Just Finished Reading: Attack Warning Red! - How Britain Prepared for Nuclear War by Julie McDowall (FP: 2023) [212pp] 

When the Soviets developed the atomic bomb in 1949 – years ahead of expectations – Britain needed a response. So, deep inside the defence apparatus old World War Two plans were dusted off and tweaked to take into account the enhanced devastation caused by nuclear warfare. Plans for evacuation to safe areas, movement of essential workers and industries were drawn up, government bunkers and safe places for historic treasures were set aside. Then came the Soviet hydrogen bomb test. Hydrogen bombs are a very different beast to their atomic brethren. Hydrogen bombs use atomic bombs as their detonators and have no theoretical upper limit of power – as long as you have the ability to build it or deliver it on to a target. The existence of such weapons made the earlier plans completely obsolete. A handful of bombs, dropped on the west coast, could both destroy major cities and produce enough fallout that ALL of Great Britain would be contaminated to such an extent that life itself might not be possible. So, no safe zones and no evacuation. Shelter in place was the new message. Or, as the cynics no doubt said, dig you own grave as no one is coming to rescue you. 

Even the limited options available to the government aroused opposition. Some considered that ANY measure taken to survive a nuclear strike made the use of nuclear weapons more, not less, likely. Some even suggested that merely possessing nuclear weapons made the country a target and that the best defence was no defence. Understandably the government disagreed. If protection or defence was impossible then the only valid option was retaliation – the incredibly aptly named policy of MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction. If a nuclear strike was incoming the UK (and presumably its allies) would target the enemy with ITS nukes and EVERYONE would die. At first the UK tried to develop its own ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) force but failed. Then it developed nuclear armed bombers – the fabled V Force – and then, in co-operation with the Americans, settled on nuclear armed submarines with some always at sea waiting to respond. 

I was, to be honest, slightly disappointed when this book arrived from Amazon some months ago. It was, it seemed to me, both short and ‘journalistically’ chatty rather than solidly academic. But once I started reading, I was HOOKED. Not only was this a fascinating look at UK government policy during the Cold War on Nuclear War, it was interlaced with interviews of people ‘on the ground’ as well as personal recollections from the author who was, she admits, traumatised at a young age when she was allowed to watch the controversial TV recreation of a nuclear strike on the city of Sheffield – Threads. I remembered that show (at least vaguely) and agree that it was pretty harrowing even watching it as a cynical teenager. I also remembered a conversation my Law teacher had with us one day at college. She was, we all knew, a middle-class (rather posh in her way) trendy Leftie and I really liked her. She wanted to know what we thought of nuclear weapons and the possibility that it could all be over in a matter of minutes after missile launch in the Soviet Union. I think we shocked her somewhat. Not one of us was overly bothered by the fact that we had a nuclear Sword of Damocles hanging over us 24/7. I actually remember saying that yes, we recognised the reality of the situation but that it wasn’t anything to lose a night's sleep over. We couldn’t do anything about it, it was completely outside of our control and if it ever did happen it was probably a GOOD idea to die in the initial attack. 

I do ‘remember’ (possibly falsely!) several tension moments when Britain was on HIGH alert status and Russian bombers were regularly buzzing our airspace and testing just how fast out alert fighters could get to them (damned fast apparently!). I even recall (again possible false memory alert!) stories of fighters sitting on the tarmac with their engines running complete with pilot ready to go. The pilot had to be changed every 2 hours because of the stress of sitting there. As far as I know that alert status lasted around 48 hours. TENSE! 

Of course, we’re living in a time were phrases like ‘nuclear war’ or ‘World War 3’ (NOT the same thing) are being thrown around like confetti. This is, of course, simply to raise people’s anxiety levels and is, I believe, a complete and total bluff. Most especially when one nuclear power threatens another nuclear power with nukes. That’s just stupid. I even heard a so-called ‘public intellectual’ saying on TV that the UK should give Putin what he was demanding “because he has nukes”. Well, so do we and I’m pretty sure that ours will work and will go where they’re aimed. I’m not so confident about Russian nukes or whether they’ll either stay in their silos or simply blow up in them.  

This was an interesting read although a little harrowing at times as you might expect. If you’re easily upset or prone to nightmares, I might want to avoid it, but if you’re made of sterner stuff and especially if, like me, you spent your formative years living under the threat of nuclear annihilation this is definitely a book worth reading. Recommended and more on this subject to come – eventually.