- During the Cold War, military planners wanted nuclear weapons that they could use without triggering a total nuclear war.
- This led to the development of tactical nuclear weapons for use against military or military targets.
- Army Green Beret teams were trained to transport these nuclear weapons to their targets, which they considered a one-way mission.
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During the Cold War, as the nuclear arms race became more frantic, a nuclear confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union remained a major concern.
With intercontinental ballistic missiles, missiles launched by submarines and aerial bombs, the two countries had several options when it came to nuclear war.
But the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the last days of World War II made clear the destructive capacity of nuclear weapons and the danger of a large-scale nuclear conflict.
As a result, US strategists looked for ways to use nuclear weapons without triggering a total nuclear war.
The tactical nuclear option
An M-388 Davy Crockett nuclear weapon mounted on a rifle with no recoil at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, March 1961.
US Department of Defense
In the 1950s, the United States Armed Forces came up with the tactical nuclear option, using weapons with a lower yield and range than their strategic counterparts.
These weapons would be used on the battlefield or against a military target to gain an operational advantage. For example, the Air Force could drop a tactical nuclear bomb on a Soviet division that invaded Poland to prevent its advance without triggering a disproportionate response – like a nuclear attack on New York City.
There were two types of tactical nuclear ammunition: Average Atomic Demolition Ammunition (MADM) had a medium yield payload and required several troops to carry it. The Special Atomic Demolition Ammunition (SADM) had a low yield payload, but could be carried by a soldier.
The order to use tactical nuclear weapons has yet to come from the political and military authorities. SADMs were subject to the same command and control procedures as other tactical nuclear weapons and should be used only if there was no other way to create the desired effect.
Tactical nuclear weapons came in many forms, including artillery shells, gravity bombs, short-range missiles and even land mines. But perhaps the most interesting iteration was the “nuclear bomb”, which was to be carried by Army Special Forces operators.
Green Light Teams
US officials with a nuclear weapon M-388 Davy Crockett. He used one of the smallest nuclear warheads ever developed by the United States.
United States Government
Specially trained Green Berets were assigned to Luz Verde Teams. Its aim was to clandestinely deploy in NATO or Warsaw Pact countries and to detonate its SADM in conflict with the Soviets. The Pentagon later added North Korea and Iran to the target list.
The main targets of Green Light’s teams were tunnels, main bridges, mountain passages, dams, canals, ports, major railway centers, oil facilities, water factories and underground storage or operations facilities.
In other words, SADMs were designed to slow the enemy down by destroying or significantly altering the landscape or targeting the logistics, communications and operations centers that are vital to an army, especially during offensive operations.
The Green Light teams carried mainly the MK-54 SADM. Nicknamed “Monkey” or “Pig”, the device weighed almost 60 kilos and fit in a large backpack.
In each team, there was a chief operator who was primarily responsible for activating SADM. He and other team members held the codes needed to activate the bomb.
Like all Green Berets, the Sinal Verde teams were trained in various insertion methods, including parachuting – both in static line and in military freefall -, skiing and combat diving.
Freefall was probably the most realistic method of insertion other than soil infiltration, but doing so with the device was difficult.
During parachute inserts, the chief operator was rarely able to jump with the device because there was a high likelihood of injury to the jumper, and the chief operator was the key to the mission’s success.
An operator would have to tie the SADM between his legs like a backpack, but the device would work against him while trying to stabilize himself in the air before launching his parachute. Even in static line skydiving, when the connecting cable is attached to the plane, there would still be problems.
Parachutists will release their backpacks or other heavy loads attached to them via a line just before landing to avoid injury. But SADM tended to get stuck between the jumper’s feet in the crucial seconds before landing, resulting in several sprained ankles and broken legs.
Everything, even closely associated with the Green Light teams, was highly secretive, and the seriousness of the mission followed Green Light operators out of work. They were instructed to travel only on American planes and never fly above a communist country if the plane needed to make an emergency landing, which could cause them to be detained by local authorities.
No one is coming after us
Soldiers from the 77th Special Forces Group are towed on skis during training at Camp Hale, Colorado, February 5, 1956.
The Denver Post via Getty Images
A common trait among successive generations of Green Light teams was their distrust of leadership when it came to their specific mission.
“During training, the instructors told us that we had about 30 minutes to clean the device’s blast radius. We never really believed that,” said a retired Special Forces operator who served on a Green Light team.
“In all other missions, the teams would have an extraction plan. We don’t. It was up to us to get out of combat. But that’s not how the Army works. That’s why we never really believed we could make it out alive if we had to. to use one of those things. It was a one-way mission, “added the retired Green Beret.
Green Light teams were deployed forward in Europe – even in Berlin – always waiting for the launch. Some Green Light teams even sought to deploy within East Germany to be ready should the Soviets release their military in Western Europe.
Green Light teams also moved to South Korea at different times and were on standby if tensions with North Korea turned into war.
With the end of the Cold War, Green Light teams were deactivated. They were never used in an operation in the real world.
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a veteran of the Hellenic Army (National Service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ) and graduated from Johns Hopkins University.