16. The Combative General Who Wanted to Risk WWIII
In practice, tactical nukes were dispersed throughout Cuba to various Soviet units, under the physical control of officers as low down the chain of command as captains. Soviet forces had drilled in the use of those weapons as part of their defensive plan. In the heat of battle, the custodians of those weapons would have been under intense pressure as they were subjected to overwhelming US aerial strikes, naval bombardment, and ground attacks. It is not difficult to envision a desperate local commander in such a scenario, perhaps cut off from communications with higher authority, resorting to the tactical nukes at hand to save his command, or at least ensure that its demise did not come cheap.
The Red Army at the time, with victory in WWII only 17 years in its past, did not lack military pride or an ethos of defiance unto death. If the Soviets used nukes in Cuba, the US intended an overwhelming nuclear response. Things could easily have escalated from there to a full-blown nuclear exchange that would have devastated both countries and Europe, irradiated the Northern Hemisphere, and set humanity back centuries. Luckily, President Kennedy resisted the pressure from his generals and admirals, especially General Curtis LeMay. Instead, JFK relied on diplomacy, back channels, and blockade, to successfully defuse the crisis without triggering WWIII.
Read More: 19 Things About the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
