The Cold War: A Military History - читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги автора David Miller (Photographs) #12

Photographs

^{West Berliners watch a US transport aircraft bringing essential supplies to Tempelhof Airfield during the Berlin Airlift. The Soviet blockade of Berlin lasted from 22 June 1948 to 12 May 1949, and the Western Allies’ united and steadfast response to it was a prelude to the Cold War}

^{General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower was recalled from retirement when he was appointed NATO’s first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) on 19 December 1950. He served the Alliance until 1952, when he returned to the United States to run for president}

^{NATO’s first secretary-general was the British Lord Ismay. He made major contributions to the Alliance, helping to set up its structure and procedures, and overseeing the accession of Greece and Turkey in 1952 and of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955. He retired from NATO in 1957}

^{President John F. Kennedy’s significant and emotional visit to West Berlin in June 1963 symbolized United States commitment to NATO and to West Berlin. Here he returns from a visit to a Western checkpoint, with West Berlin’s governing mayor, Willy Brandt, second from his right}

^{Much of NATO’s work took place in conference rooms, where the members made plans for the future, discussed common problems, and resolved the differences which arose from time to time. Here the North Atlantic Council meets in The Hague, the Netherlands, on 30 May 1979}

^{Some of the East–West confrontations took place in full view of the international media, which added to the danger of the situation. These Soviet T-55 tanks are taking up position facing Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, in October 1961}

^{US tanks face the East at Checkpoint Charlie, also in October 1961. Such incidents appeared to be part of a ritual; however, they were very tense, and one false or unintentional move by either side could have seen rapid escalation to a conflict which neither side wanted}

^{Confrontation in the skies as US navy Phantom fighters intercept a patrolling Soviet ‘Badger’ bomber. Such meetings took place daily throughout the Cold War; the rules were well understood, but occasionally they were broken and aircraft were shot down as a result}

^{The Cold War was fought on many fronts, one of the most intense being the battle for people’s hearts and minds. A seemingly endless stream of documents appeared, of which these two are typical: the US Soviet Military Power and Moscow’s response, Whence the Threat to Peace?}

^{Public knowledge of Warsaw Pact capabilities was usually derived from carefully managed ‘photo opportunities’, which were designed to give the impression of awe-inspiring might. A typical example was this huge fleet of tanks, which was assembled after a major exercise}

^{Marshal V. G. Kulikov (centre, seated) endorses the record of a meeting of Warsaw Pact defence ministers in December 1984. In all Warsaw Pact countries the defence ministers were army generals and, unlike NATO, the Pact was not headed by a civilian secretary-general}

^{The Soviet Typhoon-class missile submarine was originally intended to lie under the Arctic ice cap for up to twelve months at a time, emerging only to launch its twenty long-range missiles in a ‘second strike’}

^{This huge Soviet bomb is thought to be the type used in the world’s largest known nuclear explosion. This involved a 58 MT weapon (equivalent to 58 million tons of TNT), and took place in an airburst at 3,700 m above the Novaya Zemlya test site on 30 October 1961}

^{A Valiant V-bomber drops an inert version of the Blue Danube, the first British atomic weapon. Blue Danube entered service in November 1953 and, despite its large size, had a yield of only 20 kT – approximately the same as that of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945}

^{A US Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile climbs away from the Vandenberg test site in California. This three-stage, solid-fuelled missile carried two or three MIRVs over a range of some 13,000 km. The yield of each warhead could be set to either 172 kT or 335 kT prior to launch}

^{A US artist’s depiction of a Soviet MIRVed missile in space. The shroud and bustle have broken away and the control computer aboard the bus has already deployed three MIRVs, with two more ready to leave. Each MIRV will head for a different target}

^{The first of the battlefield nuclear weapons was the 280 mm ‘atomic cannon’, which served in the US army in Europe in the 1950s. Later battlefield weapons were much smaller and considerably more mobile}

^{The W19 atomic shell was designed specifically for the 280 mm cannon. It had a yield of approximately 15 kT and a range of about 30,000 m}

^{The US carrier John F. Kennedy launches an air strike off the Norwegian coast during NATO’s Exercise Strong Express in 1972. NATO exercises took place at frequent intervals, and not only practised real plans but also demonstrated a willingness to carry them out if forced to do so}

^{The US carrier Kitty Hawk, with its air wing on deck. Such US ‘supercarriers’ operated an air wing that was more powerful and sophisticated than most national air forces, and they played a unique role in the Cold War, providing mobile airbases that could patrol in international waters}

^{The British navy was the second most powerful in NATO, its main strength lying in a large number of very capable anti-submarine frigates. The design of this Type-22 frigate, HMS Cumberland, made use of British experience in the Falklands War, which taught all Cold War navies some very valuable lessons}

^{A Kresta II-class cruiser, one of a long series of daring and innovative ship designs built by the Soviet navy. During the Cold War the Soviet navy was transformed from a minor coastal force into an impressive ‘blue-water’ fleet, exercising naval power in all the world’s oceans}

^{A NATO naval force assembled in Malta’s Grand Harbour in 1960. Among the navies represented are those of France, Italy, Turkey, the UK and the USA. NATO navies used common procedures as a matter of routine, which enabled them to work together easily and with only minimal preparation}

^{A Boeing E-3 Sentry of NATO’s Airborne Early Warning Force. Based at Geilenkirchen in West Germany and with the aircraft registered in Luxembourg, this force was completely multinational, demonstrating how well member nations could work together when the will was there}

^{The Soviet army met many of its low-level air-defence requirements with the ZSU-23-4. This weapon married an existing chassis and weapon to a new radar, resulting in a highly effective system which was viewed with great respect by the NATO pilots who might have had to fly against it}

^{The US army also took an existing chassis, weapon and radar to produce the Sergeant York air-defence system, but the outcome was unsatisfactory and the system was discontinued before it could enter service}

^{In the 1950s the French and Germans held a competition to produce a common tank design. The French entry was the AMX-30, seen here, which was lighter but less well armed and with thinner armour than the German entry. When the AMX-30 was not declared the winner, the French left the project and produced the tank for their own army}

^{The German entry for the 1950s competition, the Leopard, was heavier than the French AMX-30 and armed with the British 105 mm gun – at that time the most powerful tank gun in the world. Once the French withdrew, the Germans produced the Leopard for the Bundesheer and exported it to many other armies}

^{The Cold War ends in November 1989. A demonstrator hammers at the Berlin Wall, striving to demolish the hated symbol of the separation of the two Germanies. Meanwhile, East German guards look on passively, symbolizing the Communist failure to bind the nations of eastern Europe together}