© 2006 All Rights Reserved. Do not distribute or repurpose this work without written permission from the copyright holder(s).
Printed from https://danginteresting.com/curio/nuclear-landmines/
In 1950s-era Germany, the British forces which had been stationed there after World War 2 were understandably nervous about an invasion from the Soviet Union. The Cold War had begun, the Iron Curtain was in place, and Stalin was making every effort to compromise Germany’s capacity for another war despite attempts by the U.S. and England to rebuild Germany as the economic center of a stable Europe. Additionally, amid tensions, Stalin had split off the Soviet sector of Germany as a communist state.
It was generally perceived that the Soviet Union possessed overwhelming superiority in conventional weapons, and the threat of a new war with the communist USSR was looming over Europe. As part of the preparations for such a conflict, British forces developed a new kind of landmine to leave behind if they were forced to withdraw from Germany. It was codenamed the Blue Peacock, and it was essentially a nuclear landmine.
The seven-ton Blue Peacock consisted of a huge steel casing containing a plutonium core surrounded by high explosives. Its yield was about ten kilotons, and the plan was to bury and submerge ten such landmines around key targets in Germany in the event of an invasion. The mines would be set to detonate after eight days using a mechanical timer, or alternatively they could be exploded remotely from up to five kilometers away. Once armed, there was also an anti-tampering system which would detonate the bombs within ten seconds if they were damaged or disturbed. The mines were intended to cause massive destruction, and leave radioactive contamination over a large area to prevent subsequent occupation by Soviet forces.
One bizarre proposed design called for a casing capable of housing chickens, with the intent to use their body heat to prevent the electronics from being disabled due to winter’s cold. For this reason, the Blue Peacock is sometimes referred to as the “Chicken powered nuclear bomb.” Another design called for more traditional fiberglass insulation.
Two prototypes of the Blue Peacock were constructed and tested, though never detonated. In July 1957, British army leaders ordered ten Blue Peacock mines, which they planned to station in Germany under the cover story that they were atomic power units. But the project was cancelled before the order could be filled; Hiding nuclear weapons in an allied country was deemed “politically flawed” by military leaders, and the risk from radioactive fallout would have been “unacceptable.”
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Sounds like Britain was just plain chicken.
After the Blue Peacocks were canceled, they were converted to Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) deep oil fryers. LOL
I had heard rumors about nuclear land mines, but I am relieved to hear that they weren’t exactly something you could put in a backpack and sprinkle liberally about your perimeter.
And I thought the Bouncing Betty was bad.
Quite insane. And all without the knowledge of the German people. Would have been less random and more effective to load these bombs on to a trebuchet and lob them at the oncoming swarm of soviet tanks.
I thought nuclear detonation underground wouldnt leave as much radiation as one above ground. I guess i have been watching Broken Arrow one too many times. That’d be funny if they did go through with it, and with the help of this article, remind the british they have 10 nuclear bombs around Germany haha.
Holy crap!
Armani:
In general an underground detonation won’t release any radiation if it is deep enough. That’s the point of underground testing we did after people got too concerned over fallout from atmospheric testing (and after we vaporized most of the bikini atoll and some other various islands, and some islanders got exposed).
However, detonation just below ground level is worse than a bomb dropped from the plane. Imagine the bomb fireball as a sphere that forms around the bomb after detonation. If that fireball touches the ground the fallout is increased a lot. The worst case would be if the fireball center would be slightly below ground, an extreme level of radioactive dust and fallout would be created, as it blows a huge crater worth of dirt out of the ground and lofts it up into the clouds.
So a bomb that is buried a little is worse than one sitting on the ground, and much worse than the standard drop airburst at 1000 feet or so.
“…British army leaders ordered ten Blue Peacock mines.”
Well thank goodness military personnel nad/or civilians couldn’t just trot on down to their local hardware store to buy some of these little babies off-the-shelf or over-the-counter. See, there may be some advantage to having the military operate as slow as molassus in the middle of an arctic winter.
…and excuse me for asking…
“Two prototypes of the Blue Peacock were constructed and tested, though never detonated”
…but how do you test a bomb without detonation? That’s like two persons having sex without contact…so much for immaculate contraception.
It amazes me how limitless is the human intellect for destruction and dead. What was the point anyways with these bombs? Where they prepared to evacuate the german population from the areas of explosion, and relocate them where, in England perhaps? Was the whole point to leave ruined cities for the soviets to rebuild them? I have a very difficult time understanding the logic of military people, if they have any logic at all.
Hey, changing the subject: what’s with the dates on the responses? The article was posted on January 12, yet most of these responses say January 11. One says January 10, and one says January 31. Does the date/time come from the local computer of the responder? (Let’s experiment: my date/time is Jan 12, 2:06 PM.)
This is a classic Damn Interesting article which was originally published on 10 January 2006
There’s your problem. :P
If it was local… I’d set my computer clock to February 31st, 2357.
“Hi, my name is Dringlianchingfosheezy 367,913. I come from 350 years into the future. My world history teacher, Comrade Mrsrs John Jacob Fo-shizlax, has assigned me to collect data on why exactly your primitivev Germany (our Allemanxia) blew up in eight furious nuclear explosions a few weeks ago (or a few hundred years into your future.)
P.S.: I’ll be taking all of your oil, we need something to barter with. See, Mars captured God 3 (Jesus XIV’s father) in WWLXXVII (I believe you’ve only reached WWII at this point in time, am I right?) and he wants alternative energy since apparently, Fusion Reactors tend to cause rather serious mutations in locust, which has given the tenth run of the bibilical plagues a severe twist.
P.S.S.: Nessie’s about to go in heat and thousands will die, Bigfoot’s inbred and will inevitably land his seat in Congress, and of course, We Have Elvis.”
Sorry for spamming, I couldn’t get myself to stop and now it seems like a waste to delete it all.
another viewpoint said: “…and excuse me for asking…”Two prototypes of the Blue Peacock were constructed and tested, though never detonated”
…but how do you test a bomb without detonation? That’s like two persons having sex without contact…so much for immaculate contraception.”
I suppose that they tested the triggers, and possibly the chemical-explosive part of it with a dummy core, to make sure that the mines would work if needed.
A-ha! You forgot the perverbial Wikipedia link!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock
Just a suggestion.
Thomas :)
Erados – you’re crazy. But funny. If only all “spam” could be so creative.
Where’s Dr. Strangelove when we need him?
crispi said: “Where’s Dr. Strangelove when we need him?”
My favorite line from that movie: “Gentlemen! No fighting in the War Room!”
whew…thank god they cancelled the “politically flawed” plan.[ Japan would surely agree :( ]
“despite attempts by the U.S. and England” – does anybody know if the rest of the UK was involved in these attempts, too?
Yeah, “politically flawed” indeed.
“Hey, we have hidden a few nuclear bombs in various places in your country. Can’t tell you where, really, ’cause they’re, you see, hidden. But if you find one, please don’t try to remove it or in any way interfere with it, or it will blow in your face. No, don’t thank us.”
Every possible thing should be done to keep this away from Borat. Khazakstan may just take over the world.
Every Englishman must have a hobby. Some like to collect the stamp, some like to make the jam, but the most fun is to a kill a little animal with a shotgun or rip them up with wild dog.
—Borat Commenting on English hunting
I can see how you may not see the relevence of anything I said which might mean that i might not have had anything to say, but typing is fun though right?
Seems kinda f’ed up to annihilate another country just to cover your tracks if you have to retreat.
“Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent
for reasons which, at this moment, must be all too obvious…”
-Dr. Strangelove
RandomAction said: “Quite insane. And all without the knowledge of the German people. Would have been less random and more effective to load these bombs on to a trebuchet and lob them at the oncoming swarm of soviet tanks.”
hahaha, you would need a massive trebuchet.
(random action that wouldnt work) ok imagine ur a drafted soviet teenager ur 18 and a nuke mine goes off under ur feet that would be mean of the british cause 5/6 of the soviets army were drafted only 1/6 want 2 join
To answer Hangar’s question, I’m a Brit and nobody told me. But that could be for lots of reasons. Also, Erados, fantastic spamming!
Speaking of ‘politically flawed’ bombing, can someone please explain to me why Japan doesn’t hate the US. The Irish hate us for holding back potatoes, so how the hell does America avoid being reminded of Hiroshima. Just seems unfair. It also seems strange that you can kill more Irishmen by holding back potatoes than you can kill Japanese with an atomic bomb. Go figure.
Pff….the US had nuclear landmines as well, for the same reasons, with the difference that they were actually placed in Germany and that these deployments are probably still top secret. Read up on some literature from KGB defectors to learn more. They were planted near strategic bridges and such and routine maintenance actions made them a dead giveaway to the Russians…. And given the Russian succes in stealing nuclear secrets, they would probably have ways of disarming them before a full scale invasion.
In 1980 I was drafted into Czechoslovakian Army as a recon for 11th Independent Engineer Brigade in Hodonin. Part of my training included neutralization of nuclear mines and portable one man nuclear devices.
The scenario was that the mine would be placed in pre-build reinforced shaft located near strategic intersections or objects. The mine would be in shallow depth between 10 and 25 meters depending on geology of the surrounding terrain.
The article above mentions the denial of area due to the contamination, but there was also seismic shock aspect and destruction of man made objects such as hydroelectric dams, factories, bridges and railyards caused by the detonation. By using of these tactical nuclear devices the retreating force would be able to rapidly destroy numerous objects within certain radius of the detonation by placing just one device and therefore slow down the speed of the invading Warsaw Pact forces.
“The point of which is lost if you don’t TELL anyone about it. Why wouldn’t you tell the world, eh?!”
Crusty007 is right, the US *did* deploy a number of n-mines. They were not for the purpose of mass area contamination, but to destroy key routes and intersections into western europe – to deny their use to the soviets in case of a mass invasion. But they were removed in the 70s.
The threat of these TNDs was enough to keep the Soviets on their side of the border with East Germany.
Note to self: Finished.