Occupied Berlin, 1945-1990 Allied Forces (US, British, French, Soviet)

[Watchdog]

I never got to see Berlin - although I was stationed at Napier barracks (the old Luftwaffe airfield) in Dortmund. In fact I never even got to see the Iron Curtain - even though I was in Germany from 1969 until 1971. A great thread this, and hugely interesting to me.

Cheers,
Steve

Thanks Steve,

Yes I know Napier Barracks on Flughafen Strasse! When HM Queen visited the Royal Artillery in Germany in the early '80s the parade was at Napier Bks with detachments of every RA unit in Germany trekking down the zone!

You will recall Ex Active Edge I expect? Well in Berlin Ex Rocking Horse was the same thing in the Brit Sector and that produced some alarming results, I can feel another post coming

Regards

Mark

[HARRY THE MOLE]

I'll see what photos I have Mark, but they are extremely few and far between. All but a mere four or five images disappeared when my belongings were being shipped back to UK when relocating.

Cheers,
Steve


Update... I've just found 15, but mostly mundane.

[Rakkasan187]

Mark,

A very interesting exercise.. We had similar evaluation readiness exercises when we had our alerts. Not knowing when or where an alert would come we always had to be ready. When we were alerted we would not know if it would be a full alert or what.

Here is a typical ALERT scenario for the US Forces...

Each of the Infantry Battalions would take turns being on QRF (Quick Reaction Force). The QRF platoon would be on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week for a specified amount of time. During that time they were either posted in the ready room or conducting training outside the barracks area next to their APCs (Armored Personnel Carriers). The APCs were parked in the company area under guard and concertina wire. They were fully loaded with ammunition and supplies. The Brigade assembly area for the US Forces was known as the "4" Ring which was a large parade field area next to McNair Barracks. It was officially known as 4 Juli Platz. The 4th of July 1945 was when the 1st US troops entered the city of Berlin in force and started occupation duties. The temporary headquarters was located at McNair Barracks named for General Leslie McNair who was killed in WW2.

McNair Barracks was built in the 1930s, the structure originally housed the Telefunken headquarters and factory, until 1941 a joint venture of Siemens & Halske (S & H) and Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft. During the years of National Socialism, the buildings were mainly used for development and production of military equipment, and the radar-guided flak system was perfected there. In 1945 the Telefunken plant was converted into barracks for occupation soldiers, for which the German government paid the owners of the site a yearly rent for its use as an army barracks...

When we were alerted the APCs would secure the 4 ring area and the process of mobilizing the brigade would start.

Typically a Soldier living in the barracks would be awoken with a loudspeaker announcement "ALERT, ALERT" We would immediately get dressed, bring our field gear and duffel bags downstairs to a pre-staged area and then go to the arms room to draw our various weapons. From there we would go the NBC (Nuclear Biological Chemical) room to draw protective masks and other Chemical equipment. Finally we would report to the ammunition bunker which was in the basement of the barracks and draw basic load of ammunition. The ammo bunker stored small arms ammunition and other items. Once the company was ready we would move to the 4 ring and assemble and await further instructions.

If this was a full rollout we would conduct a road march of approximately 10-12 miles out to the Grunewald forest where we would set up hasty fighting positions and again await further instructions. Once in the Gruenewald, M60 Tanks from F Company 40th Armor (drmessimer's unit) would join up with their assigned companies/platoons. Turner Barracks which was at one of the ends of the Grunewald was home for the 40th Armor guys and their tanks.. They would roll out from their to either the Gruenwald, the 4 Ring, Doughboy City or another assembly area...

The units would always be evaluated on some type of readiness. Once on the 4 Ring evaluations would be conducted in various ways. One platoon for example may be selected to conduct the Army Physical Fitness test. 3 timed evets of push ups, sit ups and a 2 mile run would be evaluated. Based on your age you had to score at least 80 points in each event to receive the Army standard passing score of 180. That was the minimum but the majority of Soldiers in the Brigade and individual unit policies raised the minimum scores to well over 200 points.. Many strived to obtain the maximum of 300 points on the PT test..

Another platoon may be selected to have a full field gear layout inspection. Every Soldier had to have the exact same packing list and the gear had to be packed in the same sequence in the rucksack. Items missing during the inspection were documented and it had a negative impact score on the platoon's overall readiness.

Other platoons would be selected to qualify with individual weapons and others would be tested on threat vehicle identification, land navigation and map reading, first aid, radio communications and various other skills. Deficiencies in any of the areas were pointed out to unit leadership and corrective training in areas identified as deficient would be retrained and reinforced.

One of the reasons many of the Soldiers who were part of the Berlin Brigade were selected for the assignment was due to the high standards and very little tolerance for any infractions. Morale was always very high, the training OPTEMPO (Operational Tempo) was also very high and there was much pride in the individual as well as combined unit accomplishments that showed the units combat readiness..

I will post some photos of some of my gear later today

Smitty

[Rakkasan187]

Here is a link to an interesting history of the Berlin Brigade and some of the units that served there..

USAREUR Units - Berlin Brigade

Smitty

[Watchdog]

Ithink I have read that or something very similar before. 287th MP Co were my opposite unit in the US Berlin Bde and my role in British Sector Ops was mirrored in the US Berlin Access so as well as my colleagues working closely with the US MP I had reguloar liaison with my opposite number. I actually found this picture during a trawl through a link like yours. My opposite number is the bloke on the left.



Regards

Mark

[Chopperman]

I have nothing of value to add except that one of my best friends
was with the 101st Abrn and was in Berlin in 1976-77. He brought
home some good stories of misadventures and some very cool photos
of the area. It made me want to go and do a Rhine region tour.
(still on my bucket list some 40+ years later )

[Rakkasan187]

So as I promised earlier here are some pictures of the combat gear and load that I carried in Berlin.

So what you are looking at is my rucksack loaded with all the gear required. My Load Bearing Equipment belt is also fully loaded with magazine pouches, .45 caliber pistol holster, butt pack, compass, .45 pistol, strobe light signal marker (orange looking thing), 6x 30 round 5.56 magazines, 3x .45 caliber magazines, bayonet, survival knife, weapons cleaning kit, canteens and various other equipment to include my M17 protective mask...

In addition to the LBE we all wore flak jackets,, (mine was an M1952) Korean War era flak jacket..

On top of the rucksack on the outer flap is my M72A2 LAW (Light Anti Tank) Rocket and 100 rounds of 7.62 ammuntion for the M60 Machine Gun that I carried for short periods of time prior to becoming a squad leader.

Inside the rucksack was an extra uniform, wet weather gear, poncho liner, NBC chemical suit, concertina gloves, entrenching tool, extra boots, British map case with grease pencils, tactical maps, Berlin maps, protractor (carried in my helmet), camo sticks, MRE (Meal ready to eat) ration, orange and pink VF-17 panel marker for aircraft, sleep cap, scarf, peek stove and extra fuel, field jacket liner, 100mph tape, 2 extra 30 round 5.56 M16/M249 SAW magazines, sleep shirt, ranger handbook (laminated and waterproofed, poncho, extra socks, underwear, toilet kit, sewing kit, pocket Bible, foot powder, field wallet with Deutsch Marks and US Dollars, spare set of dog tags.

When it was all tied up and ready to throw on the back it weighed about 72 pounds plus the almost 30 pounds of the M60 machine gun another 100 rounds in the gun and top that off with the Kevlar helmet..

So 22 years as a light infantryman (you are probably asking what's so light about it???) I was never in a mechanized unit so I didn't have the luxury of an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) to take me into the fight, nor did I have the misery of pulling maintenance on them either...

The other bags that are straddling the rucksack is the duffel bag which carried our Cold Weather gear and extra uniforms and other things, and the other bag is our sleeping bag and shelter half rolled into one and secured with "spaghetti straps" which was an "H" Harness with straps.. These could be attached to the bottom of the ruck sack if we were road marching to the field or they were delivered to us with the supply truck and other equipment.

When we moved out to the field our priority was to move fast and quickly set up defensive positions so extra equipment would follow in the supply trucks. Pioneer equipment and heavy tools and shovels, chain saws and other items were loaded into platoon boxes and were packed on supply trucks.

So there is a little inside look at some of the responsibilities of Infantry in Berlin...

Stay tuned for more items from behind the Iron Curtain..

Smitty

[drmessimer]

I came across this small cache of documents from my time in Berlin. In May 1958, F Company was sent to what we called Belsen-Hohne, what some people called Bergen-Hohne. It was the site of the Belsen KZ until 1945, and was a British training area after the war. When F Company went to fire our 90mm main guns, the area was known as NORTHAG for Northern Army Group, a NATO command composed of 4 corps, Belgian. British, Dutch, and German, all of whom trained there. Seventh Army used it as a tank gunnery range. We fired Tables 5 through 8 that included static position firing, stop and fire at moving targets and stationary targets. We fired HEP (shaped charge), AP, HE. I maxed the course, scoring a perfect 300 points, for which I was promoted to sergeant (E-5). Again, the officers in F-Company didn’t know what to do with me, because the old 3-stripe “buck” sergeant had been replaced with the Specialist 5 rank. Initially, I was promoted to Spec.5, but Seventh Army changed it to E-5 sergeant on the basis that an NCO could not be promoted to a specialist rank. Another factor was that I was still Enlisted Reserve, which had not yet gone over to the new Specialist rank system. I had gone on EAD (extended Active Duty) in 1954, and instead of re-upping, I simply had my EAD extended until I was ready to get out. The commendation was made in the company mess hall. The captain looking on is William Beckwith, our company commander, and the colonel is the CO of the 6th Infantry.

The Letter of Commendation was written on 24 May while I was still a corporal and the mess hall award was in June after I had been promoted.

Whenever we traveled out of Berlin we were given this 3-language Movement Orders form. There was a special Army train that ran between Berlin and Helmstedt. There was Russian checkpoint just outside of Berlin where the Soviets checked everyone's travel orders and counted heads. At that time the procedure was just a formality, but it made the Russians feel good.

We were paid in scrip in Berlin that we exchanged it for D-Marks at the American Express office. The script was good only at the PX because we were not allowed to use it on the German market. But there were a lot of businesses in Berlin that accepted it because the exchange rate was 4:1 and the merchant who accepted the script made a larger profit on the transaction.

Each of us was issued two cards to carry in our wallets. The first was the Code of Conduct that was created after the Korean War because of the problems the US had with American POWs signing "confessions." During the weekly in-ranks inspection on Saturday morning, we were required to produce both cards. in the summer of 1958, we received very realistic escape and evasion training complete with a POW interrogation camp for those that were caught. The 4-day exercise involved being dropped somewhere in the Grunewald and making our way back to Turner barracks without being captured. According to the rules, you could not hole-up in your girlfriend's house or save time and foot travel by riding public transportation. The reward for those who made it back without being caught was a 3-day pass. Those who were caught went to the POW camp where they underwent some rather rigorous and very uncomfortable treatment. The earlier in the exercise that you were caught meant the longer you were made miserable in the camp. There was a lot of opposition in the upper echelons of Berlin Command to the exercise which the opponents believed fostered an unwillingness to fight and instead make a run for it. The anti crowd won and the training was given only one time.

The other card had been around since WW1, the General Orders card. The "Soldier why are you in Berlin" side of the card was intended to bolster our resolve to stay and fight if and when the balloon went up. The truth was that Berlin had no strategic or tactical value in a war with the East Bloc. Our presence in Berlin was purely political flag showing, a fact of which we were all aware. For my part, I figured that my chances of evading capture while walking 110 miles through the East Zone was about as likely as making myself invisible. Put that way, I figured that I might just as well stay a fight and see how things developed. Dwight

[Rakkasan187]

Dwight,

Stunning information and documents.. This was an important time in the definition of NCOs and Specialists and this is great testimony to the differences between the two rank structures.. Thank you for sharing this information. As the former Curator of the US Army NCO museum at Fort Bliss, Texas I used to discuss in depth the specialists and the NCOs during this particular time and I shared with the Soldiers the pay and leadership responsibility differences and such..

Great additional documents and history.. I still have a lot of my Flag Orders too.. Glad you posted these..

Smitty

[Rakkasan187]

Continuing with the thread..

Here are some mixed photos of various events during my time in Berlin..

The Queen's Birthday Celebration was one of the most remarkable things I had the opportunity to attend. This was held outside the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on the soccer fields which were also parade grounds..

Next in the sequence is a picture of Sylvester Stallone.. He visited us during a tour promoting his Rambo III Movie. Ironically he was prohibited from entering East Germany during this time (Maybe because the Russians were in Afghanistan then???) He is much shorter than how he is seen on the big screen...

I mentioned earlier about the Soviet SMLM Cars.. This is one of the Soviet Cars near the Brandenburg Gate checking out our unit when we went there to take a Company Photo... You can see the guy in the passenger seat looking back at me as I snapped his picture..

The next two shots show a French Armored Fighting Vehicle AMX-10 in a concealed fighting position in doughboy city. The one following is under complete cover and concealment..

The next two pictures are showing East German citizens crossing into West Berlin from Potsdam after the Borders opened in October 1989. This shot was just before Christmas and many East German citizens would pile into their Skoda's and Tatras and other vehicles and the West Berliners would line the streets waving and shouting welcoming them to the West. These two photos were taken at the famous Glienicke Bruke or "FREEDOM BRIDGE". This bridge connects Potsdam to Berlin. This bridge was famous during the Cold War as it was here that U2 Pilot Francis Gary Powers was exchanged for Soviet Spy Rudolf Abel and the movie "Bridge of Spies" starring Tom Hanks was filmed in part near here..

Next photo shows one of the British Sector signs and behind it the Berlin Wall. This location was near Potsdamer Platz in the center (Mitte) of Berlin.

The photo after that was the British Headquarters on the Olympic Stadium Grounds. During WW2 it was the HQs for Germans Sports Management and after the War it became British HQ from 1953 to 1994. The area around this building and the surrounding buildings was known as "London Block" (Fact check that Mark, will you please)….

Following the British HQ photo is a series of pictures before the Wall came down,, Freedom Bridge taken from Berlin looking into Potsdam.. You can see the large red Soviet Flag flying.

Next 2 shots show East German River Patrol boats that would monitor the River and lakes on the East German/Soviet Side. In the background you can see just how fortified the beach areas were which made it very difficult for someone to try and escape. Near the Reichstag in the Center of the City, the River Spree was where many attempts were made to escape from the East into West Berlin and many East Germans drowned in the attempted crossings.. Swimming pool ladders were put on the West Berlin banks of the Spree in order to assist East Germans escaping.. Few made it,, many did not.. East German Patrol Boats in this area were a constant threat..

The East German Guard is from the WachBattalion in Berlin and he is Guarding the German War Memorial Eternal Flame in East Berlin..

Next to that image is a portion of Hitler's Bunker Complex that was discovered and construction was removing some of the remains.. If I recall the portion of the bunker that was found when I was there in the late 80's was part of the driver's and chauffer's bunkers..

The next photo shows a gentleman chipping out pieces of the Berlin Wall and directly behind him is one of the Pillars of the Brandenburg Gate.. This was of course after the Border was open..

Last picture is of my 1976 XJ 42 Jaguar.. I loved that car.. but I did not bring her back to the states... I wonder if she is still in Berlin today???

So another look at some of what Occupation Duty was like in Berlin..

Stay tuned for more

Smitty