The Third World War: August 1985

The Commanders-in-Chief of JACWA discovered first that, whether they liked it or not, they would become, early on in a typical ‘invasion from the East’ situation, engaged in a battle for the Baltic Exits; they might also find themselves arranging for the withdrawal from West Germany and the Netherlands of warships and submarines nearing completion, or refitting, lest they should fall into enemy hands. In fact, had they not existed at the outbreak of the Third World War, Cs-in-C JACWA would have had to be created. Their task included the entire planning and operational responsibilities which had fallen to the Admiralty during both the previous world wars, in its capacity as a command post for operations in home waters and the North Atlantic. It was still in his capacity as C-in-C Fleet, however, and not as Naval C-in-C JACWA, that the British admiral set in train the NORSECA plan (see above).

APPENDIX 4: The Home Front

I: A summary of events in civil defence in the seven vital years 1978-85

1978

Government allocation for civil defence at approximately style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: black'>£2 million (in real terms about one-twentieth of the 1968 budget) is totally inadequate. Government directives and plans for dealing with emergencies are out of date and irrelevant. Except in a few counties there is little or no interest in civil defence or emergency planning.

1979

Formation of National Emergency Volunteers (NEV) — a voluntary, self-financing organization formed to recruit, train and equip civil defence workers at parish/community level and to encourage parishes and urban communities to plan and organize as survival units in an emergency — with the emphasis on self-sufficiency.

In a period of massive unemployment and uncertainty the NEV rally strong support. Under imaginative and forceful leadership it begins to impress government and local government with the urgent necessity of taking positive action to restore a civil defence capability.

In late 1979 the government passes legislation facilitating the embodiment of TAVR in an emergency.

1980 and 1981

The NEV increase rapidly in all counties. Fifty per cent of all rural parishes now have workable emergency plans and are equipped with radiac instruments and chemical detector papers, and 65 per cent have one or more civil defence advisers. In urban communities the proportions are 12 per cent and 18 per cent.

1982

In March 1982 a US bomber carrying five 10-megaton nuclear weapons collides in mid-air with a Jumbo jet over Hampshire and crashes in flames on Fawley oil refinery. There is no nuclear explosion, but a substantial escape of radioactive cloud which blows across Southampton Water. Radiation is detected by a NEV operator in Warsash. His early warning makes possible rapid evacuation of population in the path of the fall-out as far inland as Petersfield. Casualties treated number 631 and include five deaths. Population in southern counties alerted.

Later in the year the IRA threaten to detonate a nuclear warhead in the Bristol Channel. The partial evacuation of Bristol is started before the threat is disposed of. The public is now aroused to demand that the government provide proper protection in an emergency with a faster reaction time.

1983

The government passes the Civil Protection (Emergencies) Act, giving statutory recognition to the NEV with an annual allocation of style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: black'>£2 million per annum for the purchase of civil defence equipment at parish/community level, and to defray administrative and training costs.

The total grant for civil defence and emergency is increased by £30 million per annum; this includes provision for the hardening of essential communications systems against EMP (electro-magnetic pulse).

This Act sweeps away the former emphasis on secrecy, and introduces a new two-stage emergency warning — Phase 1, ‘Warning Stand-by’; Phase 2, ‘Action’ — and stresses that each level of authority in an emergency — region, county, district, parish, ward, street association, etc. -must plan and equip to be self-contained at immediate notice and to survive for at least a week without help from outside.

All authorities down to and including parish/community level are directed to prepare and update emergency plans for approval by government inspectors. These plans should provide for the appointment of a controller and emergency committee with the necessary powers to run the parish/community and co-ordinate survival measures in emergency for a considerable period.

1984

International tension is growing. There is talk of a possible world war. NEV step up recruiting and training. Most rural parishes are equipped and ready. Less than 40 per cent of urban communities are prepared.