Fascist Jörg Haider dies in car accident

[Ghostrider]

For what purpose would a nuclear mine be useful/necessary?

Demolition. I take it we're talking SADMs (Special Atomic Demolition Muntions) here, not antipersonnel nukes. It's the kind of stuff you can also leave behind in order to pull a nasty surprise on your enemy.

 

[Jarvitä]

Also, I'd imagine, to block major roads and other transit routes with radiation

 

[Tschachim]

Just a small side note, as usual the first conspiracy theories about Haider's death already popped up, first and foremost by the infamous German crackpot Gerhard Wisnewski (only in German, sorry), of course it was no accident, but he was murdered by You-Know-Who...

http://info.kopp-verlag.de/news/beobachtungen-am-unfallort-von-joerg-h.html
http://info.kopp-verlag.de/news/ente-im-phaeton-kleid-medienfaelschungen-im-fall-haider.html

Cheers
Tschachim

 

[Urwumpe]

For what purpose would a nuclear mine be useful/necessary?

Demolition and denial of transit for troop concentrations. Nothing is worse for the enemy as a underground nuclear explosion, if you want to slow down troops. Creates a huge crater at the wrong place in his eyes and the radiation caused is very strong, as you have lots of material around the bomb in the moment of explosion. It does not stop the enemy, like all mines. But when it explodes right in the moment you transport a motorized rifle brigade through a keyhole, you can imagine the consequences.

As it aims directly at enemy troops, it is a tactical weapon. Most nuclear weapons are actually strategical as they aim for hardened C³I targets.

 

[David]

OK. Thanks.

 

[Andy44]

When every one of your NATO tanks is facing down dozens of Soviet tanks, nuclear landmines seem like a pretty good idea. So do nuclear artillery shells, tactical nuclear missiles, man-portable nuclear weapons, nuclear anything sonds like a great idea under those circumstances. Eisenhower knew he couldn't match the Soviets in numbers, so he encouraged the development of these ideas. Some of them were truly weapons of desperation, like the nuclear bazooka (tip of the hat to Heinlein fans):

Atomic Annie was a little more useful, but also not practicle and had a short service life. The actual gun in this video is on display in Fort Sill, Oklahoma:

One of the inherent weaknesses with these weapons is that relatively low-ranking people would be expected to use nuclear weapons in a disciplined manner, while facing down a Soviet armored formation.

Yeah, good luck.

 

[Urwumpe]

One of the inherent weaknesses with these weapons is that relatively low-ranking people would be expected to use nuclear weapons in a disciplined manner, while facing down a Soviet armored formation.

Well, not a too bad fate. We Germans had been expected to make the life of the Warsaw pact invaders so hard, that they have no chance to leave the eastern half of western Germany.

Believe me, you can learn not to be scared, when suddenly a battalion of tanks rushes towards your emplacement. After all, it is only a battalion. And massive artillery strikes on you is not the worst which can happen. It could be your own artillery.

Like a friend once put it: "We are only expected to survive 2 seconds on the average in a battle, but we are also expected to take at least 3 of them with us in that time".