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Smersh said:
how quickly could all this be carried out if an attack came as a suprise? on a random sunday morning in the 70s-80s.
soviet doctrine of combined arms offensive also calls for paratroopers to land in key areas, to hold roads, bridges etc. in addition to the forward elements Marcello brought up.
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What surprise? If an attack was launched from the barracks many, maybe even most, WP units already in theatre wouldn't even reach the border on day 1, assuming that all units were combat ready. The limited access to the border again being a very big problem. A surprise attack like you suggest is usually a lot more disruptive for the attacker than it is for the defender.
Personally I do not think that the WP would have been able to pull off a suprise attack. If only for the simple reason that far too few of their units were with some consistency combat ready. Bringing a sufficient number to readiness is not something which goes unnoticed. It's quite a big deal. The WP simply was not capable of pulling off such a surprise attack.
And NATO defensive plans called for countless security units and defense in depth, not to mention an extensive anti-aircraft screen to counter the well-known soviet doctrine. Again, a massive paratroop and airlanding operation is not something you can just pull out of a hat. It takes a lot of preparation. It is not compatible with the concept of a surpise attack. Either yo have a suprise attack, which means few forces available to begin with and nowhere near enough for serious paratype operations or you take your time to preapre in which case a surprise attack is no longer in the cards. Can't have it both ways.
Your scenario does read well and quite a few novels have been written around that idea, but I find it far fetched and unrealistic. It too ignores the massive logistic preparation needed BEFORE you can even contemplate launching an attack. That is not something which would have gone unnoticed (and which takes weeks at least, probably longer).
The whole assumption that the WP could pull off a quick surprise attack with anywhere near the troops needed for success and get them there on time is in my opinion inherently flawed.
Narwan