Atomic Weapons – Cold War Giants

Just had the honor of attending a celebration of Bernie Bernstein receiving the Congressional Gold Medal at Harper College in Schaumburg. Bernie served in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in the 23rd Special Headquarter Troops commonly called the Ghost Army of World War II.

In this photo Bernie, who was a spy, is 99 years old and is in the center. To the left is Rick Beyer, the President of The Ghost Army Legacy Project (ghostarmylegacyproject.org). Rick spearheaded the drive to honor these men that served in the top secret ghost army, and were never recognized for their service. The Ghost Army first contingent arrived on Omaha Beach on D-Day+8 days and trained for more than 21 deception operations. They supported Generals Patton, Montgomery, and Bradley while logging many miles in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. Their most successful deception for which General “Hood” Simpson wrote a letter of commendation to Army Headquarters was in aiding the crossing of the Rhine by his 9th Army. Decoying the Nazi’s to move 35,000 enemy troops to the southern sector while General Simpson crossed in the north-virtually unopposed, with only 32 casualties. During this deception, utilizing acoustic, radio, camouflage, and “loose lips” in pubs, the 1100 Ghost Army GI’s appeared to be 2 divisions of 30,000. The playacting the Ghost Army utilized, or “loose lips” in local pubs, was improvised during the war as the Nazi’s relied more and more on ground spies for information about where US & Allied troops would be positioned. About 1,000 “ghosts” on the frontlines of the Rhine, without weapons, truly did rely on their brains to beat the enemy, more than their brawn.

Bernie Bluestein told a couple of good stories about this deception. He was tasked with both sewing the fake 89th division patches on the shirts of his colluding GIs, and washing and painting the 89th division markings on the jeeps.

It was a wonderful ceremony at Harper College with speeches from among many delegates of both IL Senators Duckworth and Durbin, as well as Congressman Krishnamoorthi, Harper College President Avis Proctor, Rick Beyer as well as Bernie’s son Keith.

United States “Game Changer” Weapon Breakthrough May, 1953 facilitates end of Korean War

In the biggest weapon breakthrough since the day the atomic bomb destroyed much of Hiroshima, Japan, the US ran a military exercise simulating an Army battalion possessing a nuclear warhead. All previous nuclear bombs had been dropped from planes.

To end WWII, the Enola Gay, under the direction of President Truman, had dropped a 10,000 pound “Little Boy” bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. On May 23,1953 the United States would again fire “the shot heard round the world” when it’s Army fired an 800 pound bomb of equal power from a cannon. The cannon, nicknamed Atomic Annie, had its origins in the large Nazi cannons captured from the Germans in WWII and brought back to the US.

The United States War Games on May 25,1953 were attended by our highest ranking military officials including both the Chairman-elect of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Army Joint Chief of Staff. The nuclear warhead fired from a cannon would have much greater precision at hitting it’s target than the bomb dropped on Japan. The atomic cannon’s pinpoint precision would allow the United States to kill the enemy combatants without any civilian casualties.

Commenting on atomic artillery the WWII hero, 5-star general and newly elected President Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower commented “If I had an atomic bomb that just killed the enemy military, why wouldn’t I use it? It would be like using a bullet.”

Ike tremendous popularity was based on his promise to end the Korean War. Atomic Annie gave Ike just what he needed to end the war quickly and among foreign communist leaders, they knew Ike would use any weapon to do so.

The Nevada desert war games could be seen from the famous “Vegas Strip” and many vacationers watched the nuclear explosions and mushroom cloud from their pools or balconies.

The two photos with this blog are a picture from the Nevada Strip and the front page of the NY times announcing the era of atomic artillery had begun and the US Army was now the most powerful Army in the World”. Said Pentagon officials in the NY Times “The balance of power in the Cold War has now put the United States above the Soviet Union”.

When Ike swept to his Presidential Victory in November 1952 he promised 2 things: an end to the Korean War and reducing the military budget. With the Atomic Annie he had the capability to accomplish his most cherished goal of ending the killing in Korea, but now the age of atomic artillery had begun and controlling the budget during the Cold War Arms race would prove more difficult.

The Nevada war games, that witnessed the Atomic Annie, lasted about 10 days and on the last day, Ike announced that after a two year stalemate in armistice negotiations, there was a major breakthrough and the communists had agreed to all of his demands, unconditionally.

Category: Atomic Weapons

Bernie Bernstein receiving the Congressional Gold Medal

Defense of The United States

Game Changer

FOR SALE NOW