OPLAN Fulda

World War III

By: Leo Barron

Narrated by: David de Vries

May, 1989. The two nuclear superpowers are finally talking peace, but not everyone in the Soviet Union seeks such resolution. Senior Soviet ministers and generals conduct a coup to seize power and prevent the dissolution of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact. To cover up their plot and capitalize on the resulting chaos, they invade West Germany, setting off a chain of events and the Third World War. Across Europe, soldiers and spies are drawn into the conflict. From NATO headquarters to the front lines, the information is there to prevent nuclear annihilation if only they can find it in time.

Based on the declassified Operations Order 33001, Leo Barron's decades of military intelligence experience allow this military thriller to dive deep into tactics and realistically explore how everything could have changed in 1989.

©2022 Leo Barron (P)2024 Tantor

An Authentic Account of the War that Never Was

I came of age in the late Cold War, I planned a career as a military officer in the US Army. I still enjoy novels and media of the Cold War Gone Hot, and Leo Barron's "OPLAN Fulda World War III" is one of the best. You can tell that the author has real experience in the Armored forces, and I loved the focus on combat units at Fulda Gap and the battles starting at the Inter German Border, in contrast to novels like the great "Red Storm Rising" that have much of the naval, air and other operations.

I really enjoyed the characters of the US and Soviet armies right there in the thick of it. The narrative has a lot of details of how armored forces operate, and it has an authentic feel.

The narrator did a good job, his German and Russian are better than mine, and most of his pronunciations were good. He pronounced the armor-piercing shots "Sabot" Saa-bow as in the French, but the US Army tankers I've known pronounced it as "SAY-bow" so that was just a little off, but not a big deal.

I recommend this novel to anyone that likes tanks, Cold War history, and alternative history as well as thrillers.

An accurate representation of a world gone mad

The understanding of tactical and strategic leadership, intelligence, and operational capabilities was masterful and is probably the most accurate Cold War gone hot scenario I’ve read since Red storm rising.

A good story

This was a good one. A well crafted novel. Took me back to my Army days during that time. A very believable scenario and balanced. Showed the brutality, and at the same time, the humanity that coexist during war. I will listen to this one again and again.

Great for military and non military readers

Very well written and entertaining. The author did a great job of writing the events in a way that military readers would find accurate, while not being confusing or oversimplified for non military readers.

Good story of what wasn't. Thankfully.

The reader did a mostly good job, but should have studied up on how to say unit and equipment names and not read them verbatim, but overall it was a good tale. Having been in during this particular era it was nice to revisit early capabilities or lack thereof, that warfighters take for granted now. Also to see mistakes that were learned in Desert Storm, though I cant say for sure all of the tactics were accurate for the time. I'll have to reread Team Yankee and World War III again and compare how it stands up to them.