The Soviet Union dropped an atomic bomb near Red Army units in 1954 to test the effects of the blast and soldiers' ability to fight on irradiated ground, a newspaper disclosed Friday.
"After the atomic strike, there were not only no landmarks left on the terrain, but also the area itself became unrecognizable," said the armed forces daily Red Star. "However, the troops fulfilled their assigned tasks completely."The newspaper said the bomb was dropped from a plane in the south Urals. It did not report casualties or address the long-term health problems caused by radiation and how the soldiers may have been affected.
In the United States, 100 nuclear tests were conducted above ground at the Nevada Test Site near Las Vegas prior to 1963, when President John F. Kennedy signed the treaty banning explosions in the atmosphere.
On April 22, 1952, a bomb was dropped from a U.S. airplane and detonated in the air as reporters sat on bleachers watching. The event was seen live on network television. Scores of soldiers who were assigned to the U.S. test site during the above-ground explosions have sought compensation from Congress for illnesses they trace to the testing.
Red Star said foxholes and fire trenches, many with overhead covers, and deep underground shelters with double doors were built for the soldiers, equipment and ammunition involved in the Soviet exercise.
The newspaper said the bomb was exploded because of the Cold War and at a time when NATO forces in Europe were expanding by bringing West Germany into the defense alliance. "It never occurred to us to question any measure meant to bolster the army's battlewor-thiness and the country's defense capability," Red Star said.
The newspaper's expose was titled "The Explosion We Can Now Talk About." Although testing of the atomic device was reported by the official Tass news agency three days after it took place, there was no mention then that troops were involved.
At the time, the effects of radiation were the least understood aspect of atomic weapons, the report said. "The bomb was exploded 500 meters (yards) above ground, leaving little radioactive contamination," the newspaper said.
Since 1963, all U.S. nuclear tests have been buried in holes drilled beneath the Nevada desert or in tunnels carved into hillsides.