Posted on 05/06/2018 12:47:55 PM PDT by rktman
At the end of World War II, the victorious Allies divided Germany from 1945 to 1949 into four sections, each administered by a different allied country, in order to prevent the spread of Nazism (National Socialism). The Americans, the French, and the British did not take as seriously as the Soviets did the virtual division line between their controlled territories and those controlled by the Soviet Union. People from the western and eastern parts came and went as they pleased, crossing this imaginary border and angering the Soviets in the process who were very partial to their communist ideology and boundaries. On May 26, 1952 the newly-formed Soviet East Germany (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR) began building an actual inner border concrete wall, 9 ft. tall and topped with barbed wire, which they dubbed “the anti-imperialist wall.” In reality it was not a wall built to keep imperialist invaders from West Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland, BRD) out of East Germany (DDR) but to keep their own East German people inside a one giant Stalinist prison. To protect their zone and their ideology, the Soviets built one of the deadliest border walls in history. If their citizen dared to even try escaping to the West, they were summarily shot and killed. The wall was so long, over 866 miles from the Baltic Sea to the center of Germany, that it put the Berlin Wall to shame. The concrete wall topped with barbed wire snaked around the countryside with no trees a certain distance from it so that escapees would have no ground cover in any direction.
(Excerpt) Read more at ileanajohnson.com ...
Thank you for the post, it’s a part of history I never knew.
Glad you found it of interest. Too bad more people don’t, and a lot won’t take the time to find out. Ms. Johnson is an excellent example of overcoming oppression and moving to the US the right way.
Stationed in West Berlin from 1987 - 1992. Know all about Walls and Communism.
Those of us in Berlin at the time never thought Honecker would go down without a fight.
Went to Hamburg in 1968 while in the Navy and we took a bus ride to the wall/fence. Pretty awful to say the least. It had only gotten worse since I had gone into East Berlin in 1962.
I was first stationed in Bavaria in 1980 and took the Duty Train to Berlin in 1981. It was straight out of a spy movie. Train moved at night from Frankfort and went through Soviet Checkpoints. I was smitten and when I got back to my duty station requested Berlin be at the top of my Dream Sheet of duty stations.
Couldn’t believe when I actually came down on orders years later.
Wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
LOL! Once in a while you DO get what you ask for. Thanks for your service.
You must be a Fort Devens graduate?
Ya, especially surprising in the Army :)
Yup. Devens grad - 05D. Then after Field Station Augsburg went to Goodfellow for 98C and then Presidio of Monterey for RU.
Loved it.
You and I overlapped a little. 1946 Communications Squadron, Tempelhof, 84-88.
Pilatus. Remember it well, I believe the Army had two of them. My last 2 years in Berlin I was NCOIC of Tempelhof Tower.
It was a good program and had the Mass. delegation been on the ball they would have moved Natick Labs to Fort Devens assuring that neither would ever be closed. The closure of Fort Devens was a real loss for New England and certainly for the MI & SF branches.
Yup. Myself and another member of Field Station were taken on a run above the city. I could not believe how slow those things could fly!! I actually bought a large R/C version of it but have yet to build it.
I agree. I believe 7th Group was there too, right?
I still drive through there from time-to-time when I go visit relatives. My old barracks are still there along with the main school house - before they built the no-window monstrosity ;)
Yes the brand new building without windows and the brand new control tower at Moore Army Air Field. When I was there in autumn 1995 they were venal siding barracks that the engineers knew were going to be torn down. Lots of good memories though and good people. There were 10th SF and also the reserve 11th SF along with various brigade and battalion size reserve elements. Combined there were probably ten to fifteen brigades of active duty and reserve soldiers throughout New England before the “Peace Dividend” cuts were made.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.