P&S: Report on Germany (the Hörnla diaries)

St. Gallen – Switzerland - 17. Juni 2014

Hello everybody!

I am new to this “nuclear history” newsgroup, and actually to the global web in general. It is an amazing thing in order to get to know with people from around the world and I am happy to be on board.

I mean, I have had the opportunity to travel and get outside of Switzerland. I have been to France, Lombardy, Bavaria and even Britain. But it is dazzling to see contributions from Sweden, Australia, the USA, well, basically from all around the world. I read yesterday in the NZZ that one in ten Swiss households now has access to the global web, instead of one in twenty in 2011. And the web is expanding strongly in other countries, too! I hope that this new media helps to truly bring the world together, so that our understanding will prevent further world wars.

Of course, being 21 years of age I cannot tell you much from first-hand experience. And when the generation of my parents tells of the “hardships” which they experienced in the 1980s, I know that is nothing compared to what I read here about other places. But an interesting legacy came upon me due to the recent Death of my uncle Urs.
Urs Hörnla had been drafted into the Swiss military on the eve of World War 3 and later on took part in a lot of missions in destroyed Germany, and in other regions later on as well. He was apparently responsible for drafting a lot of reports evaluating the situation before retiring into civilian life again in 1991.

As a student of history, my family left me the mass of papers we found in his house after his burial. Written in a hard to decipher hand, they are a mass of diary-like entries (I am puzzled why he didn’t just use a book for that!). I cannot even say if these entries have been written at the date they claim, or in retrospect. Sometimes the latter may be the case. There are also first drafts of reports which he kept, and whose official originals might still be classified. I dare say that now, almost 30 years after the events and in a completely different world, this won’t count for too much, and I hope that I can contribute to this forum a little. The notes are difficult to read, but worthwhile, so I can only write something new every once in a while. I will certainly not be able to keep continuity about that, but I will try to stick to that fateful year of 1984 as much as possible.

Greetings from Switzerland

Kurt F. Hörnla


#####
Notes:

Kurt Hörnla as well as Urs Hörnla share my last name, but are utterly fictional alter egos. My own age (born in 1978) is too young for a relevant contemporary character.

The Swiss viewpoint is actually alien to me, having no family connection to that country (but I always seem to find very friendly Swiss people at work, currently sharing office with one); but if I would have written from a purely German perspective, it would have been to depressing for me to even start...

I will try to put the "Report On Germany" which I had created years ago for some of the other writers here in here as it belong, and also the little snippets I wrote later on, but which are still on hold. I am proud that the Report itself had been considered as near-canon for those who read it before.

As Kurt F. announced, it will less be a forthcoming story, not even a true timeline, but a random selection of documents. An addition to the P&S-verse which captured, and again and again captures, my imagination.

I guess it would be unwise to add it all in one heap....so I hope this thread remains growing for some time... And perhaps there are some discussions going with it.
 
Report on Germany, Chapter 1/4 and 2/4

2. Juli 1984
Report to HM Government in Portsmouth concerning situation in Germany as to Schweizer Armee and Schweizer Luftwaffe Reconnaisance Missions.
PLAN BLEU, Abteilung Nord
---
1. Considering the special emphasis the United Kingdom is going to give Germany and especially the British Occupied Zone, we will give you a thorough detail of our findings so far. This document does not go into detail into our contacts with the French, Austrian and Italian neighbours (Abteilungen West/Ost/Süd).

1.1 As we understand correctly, while the Royal Air Force and to a lesser extent the French Air Force have undertaken overflights, the NATO-countries have to rely on our experiences when it comes to the situation on the ground 4 months after nuclear war devastated Central Europe. You have to take into consideration that we will make the following knowledge, while partially classified, available to other NATO-countries if requested, as well as to other democratic Neutral governments.




2. This red line is our estimation of the frontlines on Tag X, or as it is referred to in the United Kingdom, "The Exchange". This can only be an approximation as we still lack clearer information except for official confirmations of war-events up until the first nuclear explosions. This simplified frontline going from the Bodensee Northwards and Eastwards probably doesn't take Red Army forays deeper westwards into acount. Neither does it acknowledge sidestepped NATO garrisons within Central Germany or fighting pockets of resistance with the exception of the significant cauldron around Kassel.

The pattern of probably tactical nuclear explosions generally confirms this assumption of the "major frontlines" on Feb 21st, 1984. We have not yet given priority to systematic interviews of survivors in order to get a 100% accurate picture of the last days of World War III.

What should be taken into consideration are the massive casualties all sides (civilian as well as military) already suffered during the first days of the war. The onslaught and the massive defense measures resulted in an amount of firepower reducing division after division, NATO and WP alike, to pieces along with villages and towns caught on the battlefield. Exact numbers were classified, but probably now not even attainable. The Swiss general staff’s evaluation suggests 60-80% losses of troops committed to the battlefield even before the onset of nuclear escalation.

2. 1 So, at this point of time, Warsaw Pact Forces had successfully invaded:

· Schleswig-Holstein
· Hamburg
· Bremen
· about two thirds of Niedersachsen
· most of Hessen, except for the populous Rhein-Main-area and the Kassel-cauldron
· Bavaria
· parts of Baden-Württemberg, esp. the Neckar Valley South of Stuttgart

2.2 In these parts of Germany, as well as in the former GDR, we have to take into account the presence of surviving Warsaw-Pact-soldiers in all sorts of formations, but just as well as single persons or in small groups unrelated to any pre-war military organization. As to our experience, almost none of these consider themselves as “belligerent” at this point of time.
However, especially larger Red Army formations may make it clear that they are on occupation duty in a certain territory they control. We treat such contacts with respect and carefully, opening up negotiations. We could so far avoid large scale fighting with any of these contacts and it is Swiss intention to solve the situation diplomatically. The numbers of Warsaw Pact forces are dwindling anyways, not only due to radiation-related casualties, but also due to widespread desertion. Polish and Czech formations which we still encountered weeks ago apparently have by now probably completely withdrawn homewards. This dissolution is more difficult for Sovjet soldiers. Not only have many encountered units confirmed that there is no communication with the Soviet Union, but also spread very firm rumors that small bands of Red Army soldiers would not stand a chance of crossing Poland or Czechoslovakia unattacked, or to be more blunt, alive.
We have not encountered parts of the British Army on the Rhein during the exploration of Northern Germany. Eye-witnesses in the Northwest of Germany repeatedly told us about British soldiers moving through westwards or south-westwards. The assumption is reasonable that these survivors headed for the Channel ports.
Due to our close geographic relation with France, we are in frequent contact with the remnants of the Forcés Armées Francaises. Officially, no French units are on the FRG’s soil. Once the exchange begun, they withdrew across the Rhein into France. By now, French officers have confirmed this to be a preset order for the case of such an event. At the present time, the French Army is still in a stage of re-organization while providing help in the law enforcement and reconstruction attempts around the devastated cities of especially Eastern France. We can confirm the nuclear destruction of (at least) Strassbourg, Lyon, Metz, Nancy, Belfort, Mulhouse, Toul, Sedan and Besancon.

No clear pattern has emerged concerning US troops. While many have moved westwards in the (as far as we know) vain hope of contact with US Navy rescuing missions, others stay close to their last designation, often banding together with surviving German civilians in order to manage the situation together, often the interaction with civilians have reached a degree where one cannot speak of an organized military any more. The latter situation has also been encountered more often than expected in the GDR with surviving Red Army garrison troops and/or administrative staff.
It has been Swiss policy during the last few weeks to allow US Americans asylum in Switzerland. Extrapolating the current trends suggests that less than 20,000 Americans might choose this option. A similar approach is about to be prepared concerning members of the Soviet forces, however, they are, at least initially, not supposed to enter Swiss territory but a kind of refugee-camp is to be set up in Southwestern Bavaria. The semblance that this is a POW-camp is to be avoided, and in fact, it would be wrong as it is not our aim to keep these men infinitely in our care. I will come back to that topic later when dealing with the Swedish involvement in the GDR.
 
You'll notice that my uncle used Soviet maps as waste paper to make first drafts of the maps he wanted to use for the final edition of this report. (Or perhaps someone else was responsible for actually providing maps, and he used these to show them what he found necessary to display).

I have actually no idea how he got his hands on these maps, probably during one of this reconnaissance missions. But I know that he had always been sort of fond of playing with maps and drawing on them.

*****

NOTE: funny thing is, I had googled 1980s maps which I could use in order to destroy Germany using Paintbrush. When I realized I used a map completely in Russian, I had come too far to start all over again.
 
17 June 2015 Burgdorf, Switzerland

Very interesting to read this. In 1984 my family lived in Derby, Britain. Fortunately for us my father was Swiss (he died last year from cancer believed to have been caused by radioactive fallout) My parents had the foresight to get me and my sister Swiss passports.

In mid January, as war became increasingly probable my parents took me out of the boarding school I was at (I never saw any of my old frieds there agai but some of them at least survived and some of us have recently been able to correspond via the global web. There is talk of a school reunion next year. The school itself survived but many other parents took their children out prior to the outbreak of hostilities and many died during the nuclear war and its' aftermath.

Switzerland mostly avoided nuclear attack but was of course badly hit by the fallout. As Swiss nationals we were of course able to take shelter in the Alpine Redoubt as it is known along with much of the population. Times were very hard with food rationing and overcrowding being real problems.

In 1990 I was called up for my National Service as was every other young Swiss of my age. We were deployed to Southern Germany to assist with the stabilisation methods. I was in a number of significant fire fights against mostly ex Warsaw Pact types but we did have a couple of engagements wih /NATO types as well. These were essentially bandits left over fro units that disbanded themselves after World War 3.

After my military service ended i 1992 I went to Berne Universityto study History and Politics. Afterwards I went into politics and now work in the Foreign Minstry of the Federal Governmemnt which is very interesting work indeeed.

Switzerland of course annexed some of the old German territories during the early 1990s after my military service ended. To be honest there was really no option other than to take this decision and to adopt a similar policy with parts of Northern Italy and Austria in order to secure or Northern, Southern and Western borders. Most people still living there welcomed the security and stability Switzerland brought and of course an end to he chaos that had reigned since 1984. There is however still much work to be done in rebuilding Europe and Switzerland will no doubt play a magor role in this as a major European power.

Sadly we had to abandon our pre WW3 posture of neutrality but we are working closely with the British and French governments. There are discussions about the formation of a European Union, pooling our resources to rebuild Europe but this, though public knowledge, is still at an early stage,
 
Excellent start! After reading through all the P&Sverse timelines, I've always wanted to hear more about what (if anything) was left in Germany in more detail, so great stuff! I look forward to reading more!
 
I can confirm that survivors of BAOR did indeed head westwards after 'The Exchange'. The Portsmouth government arranged for the RN/RFA and STUFT to bring back as many troops as possible in a latter day Operation Dynamo.

There was a fear that the Soviets might have used BW against them, so they were quarantined for a while. Testament to the ferocity of the fighting only small number of the survivors were from 1 (UK) Corps (i.e the fighting arm of BAOR), most came from British Support Command (generally logistics, signals, transport units with only a small number of combat arms).

The RN/RFA also brought back troops of the UKMF, who were in Denmark, and from the UK/NL Amphibious Force from Norway.
 
Some NATO troops operating in Southern Germany were interned in Switzerland for several years. Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops made several attempts to violate Swiss borders after the nuclear exchange and were repelled by the Swiss Army in a number of heavy engagements over the Spring and Summer of 1984.

After a few months or years many of the NATO troops were repatriated where they actually had a country to return to. Many of the former West German soldiers were eventually allowed to settle in Switzerland. Some Italian soldiers were also allowed to settle.
 
Testament to the ferocity of the fighting only small number of the survivors were from 1 (UK) Corps (i.e the fighting arm of BAOR), most came from British Support Command (generally logistics, signals, transport units with only a small number of combat arms).

I work with a guy who was BAOR in the 80's and and from what he has told me this kind of survival rate was expected just from a conventional conflict, let alone a nuclear one or chemical.

I discovered this contemporary (filmed 1981-1982) documentary series on youtube recently, and have found it fascinating, both for the interviews and insights it contains, and the access it got to participants on both sides as well. Also refreshing is the frank honesty verging on outright cynicism from the host.

This part deals with the conventional war in Germany, and the expected transition to chemical and nuclear warfare. Of particular pertinence here is the section from 24:00 where the host visits the Fulda Gap, and from 26:00 where BAOR tank personnel are very frank about their survival prospects. A little further on there are illustrations of the reality of trying to operate in an NBC environment. The section with the Medic from 45:00 or so, and again from 49:40 or so is somewhat chilling. I'm glad I managed to avoid seeing this in the early 1980's - on rewatching it to get the timepoints it doesn't get any less surreal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJU5DDh0DEc



 
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Report on Germany, Chapter 3/4

3. The “Exchange” – Tag X






This is our estimate of the nuclear explosions on German ground. These number about 500 on the territories of the FRG and GDR combined producing widespread destruction and massive fallout, while obliterating the majority of still remaining air- and land forces from all sides as well as instantly killing many millions of Civilians.

There might still be mistakes inherent on this map, but we estimate these to be neglibile. The color coding is for internal processing and represents an estimate concerning the provenience and nature of nukes. These mean no incriminations nor allegations. However, dark blue and purple circles mean ground zeros which are probably caused by tactical warheads. We estimate that each side fired about 100-120 on Tag X. While a few were used at the Northern approaches to the Austrian alps, most of them completely destroyed a stripe of land along the frontlines.
There are slight differences in the use of these nukes. Soviets chose their targets virtually on the frontlines. We think that they expected to simply blow holes into the front and continue their offensive behind them. NATO’s use of tactical nukes was a bit more spread out. We assume that a good part of targets where chosen in order to interrupt logistically important points behind the front.

Light blue and bright red dots represent other nuclear explosions. Our evaluation suggests that both sides generally targeted the same kind of areas: airbases and airports, ammunition depots with probable nuclear stockpiles, major military bases of land forces, ports and naval bases, strategic headquarters, also industrial centers above a certain significance. We are quite sure that the high density of military installations within both the FRG and the GDR might have helped to conceal this development, but effectively, almost all towns with more than ca. 50,000 inhabitants have been directly or indirectly hit to an extent that they are wiped off the map.

Nuclear power plants have not been targeted directly, as far as we can see, nevertheless, some have been destroyed as “collateral damage” or due to the breakdown of the general infrastructure. This concerns the following installations: Kahl, Unterweser, Phillipsburg, Neckarwestheim, Würgassen, Greifswald (GDR), Karlsruhe, to some degree also Biblis and Obrigheim. A further 7 productive plants have been shut down in time and also weren’t targeted. Radiation as to these incidents are at this point of time just a contributing factor. Our experts say, though, that in the long run the radiation due to destroyed nuclear power plants might well outlast those of the nuclear exchange.

The grey nukes outside of Germany are less reliable when it comes to the situation in the Netherlands and the CSSR. Considering Austria, Eastern France and of course Switzerland, though, our knowledge is quite accurate.
 
OTL-Note:
The rest of the report will have to wait a short while. I am going to visit (ironically) Munich, ATL one of the last halfway-standing German cities.

See you all next week!
 
As Swiss nationals we were of course able to take shelter in the Alpine Redoubt as it is known along with much of the population.

If I am not mistaken, the Alpine Redoubt is actually a military fortress/concept in case of an invasion of Switzerland on the ground.

The Civil Defense of Switzerland still obliges every house to include a sufficient nuclear shelter....and with the long build-up of tensions, I assume that they have all been well-stocked and equipped. There have been years when Switzerland had more fully equipped places than actual inhabitants.

For an extreme example of Swiss preparedness see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnenberg_Tunnel
 
If I am not mistaken, the Alpine Redoubt is actually a military fortress/concept in case of an invasion of Switzerland on the ground.

The Civil Defense of Switzerland still obliges every house to include a sufficient nuclear shelter....and with the long build-up of tensions, I assume that they have all been well-stocked and equipped. There have been years when Switzerland had more fully equipped places than actual inhabitants.

For an extreme example of Swiss preparedness see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnenberg_Tunnel

True, the Alpine Redoubt was originally prepared as a defensive sructure in case iof invasion. However, in late 1983, as war began to look inevitable the Swiss Government decided to use the facilities as an additional shelter including for Swiss nationals who decided to return to the home country and for other Swiss nationals as well as the armed forces. Ths of course included me and my family and we were set there as soon as we arrived a day or two before the war began. It was fortunate that my parents saw the way thngs were going. Had we lef it a few hours later we might not have go out of Britain at all or have ben trappedby the war in eiher France or Germany.

Many of my relatives did indeed use their own home shelters and all of them survived thankfully. Sadly someofthem died later from radiation induced cancers.
 
Ah, I remember reading this a couple years ago as a PDF. Good to see it as an actual spinoff.

Isn't Munich controlled by a Russian general armed with a dozen Scuds? Seems like Bavaria finally got its Räterrepublik. :p
 
20 June 2015 Burgdorf Switzerland

Apparently Munich is under control of a Russian officer who claims to have a number of working Scud missiles. He calls himself General Kartsev. Whether he actually is a general is doubtful as is his possession of Scuds. Even if there is truth in the rumours it is doubtful the Scuds could even be launched after so many years.

As yet Switzerland has had other priorities than dealing with the so called "Soviet Republic of Bavaria. However, there is a limit to what I am allowed to say by the Swiss Foreign Ministry. I had to check with my superiors before commenting on the Munich situation.
 
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