BRITAIN: ritish officials feared 12 million people would be killed instantly and four million seriously injured in a nuclear attack on Britain in the 1950s and 60s, according to documents unveiled yesterday.
Papers passed to the British cabinet assumed a massive nuclear attack that could have annihilated around a quarter of the population in the event of a strike by the Soviet Union.
Military officials also made detailed plans to govern Britain from a series of highly fortified bunkers and made contingency plans about how to launch retaliatory action in the event of the prime minister's death.
Many of the plans were so sensitive that even Cabinet ministers would only have been shown details on a need-to-know basis. But, in contrast to the seriousness of the threat, many of the preparations appeared to be absurd Dad's Army rehashes of second World War air-raid procedures.
The details emerged at the "Secret State" exhibition at the National Archives at Kew, in south-west London, due to open tomorrow.
The sheer scale of casualties in a worst-case scenario attack was predicted by civil servant Sir William Strath in a 1955 report.
He wrote: "Life and population would be obliterated by blasts and fire on a vast scale. An attack of the size assumed would unleash an explosive force equivalent to 100 million tons of TNT.
"This is 45 times as great as the total tonnage of bombs delivered by all the Allies over Germany, Italy and occupied France throughout the whole of the last war.
"A single megaton bomb could destroy any of our cities (exception Greater London) and all or nearly all its inhabitants.
"While much could be done to reduce the number of casualties, loss of life on a massive scale would be unavoidable.
"No part of the country would be free from the risk of radioactive contamination."
With typical understatement, it continues: "Morale would be very low."
Prof Peter Hennessy, who put together the exhibition, described the document as "the most chilling document ever prepared for British cabinet ministers. - (PA)