The Border

After pressure from NATO forces the Eastern Block removed the mines off and from between the fences. However they still needed to provide security. What they did was put in more guard towers with machine gun emplacements. As you can see in the following pictures they mowed back the cover about two hundred yards from the border. This gave them time to fire at anyone attempting to cross the border. The West Germans allowed the vegetation to grow right up to the border. This provided cover for anyone who made it through the kill zone of the east side. The mines on the fences were replaced with flares that popped off when the fence was moved. They also put in German Shepherd dogs trained to kill between the fences. Sometimes they would escape, due to the fact they were seldom feed, to the west side and have to be destroyed.

A guard Tower

A closer look

This is one of the towns we would keep an eye on near the border. The white building was a factory. When we would go past it the ladies would take a moment from their day and wave at us with white hankies. We were ordered not to wave back because the waving could be "misinterpreted". We did not because we didn't want the ladies to get into trouble. On the wall was another bit of security. A large round piece of cement. It was made to roll off the wall and kill anyone who attempted to grab on to it to pull themselves over the wall. You can see it better in the enlargement.

The border was marked with a series of stones and blue and white, red and white markers. Blue was our side

While it was important to the east side to keep the people far from the border, the west didn't care as you can see by this road. One of the things the East Germans were taught from kindergarten on was that the border was there to keep us out. Only one person tried to cross it from west to east to my knowledge.

On some occasions we would take the families for a tour along the border. It was the only time I had to escort my wife with a machine gun except when we went to New York. Two very dangerous places.

The East Germans allowed no one close to the border. However as you can see by this photo the West Germans didn't care. They built their roads right up to the border. Please note the vegetation. When the border was constructed the East side played some dirty tricks. One of them was to wait at a town tell all the workers crossed over the only bridge in town and then at 10am they blew up the bridge. That way they got skilled labor for free. If a house was on the border they went inside and bricked up their half of the house. The border had a few houses where it was well up keep on one side and falling down on the other. Next week, the first Christmas after the border fell. Thanks for visiting. And don't forget to visit Missi's Site at Graffic Web Design. A link can be found on my home page. Steve

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