Protect & Survive

antogrimes

Hey,
Im 21, and I have a huge interest in Cold war political climate/situations.
In particular Ive been studying Nuclear Weapons in all aspects (their manufacture, use as a detterent, and political implications) for the last 4 years in my spare time,

Im just wondering, during the late 70s/80s did Ireland ever have any nuclear attack leaflets/broadcasts/information just like the USA during the 50s/60s and the UK during the 70s/80s?

For example, folow this link for the UK "Protect and Survive" leaflets : http://www.cybertrn.demon.co.uk/atomic/

Also does Dublin even have an air raid siren??

Im just wondering about all this to feed my interest, and also fight my paranoia

Cheers
Anto

Clare gunner

Yeah,they did all right.There was one in the 60/70s called Bas Beratha[SIC]. wether it was issued alot or not I dunno.But it was done on the same paper I remember as the old Irish school reader of that era[Dating myself here:D ]
And had the same art work as well.So I would assume issued by an Irish Govt printing dept.A lot of nonsense,and very impractical advice.Like filling your closets with earth and using them as blast /radiation shields,and move them into position after hearing the Radio Eireinn warnings.:eek:
The second one,is Survival printed 1987.
Same school reader type artwork and layout.Same sort of not very helpful info,stay indoors,fill up closets,etc etc,then they cover evacuation.THAT should have been fun in real life.
All in all it is the Irish civil defence plan,go home,stay indoors,and kiss your a24se goodbye.then whoever survives wont have the hassle of burying you in unmarked graves,as you conviently diedat your home address.
Final update is the Joe Jacob,take your iodine pills,and stay indoors farce.
Not that I am aware of about the siren network.They seem to be relying on RTE to tell us what to do.Be a bitch if there is ever a high alt EMP nuke detonated over UK/Europe.Thats the end of ALL electronic stuff,inc RTE.:rolleyes:

antogrimes

Thanks a mill for clearing that up for me,

I find that any form of info regarding this topic is near impossible to get in Ireland,
So using the info you gave me I can look into this a bit further.

However I understand that there was probably a general mentality in Ireland at the time saying 'Were neutral, we wont get attacked directly'
id reply to that saying with - get your mittens ready for the Nuclear Winter then...

If the West of the UK got hit directly by an air or ground burst then say goodbye to dublin (especially when the Nuke would be up in the Megatons!!!)

So before i rant on further, thanks again for the info,

by the way Lord Of War is an amazing film, gotta love it, especially the life of a bullet bit at the start, best thing about the film as a whole is that its completely true! It perfectly depicts the entire cold war situation, with Proxy wars included n all!

Fenian

then say goodbye to dublin

Well that's no harm

Hecate

antogrimes: If your interested in this kind of thing you should check out the 1984 BBC drama/documentary "Threads" (if you haven't already!). It gives a very graphic picture of a nuclear war and it's aftermath, based on very real political situations at the time - a possible Soviet/Warsaw Pact push into Iran and western Europe.

Particularly funny, in a grim sort of way, is how the "Protect and Survive" information they feed the population in the run up to the attacks turns out to be complete and utter tat.

antogrimes

Hey Hecate,

Well im glad you mentioned Threads, I own this on DVD and have watched it about 5 or 6 times now, - hence the paranoia
Its so grim.... depressing... and realistic.
Also it totally sums up the political climate at the time, M.A.D.
(I also like the way it has a young Papa Dingle out of Emmerdale in it)

Another good (animated) film about nuclear war is When The Wind Blows, by the same lad who wrote 'The Snowman'
Very sad ending but its a great film, really gets you deep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows

Great soundtrack too.

Im just wondering is it possible that some ppl out there have similar interests as me in this field????
I thought I was the only one!

Hmmm......

Clare gunner

antogrimes wrote:

Thanks a mill for clearing that up for me,

I find that any form of info regarding this topic is near impossible to get in Ireland,
So using the info you gave me I can look into this a bit further.

No prob,I was in the same position as well,big binto survivalism or it's pc term prepardness,back in the 80s.

However I understand that there was probably a general mentality in Ireland at the time saying 'Were neutral, we wont get attacked directly'
id reply to that saying with - get your mittens ready for the Nuclear Winter then...

Well we would have been in for abit of a shock then.As it is more than likely that Warsaw pact would have wanted to deny NATO any sort of secondary ports and airfields.It is confirmed by old Warsaw Pact Generals that Shannon,Dublin,Cork ,Belfast[3 targets] Lisburn,and more than likely Knock and Galway would have been hit by tactical nukes,if NATO invaded ,or before WP got here first.Ireland was the weak backdoor into Natos air defences.
I doubt very much the Nuke winter nonsense put out by Karl Sagen is still belived,actually I thought it was now proven bunkum.

If the West of the UK got hit directly by an air or ground burst then say goodbye to dublin (especially when the Nuke would be up in the Megatons!!!)

You would have to have somthing REALLY worthwhile on the West Uk to drop a megaton bomb on[Thats equiv of one MILLION tons of TNT].The last bomb that size was the Russian "Czar"built in the 50/60s,and it was aircraft dropped.The reasons the Russians built such monsters was they could never get their missile guidance as accurate as the West,so build a sledge hammer to crack the nut.Accuracy is everything ,inc in dropping nukes.We could get ours within a quater mile of ground zero,the Russians maybe a mile.So you need the bigger bang to knock the target.The Czar would have been a city killer,but it was old before it was deployed.Missiles had taken over from bombers,and the H bomb was more userfriendly on a missile,and accuracy is more important.So unless Cardiff was worth flattening totally,the USA/Britan were deploying in Baldonnell.We would have been saying in Dublin"did Ya hear dat Bang?"
Plus air or ground bursts are two different things;Ground is used for hitting hard targets like bunkers or the like.Air is to destroy soft targets like cities.
Again there is was a lot of nonsense put out by anti nuke groups like CND about the effects of nuke war,its surviveability,etc.There is plenty of good info about surviveability out there .Like life after doomsday,you will survive doomsday,nukewar survival skills.
Threads [1987] was good and realistic,much better than the day after or testament[both sponsored by anti nuke war groups]Another good one is Alert [1960s] another British BW film about an attack on Britan and aftermath.

by the way Lord Of War is an amazing film, gotta love it, especially the life of a bullet bit at the start, best thing about the film as a whole is that its completely true! It perfectly depicts the entire cold war situation, with Proxy wars included n all!

Well, not quite ALL true ,according to mr Orlov personally.;) A few scenes are well jazzed up and some complete fiction[like the Berlin arms fair.Not a hope of THAT ever happening in Germany EVER!] I could tell you how I met Yuri Orlov personally once.But then I would have to track everyone down and kill them who read this.:D A story one day for my book.

Catenaccio!

Sorry to drag this up but I was wondering who sounded the air raid siren back during WWII? Does he have a particular title?


Odd but important question, thanks.

Dummy

I do remember one evening in the late 70's or early 80's, RTE ran a training exercise one evening in co-ordination with the emergency services. It was to simulate an attack on the UK and gave reports every few minutes of the spread of fallout across the country - wind speeds, direction and detection of fallout.

Might be an idea having a chat with your local senior Civil Defence Officer and ask them about it.

Kalimah

I remember having Bas Beatha in the house at home for many years. It frightened the living daylights out of me when I was a child. I think it might have been issued in the late 60s or early 70s. I read it so many times it fell to bits.

BullyBeef

Well time feels like it gets faster the older I get , yes the public information was distributed across Britain , public information broadcasts & regular documentaries about such things.
The animation movie when the wind blows was shown more than once , but it was used as public information in a way as it was advertised a lot before the broadcast.
Early warning [think it was 3 mins] sirens were mounted on buildings or telegraph type poles , they were basically grey metal objects with a type of reinforcing mesh on them.
Edwin star [American soul artist ] had sang WAR on the tamala mowtown label some time before but Frankie goes to Hollywood did a cover version & 2 TRIBES that includes the early warning sirens & president Ronald Reagan making a speech. Children often used to play dying fly it was basically about the instruction to take shelter underneath the classroom desks but as a joke/satire they often rolled onto the back with legs & arms above simulating a dying insect.
I think the public soon realised that under attack the chance of survival was bleak .Of course there were often the two sides to the pro or anti nuclear debate with demonstrations Greenham Common & peace camp or faslane etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Tribes