ATOMIC BOOBY TRAP
It was reported in Paris that on December 14, during the recent NATO meeting, General Trettner, inspector general of the West German Bundswehr, had proposed laying nuclear mines along the eastern fron~ tier of his country. On December 17, the New York Herald Tribune revealed that it was suggested in November by West German Defense Minister Kai-Uwe von Hassel in conversations with Secretary of Defense McNamara.
McNamara admitted on December 17 that this type of nuclear weapon had been stockpiled in "Western Europe" and that the Supreme Allied Commander had plans for their use "under appropriate conditions."
The atomic booby traps could wipe out "ten million Germans" living in the eastern zone and also affect “the entire population of the federal republic," according to M. A. Weinstein, military specialist of the Frankfurter Allgemeine. The London Sunday Times lhecomeer 20] said they could produce "thick fallout, which might k ii more: of the defenders- than the enemy."
Von Hassell said soothingly on December 17 that "political < control” of the mines would remain in U.S. hands. On December 22, he said still more soothingly in face of the furor; especially in. Germany, that no atomic tminefield had been laid “on the’ zonal border" and none is planned.