The Warsaw Pact’s plans for a possible invasion of Western Europe envision the use of the Second Strategic Echelon, primarily positioned in Belarus and western Ukraine. Most of the Red Army’s tanks and troop transports bound for West Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium would transit through Polish territory. The United States and NATO, overwhelmingly outnumbered on the ground, would likely use nuclear weapons to try to destroy these forces before they reached the West. It is estimated that several hundred nuclear devices would be detonated on Polish soil. Poland would be annihilated.
