The chilling map that shows the devastation of a nuclear attack on Scotland

Behind the bright colours of a map lies the horrific reality of the impact of a nuclear strike on Scotland.

Produced by CND activists at the height of the Cold War, the map details the destruction of people and place on an unprecedented scale as the country stared into the abyss of nuclear war. It serves as a stark reminder of the very real fear felt by many as the nuclear stand off between East and West trickled into homes across the land.

The map sits at the centre of a new exhibition, Cold War Scotland, mounted by National Museum of Scotland this summer.

Taking Edinburgh as ‘Ground Zero’, the map shows 98 per cent of the population of the capital would be wiped out following the impact of the bomb as the intense force took hold, causing hurricane force winds and widespread fires to break out.

All concrete buildings would be destroyed, with any bomb likely to erase hospitals and water supplies.

As the force of the blast spread, most houses in places such as Kirkliston and Rosyth would be be destroyed with dark fabrics ignited and the skin of residents charred. Only 50 per cent of them would survive.

In Linlithgow, third-degree burns would be inflicted on its citizens and the temperatures would cause newspapers to catch fire. By the time the impact reached Kirkcaldy, a considerable risk of flying glass was predicted.

NMS

The map, which was on show at CND meetings in Scotland during the early 1980s, was donated to NMS by campaigner Kristen Barratt, of Blairgowrie, who is now in her 80s. It is believed to be based on official government and scientific data available at the time.

Dr Meredith Greiling, principal curator, technology science and technology department at NMS, said: “What CND did was a lot of interpreting of official government information and there were several organisations, such as Scientists Against Nuclear Arms, who were made up of people with an understanding of this information.

“I think the map is accurate to that extent. Things like the government’s Protect and Survive campaign got turned on its head by campaigners to Protest and Survive, who used official information coming out from the government to say ‘do you know what that means?’”

NMS/Trinity Mirror

The new exhibition explored the “critical position” Scotland took on the frontline of the Cold War, particularly during its early years. The country overlooked the so-called Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom Gap (GIU Gap), through which Soviet vessels needed to travel to reach North America via the Atlantic.

There were more than 200 military bases and installations in Scotland at the height of the Cold War, including the Royal Navy and US bases along the Clyde, such as Holy Loch. Here, six submarines loaded with Polaris nuclear missiles were stationed, just half an hour’s drive from Glasgow.

A leaflet published by Strathclyde Regional Council and City of Glasgow District Council in 1984 set out the hell-like consequences of a nuclear strike on the west coast. It said: “Our area has so many targets that any nuclear attack would have a devastating effect.”

A “water burst” attack on the Clyde estuary would create a tidal wave that would sweep through Glasgow and cause “particularly high” levels of fallout, the leaflet said.

The document added: “The most obvious initial effect of a nuclear explosion would be the immense force of the blast, which would be accompanied by hurricane-force winds. This would cause an area of destruction affecting people and buildings from 40 square miles to more than 400 square miles around each explosion.

“Throughout the same area, intense heat would start fires and cause severe burns. Multiple explosions are the most likely type of attack. They would devastate Central Scotland from Rothesay in the west to North Berwick in the east. Within this area, some reinforced buildings could withstand the blasts, but firestorms caused by the intense heat would cause further destuction.

“Within this area 90 per cent of the population would die. Almost all of the accident hospitals in Strathclyde are inside the area of destruction.”

It warned that, with no immediate rescue or medical facilities available, nearly all the injured would die . There would be few survivor of the initial heat and impact of the blast.

“All this would happen within a few minutes of the explosion,” it added.

NMS

People trapped in buildings would not be rescued and few doctors and nurses would survive. In Hiroshima, 90 per cent of physicians were killed in the attack, the leaflet noted.

The document also warned the main sewage works would be out of action leading to contamination of water supply, giving rise to epidemics and disease. Rats freed from underground systems would quickly multiply, adding to the rapid spread of infection.

People were urged to stockpile water supplies to last 14 days in advance of any attack. The leaflet, however stark, was not the stuff of hyperbole.

NMS

According to Dr Sarah Harper, of NMS, Scotland’s position during the Cold War made it a potential target for pro-active attacks or a nuclear retaliation.

The Soviet authorities had a “detailed understanding” of Scottish geography, with civilian and military infrastructure across the country of interest, alongwith the bases on the Clyde.

The radar station at Saxa Vord on Unst in Shetland was a possible target for a three-megaton bomb, she added.

The exhibition at NMS brings together 190 objects linked to Scotland and the Cold War, from the map to secret intelligence training documents and the first-hand testimonies of campaigners such as Ms Barratt, who took part in the Aldermaston to London peace marches in the early 1960s and pushed her daughter on the route in her buggy.

Ms Barratt was also involved in protests at Faslane and driving a van to Edinburgh and parking it outside the American Embassy, with a model of a cruise missile strapped to its roof.

Speaking during a film made for the exhibition, Ms Barratt said: “It seemed to me that getting nuclear arms for for Europe was self defeating. If you were going to use them, you would wreck your own country and if you weren’t going to use them, why have them?

“Any parent would be worried about nuclear war. Anyone with children would be worried. I think it is very important in politics to let people have a choice how to express themselves.”

Cold War Scotland at National Museum of Scotland is now open and runs until January 2025.