| Since 1945, the United States Army maintained a presence on the Iron Curtain until the Berlin Wall and the border fortifications fell in 1989. Initially, U.S. operations along the Soviet zonal borders started primarily as a refugee control operation, but by 1948 U.S. military units were focusing on sustaining a surveillance mission of the Soviet military in East Germany. Ultimately, U.S. forces trained and prepared to fight the Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces in the event they crossed the border into West Germany. | |
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A Mi-24 Hind flies in front of U.S. OP Tennessee under the watchful eye of a TOW gunner. - Ed Henstebeck |
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Although equipment and technology changed during the 44 years American military units manned the border, the operational patrolling techniques used by the Army were essentially the same methods perfected by the U.S. Constabulary units after World War II. This section discusses these techniques, the units, and the West German agencies that played a vital role in the success of the U.S. border mission.
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| Hind photograph taken at OP Tennessee through a TOW sight courtesy of Ed Henstebeck (F Troop, 2/11 ACR) | |
And by the way, in
addition to all the German friends American soldiers made over the years
while stationed in Germany, there are some new friends we never got to
meet. If you ever wondered if all
the alerts, work, and sweat was worth it, just ask this couple from the
former German Democratic Republic. They lived just down the street from
a Grenztruppen barracks within the 500 Meter Zone. They wished to say "Good
work!"