   I was based in a protected above ground structure a few miles outside Exeter (near what is now the M5).

Because I had a MSc from Strathclyde they thought I was smarter than I was and trained me to use what appeared to be a telex machine (relatively easy for me as I could touch type).   I have learnt very recently that it was in fact a more sophisticated piece of machinery, perhaps useable for a back up launch capability if High Wycombe was out of action.   (The launch mechanism was very belt and braces and possibly still is).    I have also learnt that there was a device at the airport on the Isles of Scilly that could transmit instructions to the submarine fleet.

Another point of danger was in the early 1980s when a geriatric Soviet leadership thought that a NATO exercise might be cover for a first strike on them.   The placing of cruise missiles in the UK also alarmed the Soviet leadership who considered 'taking them out'.

But then Ronald Reagan (who deserves more credit than he usually gets) and Mikhail Gorbachev came to an agreement to substantially reduce the number of nuclear warheads and also engage in other forms of cooperation.   Cold War 1.0 was over.