Well, I know this is a bit of a vague question, but I want to write some alternate universe military fanfiction on the likes of the Wargame series. Basically, I'm asking if anyone here can explain to me (or link to websites) the role of the warsaw pact allies of the Soviet Union in a war, and by that I meant to say how they fit in with the Red Army's offensive and defensive plans.

Did they have their own separate doctrines and command staff or were they just subordinated to whatever the Stavka saw appropriate?

Did they have their own roles and strategic plans or were they always attached to the Red Army? Were they supposed to accomplish strategic objectives of their own or did they just hang around to augment the Soviets?

I saw something about East Germans being supposed to take Denmark, which makes sense seeing the geography of the two countries, but were they expected to do so without soo much involvement or were the armies of the buffer states gimped so badly they they didn't really have any operational independence?

You'll have to PM Ikalugin for lots of information about PACT's side.

In terms of global strategy, NATO was basing its defences on the fact that if USSR attacked, they would nuke (and get nuked back) each other to smithereens. The armies were rather "Weak" and in a conventional war, NATO would have lost once the USSR's warmachine would have started. NATO would have, in a conventional fight, used lots of air support, Neutron "anti-armoured batallions" nukes, while the ground armies would hold and get pushed back slowly (especially if the war started in Germany.

PACT wouldn't have attacked though. The Soviets had their "Buffer zone" with its.. Herm... Allies... for an attack from nato to be slowed down and a massive counter attack would have been prepared. Nukes would have been used tactically (small scale) to wipe out major clusters of troops. The armies were less reliant on air support that was mostly short range counter-attack than straight up agression (they would have broken NATO air support if they were attacked, but wouldn't be able to reliably and repeatedly attack NATO ground).


Soviet doctrine was all about counter attacks, NATO doctrine was all about fallin back while causing as much damage as possible.

The "Minor nations" on pact side were just there to hold NATO's attack until the soviet war machine was launched. Htere participation would ahve been minimal overall.

_________________
"Rocks are OP. Paper is fine" signed: Scissors

My Youtube Channel

Relevant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days ... iver_Rhine

For that matter, is there any good website to show the CSPA's organization and the vehicles they used? Wikipedia seems pretty half-assed about it.

If you can get your hands on Chris Donnelly's 1988 book "Red Banner", one of the later chapters (Allies and Alliances) will answer your question quite well.

_________________

Thanks a lot for the reference, I'll be sure to check it out.

Is there also any reference for the hypothetical strategies of NATO and the Warsaw Pact in the event of aggression from either side? I'm interested in seeing if the campaign was as well researched as I think it was or if they just sprayed Germany with random NATO symbols and I was all too guillible to notice

I have a saved doc of a discussion on the topic led by a historian specializing in the Soviet military; you can check it out for any interesting bits:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F6d ... sp=sharing

_________________

There were four fronts:
Polish Front - Danemark, Northern Germany, Holland... and further to Scandynavia if needed.

1st Western Front (Soviet)
2nd Western Front (Soviet)
Czechoslovakian Front
...well... NORTHAG, CENTAG and then... France.

All commanded from Supreme HQ of Armies of Western Front (or something like that, anyway Главное командование войск Западного направления - ГКЗН) in Polish city - Legnica.



Polish battleplan was looking somewhat like THIS. Map might be a bit old but general idea would b the same.


More cool pictures:

_________________

http://www.wargame.com.pl/ - Polska strona o WARGAME!!!
Air Force and AA defense of NSWP NEED URGENT FIX!!!

The command structure differed. Although strategic command was in the hands of Soviets, some NSWP nations had more freedom than others. While Polish for example were expected to operate semi independently in their own sector/task, NVA was under direct command of GSVG commander and he had authority to mobilize it without consent of the E.German goverment if I remember it correctly.

The so called 1st and 2nd Western Fronts were expected to be made out of GSVG troops and Soviet troops from Poland. The so called Czeckoslovakian Front was expected to include Soviet forces from Czeckoslovakia.

The initial offensive focus (and breakthrough) was expected in Northern Germany by the forces of the so called 2nd Western Front, while (so called) 1st Western and Czeckoslovakian Fronts would operate vs CENTAG.

_________________

We need more missilez code for the missilez god.
Praslovan:
"Tactical Ikalugin inbound on this position in 10... 9..."

Wow, the Polish map is pretty amazing, it's pretty surprising that the PRP was in charge of taking over the entire coast down to Belgium, isn't that a bit of a rough task to give them considering that those are basically the NATO main supply line?

Also, are those Warpac equivalents to NATO symbols?