aircraft, but this is a risky method which has yet to be perfected. Better
methods are needed for evacuating men from territories where there is no sea
nearby, where the helicopter cannot be used and where an aircraft cannot
land.
___
A Soviet general named Meshcheryakov opened up a vast area for study
and research when he made the proposal that the armed forces should `create
for spetsnaz the kind of conditions in which no one should interfere with
its work'. There are many problems here which Soviet science is
concentrating on trying to solve. Who interferes with the work of spetsnaz?
Primarily the enemy's radar system. Radar installations interfere with the
activity of the entire Soviet Army. In order to open the way for the Soviet
Army into the territory of the enemy it is necessary first of all to `blind'
the enemy's radar system. That is always one of spetsnaz's principal tasks.
But to carry it out, the radars obstructing spetsnaz itself have somehow to
be put out of action. One solution to this problem is, prior to dropping the
main spetsnaz force, to send small groups behind the enemy's lines who will
clear the way for spetsnaz which will in turn clear the way for the whole
Soviet Army. Such a solution can be regarded as satisfactory only because no
other solution has so far been found. But terrific effort is being put into
the work of finding some other solution. The Soviet high command needs a
technical solution, some method that would make it possible, even for a
short period, simultaneously to `blind' the enemy's radar over a fairly wide
area, so as to give the first wave of spetsnaz the opportunity to carry out
its mission.
Anti-aircraft systems are the main killers of spetsnaz. The soldier in
a transport aircraft is utterly defenceless. One quite small missile, or
even a shell, can kill spetsnaz troops in whole groups. What can be done to
put out of action the anti-aircraft defence systems at least on a narrow
sector before the arrival of the main force of spetsnaz on the enemy's
territory? Much thought is being devoted to this. The solution may be
technical. GRU's spies may help. But spetsnaz can help itself by recruiting
an agent long before the war begins and teaching him what to do on receipt
of a sign from the centre.
Once it has arrived in enemy territory spetsnaz is vulnerable from the
moment of landing to the moment of meeting up with its own troops.
In order to increase its effectiveness and create conditions in which
`no one should interfere with its work' intensive work is being done on the
development of jamming stations to be used in areas where spetsnaz is
operating, to prevent the enemy's electronic devices (radio receivers and
transmitters, radars, optical-electronic devices, computers and any other
instruments) from working normally so as to interfere with the co-ordination
of the various enemy forces operating against spetsnaz.
Aircraft and helicopters cause a great deal of trouble for spetsnaz.
Spetsnaz already has fairly impressive means of its own for defending itself
from air attacks, but work is now going on to provide spetsnaz groups with a
reliable anti-helicopter weapon, and to develop a weapon capable of covering
considerable areas or even of establishing zones free of all air activity by
the enemy.
Finally, weapons systems are being developed of which the main purpose
will be to isolate fairly large areas from penetration by the enemy's ground
forces. This involves the use of mines and automatic guns mounted and hidden
near bridges, crossroads, tunnels and so forth, which operate automatically
and destroy the enemy trying to transfer reinforcements into the area where
spetsnaz is operating and so to interfere with its work.
___
The process of seeking out especially important targets in the enemy's
territory will in future be carried out not so much by spetsnaz men on foot
or even `jumping' as by automatic machines of a fairly simple (not by
today's standards perhaps, but certainly by tomorrow's) and reliable
construction.
Work has been going on for quite a long time on the development of
light (up to 100 kilograms) cross-country vehicles with remote control. The
vehicles tested have mostly been driven by electricity. They have been
steered by remote control with the aid of television cameras installed
inside them, similar to some modern bomb-disposal equipment. Apart from
using them to find the targets, experiments have been conducted into using
them to destroy targets by means of a grenade-launcher mounted in the
vehicle or an explosive charge that detonates on contact with the target.
The rapid advances in electronics open up enormous possibilities for the
development of light remote-controlled vehicles capable of covering large
areas quickly and noiselessly and of destroying targets in enemy territory.
Pilotless aircraft have long been used for identifying targets over
large areas, and the Soviet Union is a leader in this field. Take, for
example, the Soviet strategic high-flying pilotless rocket-driven plane
known as the `Yastreb'. A tremendous amount of work is being done on the
development of relatively small pilotless spy-planes. In the future such
planes will take off not only from Soviet territory but from enemy territory
as well. Soviet airborne troops and spetsnaz have for long been very keenly
interested in the possibility of developing a very light pilotless aircraft
that could be put together and launched on enemy territory, survey vast
areas and transmit a picture to Soviet troops. The ideal aircraft would be
one carrying not only the equipment for carrying out reconnaissance but an
explosive charge as well. Once it discovered the target and transmitted a
picture of it, it could attack it independently. There is nothing fantastic
about this plan. Modern technology is quite capable of building such an
aircraft. The problem is simply to make the aircraft sufficiently light,
cheap, reliable and accurate.
Advances in spetsnaz follow the usual paths. While this research goes
on at the cutting edge of Soviet military power: improvements are being made
to the familiar weapons and increases in the range, accuracy and fire-power
of grenade-launchers, rifles and other armament; improvements in the quality
of footwear, clothes, soldiers' equipment and means of communication of all
kinds; and reductions in the weight of weapons like mines along with an
increase in their destructive potential.
--------
Chapter 15. Spetsnaz's First World War
I was standing on the top of an enormous skyscraper in New York when I
saw King Kong. The huge gorilla surveyed Manhattan triumphantly from a dizzy
height. Of course I knew it wasn't real. But there was something both
frightening and symbolic in that huge black figure.
I learnt later that the gorilla was a rubber one, that it had been
decided to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the showing of the first
film about King Kong by creating a gigantic inflatable model of the beast
and placing it high above New Yo
rk. The rubber monster was hauled up and
swayed about in the wind. From the technical point of view the operation had
been a real triumph by the engineers and workmen who had taken part in it.
But it was not an entire success. The monster turned out to be too huge,
with the result that holes appeared in its body through which the air could
escape. So the gigantic muscular frame quickly collapsed into a shapeless
bag. They had to pump more air into it, but the harder they pumped the
bigger the holes became and the quicker the air escaped from the monster. So
they had to keep on pumping....
The Communist leaders have also created a rubber monster and have
hauled it up to a dizzy height. The monster is known as the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, and the Soviet leaders are faced with a dilemma: to
expand or to decline rapidly and become a flabby sack. It is interesting to
note that the Soviet Union became a superpower in the course of the most
destructive war in the history of civilisation, in spite of the fact that it
suffered the greatest loss of life and the greatest destruction on its own
territory. It has become a military superpower and perhaps war is essential
for its existence.
I do not know how or when World War Three will start. I do not know
exactly how the Soviet high command plans to make use of spetsnaz in that
war: the first world war in which spetsnaz will be a major contributor. I do
not wish to predict the future. In this chapter I shall describe how
spetsnaz will be used at the beginning of that war as I imagine it. It is
not my task to describe what will happen. But I can describe what might
happen.
___
The last month of peace, as in other wars, has an almost palpable air
of crisis about it. Incidents, accidents, small disasters add to the
tension. Two trains collide on a railway bridge in Cologne because the
signalling system is out of order. The bridge is seriously damaged and there
can be no traffic over it for the next two months.
In the port of Rotterdam a Polish supertanker bursts into flames.
Because of an error by the captain the tanker is far too close to the oil
storage tanks on the shore, and the burning oil spreads around the harbour.
For two weeks fire brigades summoned from practically the whole country
fight an heroic battle with the flames. The port suffers tremendous losses.
The fire appears to have spread at a quite incredible speed, and some
experts are of the opinion that the Polish tanker was not the only cause of
the fire, that the fire broke out simultaneously in many places.
In the Panama Canal the Varna, a Bulgarian freighter loaded with heavy
containers, rams the lock gates by mistake. Experts reckoned that the ship
should have remained afloat, but for some reason she sinks there and then.
To reopen the canal could well take many months. The Bulgarian government
sends its apologies and declares itself ready to pay for all the work
involved.
In Washington, as the President's helicopter is taking off, several
shots are fired at it from sniper's rifles. The helicopter is only slightly
damaged and the crew succeed in bringing it down again safely. No one in the
craft is hurt. Responsibility for the attack is claimed by a previously
unknown organisation calling itself `Revenge for Vietnam'.
There is a terrorist explosion at Vienna airport.
A group of unidentified men attack the territory of the British
military base in Cyprus with mortars.
A serious accident takes place on the most important oil pipeline in
Alaska. The pumping stations break down and the flow of oil falls to a
trickle.
In West Germany there are several unsuccessful attempts on the lives of
American generals.
In the North Sea the biggest of the British oil rigs tips over and
sinks. The precise reason for this is not established, although experts
believe that corrosion of main supports is the culprit.
In the United States an epidemic of some unidentified disease breaks
out and spreads rapidly. It seems to affect port areas particularly, such as
San Francisco, Boston, Charleston, Seattle, Norfolk and Philadelphia.
There are explosions practically every day in Paris. The main targets
are the government districts, communication centres and military
headquarters. At the same time terrible forest fires are raging in the South
of France.
All these operations -- because of course none of these events is an
accident -- and others like them are known officially in the GRU as the
`preparatory period', and unofficially as the `overture'. The overture is a
series of large and small operations the purpose of which is, before actual
military operations begin, to weaken the enemy's morale, create an
atmosphere of general suspicion, fear and uncertainty, and divert the
attention of the enemy's armies and police forces to a huge number of
different targets, each of which may be the object of the next attack.
The overture is carried by agents of the secret services of the Soviet
satellite countries and by mercenaries recruited by intermediaries. The
principal method employed at this stage is `grey terror', that is, a kind of
terror which is not conducted in the name of the Soviet Union. The Soviet
secret services do not at this stage leave their visiting cards, or leave
other people's cards. The terror is carried out in the name of already
existing extremist groups not connected in any way with the Soviet Union, or
in the name of fictitious organisations.
The GRU reckons that in this period its operations should be regarded
as natural disasters, actions by forces beyond human control, mistakes
committed by people, or as terrorist acts by organisations not connected
with the Soviet Union.
The terrorist acts carried out in the course of the `overture' require
very few people, very few weapons and little equipment. In some cases all
that may be needed is one man who has as a weapon nothing more than a
screwdriver, a box of matches or a glass ampoule. Some of the operations can
have catastrophic consequences. For example, an epidemic of an infectious
disease at seven of the most important naval bases in the West could have
the effect of halving the combined naval might of the Soviet Union's
enemies.
The `overture' could last from several weeks to several months,
gradually gathering force and embracing fresh regions. At the same time the
GUSM would become involved. Photographs compromising a NATO chief appear on
the front pages of Western newspapers. A scandal explodes. It appears that
some of the NATO people have been having meetings with high-ranking Soviet
diplomats and handing over top secret papers. All efforts to refute the
story only fuel the fire. The public demands the immediate dismissal of
NATO's chiefs and a detailed enquiry. Fresh details about the affair are
published in the papers and the scandal increases in scope. At that moment
the KGB and GRU can take out and dust off a tremendous quantity of material
and put it into circulation. The main victims now
are the people whom the
Soviets had tried to recruit but failed. Now carefully edited and annotated
materials get into the hands of the press. Soviet Intelligence has tried to
recruit thousands, even tens of thousands, of people in its time. They
include young lieutenants who have now become generals and third secretaries
who have now become ambassadors. All of them rejected Soviet efforts to
recruit them, and now Soviet Intelligence avenges their refusal. The number
of scandalous affairs increases. The nations discover to their surprise that
there are very few people to be trusted. The Soviet intelligence service has
nothing to lose if the press gets hold of material showing that it tried to
recruit a French general, without saying how the attempt ended. It has even
less to lose on the eve of war. That is why the newspapers are full of
demands for investigations and reports of resignations, dismissals and
suicides. The best way of killing a general is to kill him with his own
hands.
There is a marked increase in the strength of the peace movement. In
many countries there are continual demands to make the country neutral and
not to support American foreign policy, which has been discredited. At this
point the `grey terror' gathers scope and strength and in the last days of
peace reaches its peak.
From the first moment of the first day of war the main forces of
spetsnaz go into action. From then on the terror is conducted in the name of
the Soviet Union and of the Communist leadership: `red terror'.
But between the `grey' and the `red' terror there may be an
intermediate period -- the `pink' terror, when active military operations
have not yet begun and there is still peace, but when some of the best
spetsnaz units have already gone into action. The situation is complicated
by the fact that, on the one hand, Soviet fighting units are already in
battle, but that, on the other hand, they are not yet operating in the name
of the Soviet Union. This is an exceptionally risky moment for the Soviet
high command. But he who risks nothing gains nothing. The Soviet commanders
want to gain a great deal, and so are ready to risk a lot. A great deal has
of course been done to reduce the level of risk. Only a relatively small
number of spetsnaz troops take part in the `pink' terror, but they are the
best people in spetsnaz -- professional athletes of Olympic class.
Spetsnaz: The Inside Story of the Soviet Special Forces Page 24
