Advisor: Reagan Threatened War Over Poland

NewsMax ^ | 4/4/05 | Phil Brennan

[El Gato]

nd 150,000 or so East German NVA troops would have simply moved out of the way

The East Germans' might have, or more correctly stayed out of the way. They had no love for the Soviets (or the Poles) and wouldn't want to mess up what they had (best economy in the Soviet Block, or close to it) to save the Polish communist's bacon.

[El Gato]

Mass formations are not possible without air superiority and the Soviets didn't have it.

Actually it would have been very much in doubt who got air superiority or supremeacy. Probably neither side. We had better stuff, but they had lots more.

[Walkure]

"The East Germans' might have, or more correctly stayed out of the way"

In 1981, East Germany's military was a sockpuppet of the Soviet Union. If the Soviets told it to jump, the East German NVA would merely ask "how high?"

[VeniVidiVici]

The East Germans' might have, or more correctly stayed out of the way.

I had the good luck to attend East Germany's last October Parade in 1989 in East Berlin.

Equipment was lined up and down the sidestreets, waiting for the parade to begin. All along the streets were these little East German and Soviet flags stuck into the ground side-by-side.

I was walking along with a friend, who was a German linguist, looking at the equipment and we came across a Soviet flag which had fallen over. An East German T72 was parked on the road right next to this flag. As I bent over to pick up the Soviet flag, a tanker on the T72 said something. I just smiled, kept the flag and kept walking.

As we moved away from the tank I asked my buddy what the tanker had said. My buddy said, "He said to take the flag and throw it under his treads." We both got a kick out of it.

[traviskicks]

Interesting. How did Noriega(sp) get away from the coupsters?

[WoofDog123]

He outlasted them, he was held prisoner in his office for several hours. They asked southcom to come get him, which southcom did NOT. loyalist units took control of the building eventually, the coup people surrendered, and the major leading it was executed.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Very true. I was simply pointing out that had the European powers acted at the first sign of Nazi belligerence, Hitler would have been powerless to stop them. He knew it, but counted on his opponents weakness and extracted concession afetr concession until he miscalculated on Poland. The German generals we horrified that Britain and France would react to the invasion of Poland, but Hitler's track record left them too timid to oppose him. That and the fact that Hitler had purged strong Army leaders who might have put up a fight.

[dfwgator]

Polish armed forces would have fought against the Soviets, and commanders that ordered troops to fire on fellow Poles would have been killed by their own troops.

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

"We owe him our liberty."
-Lech Walesa on Ronald Reagan.

[Fred Hayek]

I think tha the Soviets were planning a bit more than Poland, i.e., march west from the InterGerman border. Do a check on Colonel Kuklinski, a Polish army officer who leaked the Warsaw Pact warplan to the CIA. The balloon was about to go up.

[Dstorm]

I was at FS Berlin reading early-birds from 1981 - 1984
some interesting times

[Reaganwuzthebest]

I think tha the Soviets were planning a bit more than Poland, i.e., march west from the InterGerman border.

If not for being bogged down in Afghanistan anything could have been possible with the Soviet communists. It had always been their dream since Stalin to colonize Western Europe.

[VeniVidiVici]

Funny how there seems to be more and more of us that were in Berlin or Auggie or others.

Are you on ASA Vet's MI ping list? It's not overwhelming and we see some good stuff.

[Dstorm]

Not on the ping list, I was a Mech (33S) Main shop for awhile (Under the Kennard's) then worked Search

[Lukasz]

The three greatest leaders of the 20th Century who helped free hundreds of millions of people, have accumulated a grand total of zero Nobel Peace Prizes....

At least Lech Walesa grabbed one.

[Lukasz]

Well, seeing your username, I think that it will be really interesting lecture for you.

[Lukasz]

What is Wojciech Jaruzelski doing now?

What is funny, Putin invited Jaruzelski to celebrations of WWII victory in Moscow. (Jaruzelski fought in the eastern front)

[VeniVidiVici]

As an O5D in Auggie I knew quite a few of the mechs. As a 98C in Berlin didn't have much of an opportunity to meet them. Kinnard sure sounds familiar though.

[ASA Vet]

An FR mail invitation has been sent to dstorm.

Thanks.

[thag]

I was in Augsburg then. Not at the FS, but in the Signal Bn that included FS support. Good beer and schnitzel at many places nearby!