1200 Heavy air attacks on Birmingham Airport during night. About 30 HE bombs fell in Sparksley area, approx 170 casualties. Police, rescue, fire, etc, in control. Still no water or electricity. 1410 Epidemic of sickness and diarrhoea reported to District.
9 August
0800 Emergency Control HQ at Holt House destroyed by direct hit with 225 kg HE bomb at 2131 yesterday and Controller and Emergency Committee members and all Control Staff killed. All CD equipment except one dosimeter destroyed. Reserve Emergency Control HQ opened up in Parsonage House at 0400 and stand-by Emergency Committee members and Controller took over as agreed. Supply of dosimeters, survey meters, chemical detector papers, respirators and protective clothing received from District at 0700. Priority phone connection established at 0750.
Eight killed, seventy-three injured and gassed in village in last night’s raid caused by HE and nerve gas. All casualties evacuated to Axminster.
0900 120 cattle and sheep killed previous night. Buried at Holt Pits.
1015 New stand-by Controller and BREMCO members appointed. Reserve Control HQ will be at Hayes Farm.
1350 Burial service of casualties of last night’s raid. Service in Parish church.
1500 Farmers report large number cattle and sheep with unusual symptoms, thought to be due to nerve gas. District asked to send vet.
12 August
0800 BBC report Warsaw Pact forces still advancing southwards up west bank of Rhine. Continued enemy A/C attacks on UK airfields, ports and power stations.
0900 Outbreak sickness and diarrhoea reported Rest Camp I. District asked to send doctor.
100 °Controller meets deputation from refugees who complain of inadequate food and harsh and uncomfortable living conditions, and say that many do not wish to work on farms and all have to walk too far to work and for their meals. Controller explains necessities but promises to try to improve conditions.
1800 The first of the daily evensong ecumenical services in the Parish church. Full.
19 August
0800 BBC reports NATO counter-attack northwards towards Bremen has made headway, and enemy’s southern advance has been stopped. No air attack on UK for 48 hours.
140 °Cricket match — Village v the Rest. Village 86 all out, the Rest 87 for 4.
1900 Evening concert Village Hall.
20 August
1140 District reports nuclear explosion Birmingham area.
1300 BBC confirms high-yield nuclear bomb burst over Birmingham at 1130. Very heavy casualties and great damage. Villages within 50 kilometres and in path of fall-out cloud being evacuated. Govt warns there is possibility that other nuclear strikes may be expected.
160 °Controller addresses village on sports field — explains position and rehearses nuclear drill. Everyone to continue as normal with no extra precautions.
1130 Extraordinary bright flash in southern sky, followed by ascending, expanding huge red ball of fire. Immense shock wave later. Can it be?
0028 Residents’ party in Control HQ ends at midnight. Little activity in UK over past 72 hours. Many hope war will be over in few days. But who has won?
1100 Routine call to District. Signal loud and clear.
1128 Warning — all Control Posts to stand by for urgent signal.
1129 Signal — RED ALERT (air raid warning sounded): ‘President USA has received Soviet warning of immediate nuclear attack on Birmingham Engla… [The charred remains of this log were found in the cellar of the ‘Red Cow’.]
APPENDIX 5: Deployment of Forces and Equipment
Authors’ Note and Acknowledgements
We who have put this book together know very well that the only forecast that can be made with any confidence of the course and outcome of another world war, should there be one, is that nothing will happen exactly as we have shown here. There is the possibility, however, that it could. There is also the very high probability that unless the West does a good deal within the next few years to improve its defences a war with the Warsaw Pact could end in early disaster.
Those who argue for the reduction of defence expenditure in the countries of the West not only seem to live in a land of total make-believe, but they refuse to give the Marxist-Leninists who govern the USSR any credit either for meaning what they say (and have been saying for a long time) or for knowing what they are doing. What they have been saying, and have not ceased to say, is that the capitalist countries of the West are doomed to go down before the inexorable advance of communism, with the Red Army playing a major part in their overthrow. What they have been doing is building up huge armed forces, far greater than what would be necessary, in any conceivable situation, for their own defence, at a cost gravely detrimental to domestic development in the USSR and in a mode essentially
We have been encouraged by signs around us that among the peoples of the West the point, on the strength of such indications, is beginning to be taken. We have outlined a possible course that improvement to the defences of the West might take, in full awareness that it might take others. We have assumed that enough is done to ensure that, when the Soviet machine travels of its own momentum along a path of miscalculation and mischance towards an attack on NATO, the West, at some cost, is able to survive. It is possible, of course, that enough will not be done. The outcome is then likely to be different. This is not to suggest that a war is bound to happen, or even that it is likely. If, however, there could be no question that, in the event of war, the Warsaw Pact would win, the free countries of the West would be in no position to withstand political pressure from the USSR, which would enjoy the fruits of a military victory without having to fight for it.
We have had invaluable advice from a great variety of sources, including the Ministry of Defence in London, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe, Allied Forces Central Europe, the British Royal Military College of Science, and elsewhere.
We are much indebted to a widely acknowledged expert on the Red Army, Professor John Erickson of Edinburgh University.
We are particularly indebted for advice to General M. Davison (formerly C-in-C USAREUR) and General W. de Puy, both recently retired from the US Army. They have given invaluable help on more than one aspect of our work.
