The Third World War - The Untold Story

Sir John Hackett

First published by Sidgwick and Jackson Limited in 1982 in Great Britain

Copyright © 1982 by Sir John Hackett

ISBN 0-283-98863-0

AAFCE                      Central Europe

AAM                        Air to Air Missile(s)

ABM                        anti-Ballistic Missile

ACLANT                   Allied Command Atlantic

AEW                         airborne early warning

AFCENT                    Allied Forces Central Europe

AFNORTH                Allied Forces Northern Europe

AFSOUTH                 Allied Forces Southern Europe

AFV                          armoured fighting vehicle(s)

AI                             Air Intercept

AIRCENT                  Allied Air Forces Central Europe

AIRSOUTH               Southern Europe

ALCM                       air-launched cruise missile(s)

ANC                         African National Congress

ANG                        
Atlantique nouvelle generation
(French ASW aircraft)

APC                          armoured personnel-carrier(s)

ARM                        anti-radiation missile

ASEAN                      Association of South-East Asian Nations

ASW                         anti-submarine warfare

ATAF                        Allied Tactical Air Force

ATFS                         automatic terrain following system

ATGW                      anti-tank guided weapon(s)

AWACS                    airborne warning and control system

BATES                      battlefield artillery target engagement system

BMP                        
boevaya mashina pekhoty
(Soviet infantry combat vehicle)

BTR                         
bronetransporter
(Soviet APC)

CAFDA                     Commandement Air de Forces de Defence Aeriennes

CAP                          combat air patrol(s)

CCP                          Chinese Communist Party

CENTAG                   Central Army Group

CEP                          circular error probable

CINCEASTLANT        Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Atlantic

CINCENT                  Commander-in-Chief, Central Region

CINCHAN                 Commander-in-Chief, Channel

CINCNORTH            Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Northern Europe

CINCSOUTH             Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe

CINCUKAIR              Commander-in-Chief, United Kingdom Air Forces

CINCUSNAVEUR      Commander-in-Chief, US Navy Europe

CINCWESTLANT       Commander-in-Chief, Western Atlantic

CMP                         counter-military potential

COB                         co-located base(s)

COMAAFCE             Commander Allied Air Forces Central Europe

COMBALTAP           Commander Allied Forces Baltic Approaches

COMECON              Council for Mutual and Economic Aid

CPA                          Czechoslovak People’s Army

CPSU                        Communist Party of the Soviet Union

CW                           Chemical Warfare

DIA                           Defence Intelligence Agency

DIVADS                    divisional air defence system

EASTLANT                Eastern Atlantic

ECM                         electronic counter-measures

ECCM                      electronic counter-counter- measures

ELINT                       electronic intelligence

EMP                         electro-magnetic pulse

ENG                         electronic newsgathering

ESM                         electronic support measure(s)

EWO                        electronic warfare officer(s)

FBS                           forward based systems

FEBA                        forward edge of the battle area

FNLA                        Angolan National Liberation Front

FRELIMO                 Mozambique Liberation Front

FRG                          Federal Republic of Germany

FROG                       free-range over ground (SSM)

FY                             fiscal year

GAF                          German Air Force

GDR (DDR)              German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik)

GLCM                      ground-launched cruise missile(s)

GNP                         gross national product

GRU                         Glavnoye Razedivatelnoe Upravlenie (Soviet Military Intelligence)

GSFG                        Group of Soviet Forces in Germany Group

HARM                      high speed anti-radiation missile

HAS                          hardened aircraft shelter

HAWK                      homing killer all the way (SAM)

HE                            high-explosive

HOT                         high-subsonic optically teleguided (ATM)

ICBM                       inter-continental ballistic missile(s)

I/D                           interceptor/destroyer

IFF                            identification friend or foe

IGB                           inner German border

INLA                         Irish National Liberation Army

IONA                        Isles of the North Atlantic

IR                             infra-red

JACWA                     Joint Allied Command Western Approaches

JTIDS                        Joint Tactical Information Distribution System

KGB                          Komitet Gosudarstrennoi Bezaposnosti (Soviet secret police)

LAW                         light-armour weapon

LRMP                       long-range maritime patrol(s)

MAD                        mutual assured destruction

MCM                       mine counter-measures

MIDS                        multi-functional information distribution system

MIRV                       multiple individually targeted re-entry vehicle(s)

MLRS                       multiple-launch rocket system

MNR                        Mozambique National Resistance

MPLA                       Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola

MRCA                      multiple role combat aircraft

MRUSTAS                medium-range unmanned aerial surveillance & targeting system

NAAFI                       Navy, Army & Air Force Institutes

NADGE                     NATO air-defence ground environment

NATO                       North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NCO                         non-commissioned officer

NORTHAG                Northern Army Group

NPA                          National People’s Army

OAS                          Organization of American States

OAU                         Organization for African Unity

ODCA                       Organization Democratica Cristiana de America

PACAF                      Pacific Air Force

PLA                          People’s Liberation Army

PLSS                         precision location strike system

RAAMS                    remote anti-armour mine system

RDM                        remotely delivered mine(s)

REMBAS                  remotely monitored battlefield sensor system

RPV                           remotely-piloted vehicle(s)

RWR                         radar warning receiver

SAC                           Strategic Air Command

SACEUR                    Supreme Allied Commander Europe

SACLANT                  Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic

SADARM                   seek and destroy armour (ATGW)

SAF                           Soviet Air Force

SALT                         Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

SAM                          surface-to-air missile(s)

SHAPE                       Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe

SHQ                          squadron headquarters

Sitrep                        situation report

SLBM                        submarine-launched ballistic missile(s)

SLCM                        submarine-launched cruise missile(s)

SLEP                          service life extension programme

SNAF                         Soviet Naval Air Force

SOTAS                       stand-off target acquisition system

SOUTHAG                 Southern Army Group

SP                             self-propelled

SRF                           Strategic Rocket Forces (Soviet)

SSBN                         submarine(s), strategic ballistic nuclear

SSGN                         submarine(s), guided missile nuclear

SSM                          surface-to-surface missile(s)

SSN                           submarine(s), nuclear

START                       Strategic Arms Reduction Talks

SURTASS                  surface-towed array sensor system

SWAPO                    South-west Africa People’s Organization

TACEVAL                  tactical evaluation

TACFIRE                   tactical fire direction

TACTASS                  tactical towed array sonar system

TAWDS                    target acquisition and weapon delivery system

TERCOM                  terrain contour matching (guidance system)

TNF                          theatre nuclear force(s)

TOW                        tube launched optically tracked wire guided (ATGW)

UKAD                       United Kingdom Air Defence

UNIFIL                      United Nations Force in Lebanon

UNFISMATRECO      United Nations Fissile Materials Recovery Organization

UNITA                      National Union for the Total Independence of Angola

USAF                        United States Air Force

USAFE                      United States Air Force Europe

USAREUR                 United States Army in Europe

VELA                        velocity and angle of attack

V/STOL                    vertical/short take-off and landing

WESTLANT               Western Atlantic

ZANLA                      Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army

ZIPRA                       Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army

Earlier this year, at Eastertide in 1987, we, a group of Britons deeply aware of how narrowly such freedoms as the Western world enjoys had been able to survive the onslaught upon them of the enemies of freedom in August 1985, completed a book about the causes, course and outcome of the Third World War. In the prologue to that book (a short piece of writing of which every word stands as firmly today, six months later, as it did then, and perhaps deserves re-reading) we wrote: ‘Much will be said and written about these events in years to come, as further sources come to light and further thought is given to this momentous passage in the history of our world.’* A good deal more information has indeed become available since then.

* The Third World War: August 1985 (Sidgwick and Jackson, London, and Macmillan, New York, 1978)

The belligerent involvement of Sweden and Ireland, for example, was passed over in our first book, not through unawareness of its importance but through uncertainty about the political implications of some aspects of it which suggested an approach like that of Agag, who trod delicately. The same was true of the neutrality of Israel, under joint guarantees from the USSR and the USA. We could do little more than state this at that time as an end-product, since here too there were uncertainties in issues where precipitate judgment could have been prejudicial. We are now able to go more fully into the process which led to the establishment of an autonomous Palestinian state and the stabilization of Israeli frontiers under guarantee, though the reader will note that the great powers came very near to such conflict over this issue as could have caused the Third World War to break out at least a year before it did.

In Central America and the Caribbean there was also danger of a premature explosion. There has now been developing a Latin-American community (in which a non-communist Cuba plays a critically important role), with the interest and support of the United States but with no intent on its part of total dominance. These matters were at a delicate stage when we last wrote. We can now report more freely on the development of this regional entity as it grows in robustness. It emerged in circumstances so dangerous that the USSR was almost able to secure the defeat of NATO before a shot was fired on the Central Front. We can now examine why.

In the Middle East, in North Africa (where the extinction of over-ambition in Libya was received with almost worldwide acclamation), in southern Africa, and in the Far East we are also now able to take the story further.