In the event of a nuclear war, the Pentagon in 1956 listed 1,200 cities and 1,100 airfields spread across eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and China that were prioritized for various levels of destruction, should the unthinkable happen.
The goals were twofold: Deny the former Communist Bloc’s ability to field an effective air force and then destroy its ability to wage a protracted war.
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The details of the Pentagon’s plans were revealed in the recently declassified Strategic Air Command Atomic Weapons Requirements Study for 1959.
The National Security Archive, an organization run by George Washington University, published the study last week. It called it ‘‘the most comprehensive and detailed list of nuclear targets and target systems that has ever been declassified.’’
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The document, written before the age of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, or ICBMs, outlines a main effort initially to destroy the Soviet Union’s ability to field its bomber fleet against NATO countries and US interests in Europe.
The first two airbases slotted for destruction, Bykhov and Orsha, are both in Belarus, while the first two cities targeted are Moscow and Leningrad (modern-day St. Petersburg). In Moscow, the Strategic Air Command picked 175 ‘‘Designated Ground Zeroes’’ or DGZs, while in Leningrad there were 145.
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