Vasili Arkhipov
From History New Network by Douglas Gilbert author of The Last Saturday of October: The Declassified Secrets of Black Saturday:
“Vasili Arkhipov is arguably the most important person in modern history, thanks to whom October 27, 2017 isn’t the 55th anniversary of WWIII.” – Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute, October 27, 2017.
Two men fought. With explosions deafening their ears and extreme heat broiling their brains, they fought. While their ship’s crew was passing out from oxygen deprivation and heat exhaustion, they expended their remaining strength to fight. With the fate of their nation and all the world at stake, two men fought each other to find the least violent solution. They decided to save the world, to prevent its immediate consensual devastation by armageddon. They defied death and their superiors by not initiating the act that would destroy hundreds of millions of lives and threaten everyone who might live beyond that moment.
The true story of a thwarted event may evade historical consideration. Unknown to the US intelligence agencies, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev deployed five submarines carrying nuclear torpedoes and special forces under the cloak of secrecy, deception and maskirovka to advance his political agenda, to project his profound commitment to advancing the cause of the international socialist revolution, and to rectify the imbalance of nuclear military power.
The rush-rush preparations created chaos prior to the voyage, and the brigade commander suffered a massive hypertension attack after his mission briefing. He was replaced twenty-six hours before departure. They sailed from above the Arctic Circle and voyaged into the Cuban Missile Crisis under sealed orders in October 1962.
Read the rest of the article at History News Network
Categories: Cold War History
Leave a Reply