The Guardian of Liberty - Nemzetőr, 1982 (5. évfolyam, 4-6. szám)

1982-07-01 / 4. szám

Maps Show Third World within SS-20’s Range (See Map on page 1) * I ' he USSR’s State-run information media have been raging against a new statisti­cal booklet which containts maps showing that about a third of Africa and almost all of Asia come within the 5,000-kilometre range of the Soviet SS-20 nuclear missiles. About 300 of the launchers of these „new generation“ intermediate-range missiles, each with three independently-targetable war­heads, have already been deployed in the Soviet Union. According to the booklet, entitled NATO and the Warsaw Pact: Force Comparisons, the launchers are being set in position at a rate of one a week. This deployment began in 1977. African countries within the range of the SS-20s include those as far south as Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad, Mali and Niger. The Asian part of the target area includes the Middle East and almost all the rest of the Asian land mass, as well as Japan. The Soviet authorities have been installing these sophisticated; transportable missiles while continuing to participate in East-West talks on arms limitation. By contrast, NATO at present has no „new generation“ intermediate-range nuclear mis­siles. However, this Western defence alliance decided in December, 1979, to install 572 of these new weapons in Western Europe, be­ginning at the end of 1983. Both Tsarist Russia’s gunners and those of the present-day USSR were praised at a recent „scientific confer­ence" in Moscow marking the „600th anniversary of the fatherland’s artillery." In a speech associated with the anni­versary, Colonel-General L. S. Sapkov, Deputy Commander of Missile Troops and Artillery of the Soviet Land Forces, asserted: „The bold combination in combat conditions of missiles, guns, mortars, rocket-launchers and anti-tank guided missiles, and the possibility of their being concentrated quickly on a chosen sector, make it possible to achieve and maintain fire superiority over the enemy." The 572 will comprise 464 Ground-launched Cruise Missiles (GLCMs) and 108 Pershing Ils. The GLCMs will have a range of 2,500 kilo­metres, half that of the SS-20s, and the Pershing Ils 1,800 kilometres. The decision to modernise NATO’s tactical nuclear armaments was made only after many SS-20s had already been deployed in the European USSR, aimed at Western Eu­rope. As explained in NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the implementation of this decision „can be altered only by a concrete and effective arms control agreement; these deployments (of GLCMs and Pershing Ils) will be cancelled if the Soviets will dismantle their SS-20 missiles and retire all their SS-4 and SS-5 missiles.“ The SS-4s and SS-5s are intermediate­­range weapons dating from the late 1950s and early 1960s. The booklet also asserts that the proposals to modernise the tactical weapons system sited in Western Europe „will not result in an increase in the total number of nuclear war­heads in NATO Europe.“ NATO and the Warsaw Pact says: „The primary role of nuclear weapons is deter­rence. They are not generally direct military counters to each other. Thus, direct parity in every system is not needed. „Individual nuclear weapon systems cannot be considered in isolation from other nuclear systems or from conventional forces. „However, to avoid miscalculation by a po­tential adversary and to ensure preservation of stability and peace, there must be a bal­anced relationship in the overall capabilities between the nuclear forces of NATO and the Warsaw Pact in order that the credibility of NATO’s deterrent is not called into ques­tion ... HIGH MARKS IN CHEMICAL WAR GAMES High marks were awarded to partici­pants in a recent training course con­ducted by Vietnam’s Soviet-armed Chemical Corps. All the trainees suc­cessfully completed the course and 82 of them were rated „good" or „excel­lent." According to the official information media in Hanoi, the course was for „all chemical department chiefs of military regions, army corps, armed forces and services, schools, institutes and units and agencies subordinate to the head­quarters." The Hanoi media noted the Vietnamese communist authorities’ aim of „continu­ally improving the ability of the special armed services to organise, command, lead and administer troops to provide clothing and special equipment..." According to hundreds of eye-witness reports by refugees, the Vietnamese armed forces in Laos and Kampuchea have been engaging in chemical war­fare against Guerrillas and civilians since the late 1970s. The Chemical Corps holds a Vietna­mese State award, the Ho Chi Minh Order, Third Class. „The Soviets surpassed NATO in total destructive power... in their strategic sys­tems in the late 1960s and in the number of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles in 1973. „On the other hand, NATO has at present more strategic warheads but this advantage is diminishing with the continuing Soviet deployments of multiple warheads, known as Multiole Independently-Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs).“ The booklet also says that the USSR and the other Warsaw Pact countries have a „standing force“ of about 5,700,000 personnel. It adds: „In addition, there are over 700,000 personnel with some military training enroll­ed in the national security forces. „Warsaw Pact forces worldwide include 244 active divisions plus 27 brigades, with 60,000 main battle tanks and air forces equipped with over 12,000 aircraft. „Ground and air forces in Europe are for­ward deployed, well structured, positioned and prepared for offensive operations. „The Warsaw Pact possesses an impressive inventory of naval forces, the largest com­ponent of which is the Soviet Navy. . A large number of these forces are not in the NATO/Warsaw Pact area and indeed some, primarily those of the Soviet Union, are deployed worldwide.“ The booklet shows the relative sizes of NATO and Warsaw Pact forces stationed in Europe. NATO has 2 600,000 personnel, the Warsaw Pact four million. NATO has 13,000 main battle tanks, the Warsaw Pact 42,500. Anti-tank guided weapon launchers: NATO, 8100: WP, 24,300. Artillery/mortars: NATO, 10.750; W7P, 31,500. Armoured personnel car­riers and infantry fighting vehicles: NATO, 30 000; WP, 78 800. Combat aircraft: NATO, ?Q7S; WP. 7 240. excluding those of'in the Moscow Air Defence District. The booklet, with 72 pages, is published by NATO. Aftenposten, the Norwegian daily, recalled in a recent article that Stalin once said that „prettv words are a mask that conceals what one is really doing.“ The newspaper commented: „If one judges bv Soviet foreign policy, there is not a great deal to show that such a doctrine has been abandoned. On the contrary, there is much evidence that the Soviet leaders continue to use present promises as a tactical tool in (continued on page 3) JULY-AUGUST, 1982 Soviet Chief of Staff, Marshal Ogarkov 2 600 YEARS OF GUNNERY

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