@@ScrappyPower Because some people did not enter Berlin by the corridor but left Berlin that way. For example they flew in or they were passengers on the incoming trip and did not see the video. In those days we had to cover all bases.
I made this journey many times as a British civilian living in West Berlin. It's fascinating to see how the British / allied forces had to make the same trip. I was once fined on the Transit Strecke for speeding "Guilty" and once pulled over and admonished for not indicating while overtaking "Not Guilty, both while driving my 1973 Opel Manta A with West Berliner plates.
I got halfway through this and realised I was concentrating and trying to remember it all. Imagine your first time going through remembering to pull up get out, take these but NOT those, salute the officer if he’s a Soviet, wait there if they’re DDR police, give them this but make sure that it’s NOT stamped, but the other this IS stamped… Even for a soldier used to this level of instruction it must have been so daunting!
Neh, there's a system, Soviet Military have certain authority, GDR police absolutely none, sometimes an explanation makes things 10x as more difficult then need to be.
@@youria2559 GDR was not recognised as a country by western allies and this was strictly followed by agreement made after the war. Soviets had to tolerate transit to west Berlin for allied forces members Interestingly the footage on 14:00 show a soviet memorial what was in the west Berlin. There was always soviet soldiers guarding it and was prohibited to enter this area around because a one German did attack guards years ago so west Berlin police was watching that no any civilians can come close to the Soviet guards. This was also only case where Soviet army members could enter west Berlin during the separations of Germany
My Mother visited Eastern Europe in the 80s. She was in what was then Communist Hungary. She said to me it was the first time she was really in fear. She was doing a cross europe trip.
I was with 62 Transport & Movement Squadron based in Berlin mid 80s and did this a lot. The RMP would take the times you left and when you got out at the other end they could see if your were speeding on the way. Being a junior rank, they would knock an hour off so you could speed. Since we always drove military vehicles, we would never bother to stop when a east German guard/police tried to stop you along the Auto Bahn for speeding, they would be parked on the hard shoulder, with a camouflage net over their white vehicle, which you could see for miles. We also carried one SLR and a baronet with 10 rounds of ammo which we had to hide within the vehicle. (We would discuss who got the weapon and who got the bayonet if confronted with a Russian tank). Also it was totally different at night, with neither us or the Russian solders followed the procedure, what would normally happen is that they would want to barter with you, at the time i was there they loved digital watches, which we could get cheap for a few pounds. So with one of them, you could get Russian military hats, badges etc. I had a good collection. (This bartering happened on the Berlin Military Train also).
1977-79 served in Berlin and did many border patrols , threw food and fruit over the wire to the East German guards in their observation towers. They used to dangle their dog tags out the window to signify they had less than 6 months conscription left. Going from West to east was like entering a different time in history. Also did the military train guard from Berlin through East Germany and back , armed with a pistol , lots of women working on the railway lines at that time. Watched Rudolf Hess in Spandau prison from the attic window of our barracks just across the road. Loved West Berlin .
Me too.76-79 My dad's lt col Northey RE) office overlooked Spandau prison. Dad built Hess a summer house which near caused a diplomatic fall out with the soviets. We lived in Stallaponer Allee backing onto the Grunewald and the teifelburg. Exciting times. Loved the train journey and going into East Berlin in the staff car, swapped biscuits pushed through a slit in the window to the guards for a few button (still got them). I was 10 but still had my own green id card.
@@charlieboy868 Yes, the Grunewald , we used to drive through in our land rover on the way to do border patrol , and one day our Corporal shouted " Stop !!! We will have a smoke break here " , then we found out he had noticed half a dozen girls swimming naked in the lake , it was quite a long smoke break , ha ha .
@@robertanderson9149 1977 summer holidays - as a family we would walk miles each day but on one occasion it must have been the same lake ( very close o the Harvel) we walked straight into nudist colony. my mum covered my eyes over and said keep walking straight ahead; thankfully not before I got an eye full of the "Madonna's with the big bobbies" , after all I was only 10!
Thanks Mike for showing us this film-a nerve-wracking time for any Allied soldier with precise and complicated instructions to be followed in order not to enflame a delicate international situation!
I never was the driver when this was required, but I did get to do the documents and salutes with the Russian Soldier at the check points. I remember the smell of cooking food behind the painted out window as I waited for the form to be stamped . I also picked up several copies of the Soviet News Magazines that were in the hut, (I still have a couple of them) where they had "photoshopped" out the birth mark of Mikhail Gorbachev. 2 years later the wall was down and all changed, I am pleased to have experienced it and this film brought it all back.
I went to Berlin the last week of December 1989. I never forget the final week of the DDR. We traveled with a West European Renault 21, equipped with a telephone, which was very rare at that time. We stayed in Hotel Stadt Berlin, the only hotel in the heart of East Berlin where foreigners were allowed. It was history in the making. Unforgettable.
The GDR still existed until October 2nd 1990, it dissolved at midnight between October 2nd and 3rd. So last week of December 1989 wasn't the final week. In fact at this point only the Berlin Wall had fallen already and Erich Honecker had resigned (both in November 1989), talks about reunification only started in January 1990.
@@blahfasel2000Honecker resigned back in mid October.. no,talks about reunification started in November,what about Kohl's 10 pionts plan for united Germany 10 days after fall of the wall?
I started my National Service in the SADF in early 1989. It is interesting to see what SEEMS like a dry, boring video as only the military could make, knowing that tensions would be high all through the trip. Thank you for showing us your world.
Great video for jogging your memory, I did this trip a few times but really struggle to remember most of it! I do remember an issue with the Russians just before Bravo, which necessitated the RMP to come and sort it out (which they did, very quickly) and many years later at the time of Perestroika I interviewed President Gorbachev and resisted the urge to mention the incident!
I was stationed in menden when the wall fell. My ex German father in law held a party for the first East Germans that came there.The jubilation and friendliness soon ended after a few months. They all ended up hating each other. It seems like 5 minutes ago
@@wodens-hitman1552 Not surprised. What many don’t understand is that for East Germans - they had 60 years of dictatorships. They or their parents has basically lived under the the lack of freedom of the 3rd Reich for 13 years then immediately moved under the dictatorship of the Communists which was just as if not more repressive. They had not had freedom at all unlike the Germans in the west where it basically finished for them in May 1945. For the east it wasn’t over until the 1990’s.
I’m from a tiny village in the Scottish highlands and my dad is ex RAF. He was a civvy in the 80s and we used to go on holiday to Holland Germany a lot. I remember being sat in the back of the car and near soiling myself when I first saw fecking gun towers beside the bloody road….they were occupied by soldiers with guns that looked huge to my 7 year old mind! I soon forgot about that though when we were in Holland and I got a cone of chips from a stall - they were dripping in mayonnaise and I think that effed me up more than the towers!
I made this journey with a West German holiday coach company. We all had to hand the the coach driver our passports. On taking our passports we had to stick a number on it at remember the number. At Marienborn we was parked out in the open and remained in the coach. Photo's of the coach was taken by the GDR border guards who then boaded the coach to individually hand out passports back...you had to give the border guard your number and he would go through the passport and give it back to you the year was 1979 and I was a 15 year old British civilian. Along the Motorway we stopped at a rest stop...we could buy cheap cigarettes and booze. I bought 3 cartons. You could pay in German DM £ or $.
Very interesting. I was in the Royal Engineers in Hameln 1986-91 and in that time went through the DDR to do the Berlin marathon and later saw the unification of East and West Germany. The poor state of the Berlin corridor roads are what I particularly remember and the RMP having to help us at Bravo on the way back.
About the breakdown procedure, you must understand that most people back then did NOT have mobile/cell phones, so they really had to do all of that to make sure the RMP knew what was really going on.
Thanks for the video! My family lived in Ramstein AB in then West Germany from 1974-77. Dad always wanted to take the troop train to West Berlin, but my mom was too scared of the commies to go along with him. My uncle was Active Duty USAF in the mid 80s in Germany. He told me there was a sports car club, and they would host a periodic sports car drive from West Germany to West Berlin and back just to make the East Germans and Soviets angry/jealous when they saw NCOs driving Porsches, Mercedes, etc. 🙂
It seems so weird watching this procedure. I never did this trip (Even though I'm ex - Forces). But the Wife and I had a great holiday in Berlin a few years ago, stayed in a hotel in the former DDR and visited the Rotating restaurant at the top of the Tower.
I lived in the British Sector of Westberlin and had played in a german dartsteam. We played against teams from the British Barracks, Smuts BKS, Wavell BKS, Alexander BKS, QLRs and so on. At the end we was very drunken. I had bought my tax free cigarretes at the NAAFI😊 I had many British friends but 1994 left the Royal Army the united Berlin. It was one of the best times of my life.
Wow, that was detailled and specific. Great to keep such memories alive in todays society, just as a reminder if need be. Also, I think the guys who made the film, two years later they were "why the fuck we go to that trouble?" :D
I was serving with the Armoured Sqn the night the wall came down what a night that was, I remember passing the one Soviet camps on the way out of Berlin the weekend before I was amazed at the state of the place, lots of broken windows covered with torn plastic....
Thanks for this! I always wondered how one got to West Berlin from greater West Germany. Sure, everything says that "Berlin was wholly inside the GDR", but no info on how you got to West Berlin. Still, though, it's funny that this was made in 1989. Bit of a waste of production budget, eh? 🤣
1986-87. Superb posting. I can’t remember the barracks name. It was a double barracks. 2 Infantry Regiments and a shared NAAFI. (That wasn’t such a great idea!) Out main gate near to chic Pichelsdorfer Straße. I loved the bars, the people, the shops. Wonderful to have been there before the wall came down. Rudolf Hess! Must be one of the last to see him in Spandau.
I did this trip many time in the military between 1981 to 1983, but can't remember getting out of the vehicle at the Russian check point at any point, same at check point Charlie, we always remained in the vehicle.
Erich Honecker joke (German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.) Erich is with his mistress Helga and says to her; "My darling Helga I love you deeply and will do anything for you" She says; "Erich, I vant you to tear down ze Berlin wall" He thinks about it for a moment and replies; "Zis is good, you vant to be alone with me"
I was in BAOR from 84-86 and remember we all had to carry a SOXMIS card. Wherever you went there was a mass of mind boggling instructions you had to follow, I know people who made this journey. seems a lifetime ago but still very familiar.
At 11:17 This SSVC 'training film' was probably made earlier than 1989 since the white-on-black BFG private car number plates were changed to UK-style ones for RHD vehicles after PIRA began targeting British service personnel in West Germany, in 1988.
Indeed they did. An ASU shot dead our RSM Mike Heakin on 12.8.88 when our posting in Lemgo ended. BFG plates were such an obvious indicator of British military ownership.
I knew someone who was stationed in west Berlin and they would take their R&R in the East as it was so cheap, when there locals would buy the clothes off their backs, especially Levis, Adidas, wrangler, and any brand name items of clothing so they started to take stuff over to barter, vodka was their main currency and unsmokable soviet cigarettes, cartons of 200 for 50p, this was in the 1970s,
I remember in 1990 driving out directly westwards to Route2 instead of going south first, took you thru a huge Russian military base just the other side of the wall then got stuck in a Russian convoy as the road was only 1 lane each way took about 2 hours to get to Route2 almost 1 hour more than the old south route.
super cool that we can just watch what used to be highly classified briefings that are now rendered defunct, from the comfort of our homes, just because.
Just after the fall of the wall, shops in west Germany were selling little die cast Trabbi toy cars with a piece of the Berlin wall in the pack. Maybe should have bought one but at the time we figured that the bit of rubble could have come from anywhere.
Amazing how when my German mom took me to my first visit to West Germany in 1984 (I'm a GI baby) I was literally right at the edge of the Iron Curtain only kilometers away. I still remember the special news report in 1989 about the Wall coming down and my mom couldn't believe it. My Army veteran Dad simply said "I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime." My uncle Klaus once got into trouble having cartons of cigarettes in his car when he got stopped on the autobahn checkpoint into West Berlin. The East Germans did a good job scaring him but took the smokes and let him go.
I still find it hard to believe that in 1982, I did this, as an 18 year-old civilian, (in my 1st job) as an HGV driver, for a Wiesbaden-based firm. It was the defining moment in my politics: I leant out of my truck's cab and offered a stick of gum to an East German Border Guard. He had an AK47, slung over his shoulder and an Alsatian guard dog on a leash. The look of terror, at my gesture, taught me all I needed to know about their doctrine (former Chancellor Merkel's doctrine); he was terrified, looking over his shoulder, because of a gesture of kindness.
As a young man in the RAF I remember travelling through the corridor, as we passed the Trabant cars we waved at the occupants who were dressed in rags, they give us the finger which I thought was a bit miserable, I thought if that’s communism for you, you can keep it , it was only later on in life I was told that they weren’t allowed to fraternise with us and if caught would be answerable to the Stasi and probably prison, I also noticed how bleak the countryside was and clearly remember a dull little house with some smoke coming out the chimney, again later on in life, a former East German electrician instructor informed me that they weren’t allowed to paint their houses in bright colours, finally I remember reaching West Berlin, and taken back by the leafiness, grandeur and beauty, after all it was the showcase for the West, great times and humbled to go when the wall was up and to see the poverty communism brought
I remember this like yesterday, I was 15 years old my Dad was BAOR , we had a caravan and pitched it at an raf base in Berlin , im glad I was old enough to take it all in , going from West Berlin into the East was like going from a cartoon to a black and white movie
Ha! We had a caravan up at RAF Gatow too! We were there 82-92.....went to the Havel School on the camp too......good tines and happy memories.....East Berlin fascinated me with how 'primitive' it seemed.....things like the ripples in the road at traffic lights to help the trabants stop
@@richardrevill9329 we were there 80 to 89 , I went to PRS Rinteln , lived in Herford amongst other places, my dad was in the signals , fond memories mate :)
That's a great description of the DDR compared to the West. I can remember standing on top of a platform that overlooked the wall and looking sideways you had modern, colourful West Germany on one side and grey, drab, 1940's DRR on the other!
Did anyone get lost, breakdown???? Would love to here their stories. I was stationed in Belgium/The Netherlands late 80's. Had some interesting journeys back snd forth!!!!
Been there done that.Nearly every Einfahrt and Ausfahrt you would be tailed by some sort of jeep.Or see police cars in the central resevation under a cam net to catch you speeding.
@RebelRebelious Putin must return to the clinic and have his brain examined. I think 🤔 the best alternative cure would be by drilling through his head and seeing what's inside. Although there might be nothing 🤔 at all.
Never drove but used the 'propaganda express ' from Hannover to Berlin many times. In fact, I still have an unopened bottle of wine from the buffet car. Being served a meal with wine by white gloved waiters at the border when the engine was changed to a DDR one. I always wondered what the poor old Russian and DDR conscripts thought about it? Great times.
That was the idea of it. A propaganda exercise to mess with the heads of young Soviet and DDR troops. They'd see allied troops dining on food that would grace the Orient Express or the Savoy whilst they were fed cabbage soup and boiled potatoes.
The Soviets had a standard complaint form which they would deliver in person to the RMP at Checkpoint Bravo. It was a bigger deal than it sounds and also fairly unusual. To be fair the Sovs preferred to swap badges, hats etc with forces personnel so wouldn’t have worried too much.😊
I reckon it was a custom to acknowledge that this was a military to military encounter and operating about the occupation rules, so if you didn't return the salute you might be seen as suggesting that you weren't military so not entitled to that status, which is at the least a diplomatic no-no.
You had to salute them even wearing civilian clothes. We used to have chewing gum and BIC lighters stuffed down the side of the drivers seat, so when the barrier opened i would throw the gum and lighters onto the floor as we drove off, you would look in the rear-view mirror to see everyone running out to pick everything up !
My dad was in RAMC at Kladow in Berlin and our family made this trip a couple times. It was such a different Berlin back then : clean, orderly and safe. Dad was correct when he told us how the DDR was a brutal military dictatorship and couldn’t care less about their people. No wonder the Ossies wanted out when they suffered under the DDR and Stasi
Such bs. Your dad was a bigot, and so are you. You don't know anything about Germany. East Germany got ravaged by privatization after the Fall. Plenty of Boomers regret the GDR. Funny getting lectured by someone who still lives under Monarchy 😂😂
I would not like to contradict your dad but I must mention how ordinary people in the DDR lived family lives whose children went to school and married and had families of their own without worries concerning security police, secure in a job, homes, and food, enjoying life. I know. I was there.
Did this journey many times as a child with my parents.....my dad was butchery manager for the NAAFI.....I used to be terrified of the Russian Guards 😂
So is this film and procedure only for the UK personnel? Are there French and Americans who follow their own? Or did the British control this for all the Allies?
Amazing historical film, with instructions not to engage with DDR officials or obey their instructions, always requesting the presence of a Soviet Officer if in doubt
why did it say the end, that you should not talk in russian to a soviet military personnel because it woul attract attention? wouldnt it make it easier?
Making things easier for your enemy is rarely a good idea. If were going to openly speak Russian in front of Soviet officials, you might as well wear a badge that says "I'm not just a normal squaddie - I'm very likely a spy or intelligence officer. Please follow me closely, scrutinise my every move and possibly arrange for me to 'disappear' unexpectedly while I'm in the DDR/Berlin."
Due to the nature of my job at Gatow, i was regulary followed around Berlin as were my colleagues, talking to a Russian would mean a very quick plane ride back to the UK. A friend of mine hated Berlin and wanted to get posted back to the UK, as he had only just arrived he told his senior officers he would go to the Soviet embassy in Berlin to have a chat about what we did at Gatow....... He got a far as the entrance to the embassy, was arrested by the BMP, the next day an unscheduled flight from Brize Norton arrived to take him back to the UK ! The British military are not overly happy to see you chatting to the Russians, Chief Technician Douglas Ronald Britten was a well known example for all of us who worked at RAF GATOW and RAF DIGBY !
scary indeed but safer come to think of it comparing with what we are facing now and most likely to face in the near future for believing that the world is safe after the cold war. these wars which are happening today happened due to our complacency being convinced that the threat is over. Bandits would think twice if the free world never let their guards down.
Hi, I actually filmed and edited this video. There is a second one for the trip in reverse. Keith
Why would they need a video for the reverse journey? Surely it's pretty much identical just in a different order?
@@ScrappyPower Because some people did not enter Berlin by the corridor but left Berlin that way. For example they flew in or they were passengers on the incoming trip and did not see the video. In those days we had to cover all bases.
How did you film the video? Did RMP need Soviet permission to take cameras etc to film? To give instructions on using the corridors?
That’s very interesting! By any chance do you still have the video for the trip leaving Berlin?
The bit about not speaking in Russian: was that because they may assume you had Soviet citizenship? Or another reason?
This was very helpful as i am planing a trip to Berlin soon. thank you.
Take 20 pairs of Levis to trade with the Russian border guards.
😂
It all ended in 1989.
@@jsmith498and a thousand biros.
You will need to carry out this procedure since Brexit if you start in the UK....(I escaped the UK and now live in (E) Berlin :)
Do not pay fines, do not admit offences.. request Soviet Officer. I will try this when I'm next in East Germany!
I made this journey many times as a British civilian living in West Berlin. It's fascinating to see how the British / allied forces had to make the same trip. I was once fined on the Transit Strecke for speeding "Guilty" and once pulled over and admonished for not indicating while overtaking "Not Guilty, both while driving my 1973 Opel Manta A with West Berliner plates.
Opel Manta. We had them in Serbia 1980s and I remember that car. hell of a car
@@anthonynicholich9654 Opel Manta GTE in Gold was the best car I ever had.
My uncle in the US Army was stationed close to the inner German border.
I got halfway through this and realised I was concentrating and trying to remember it all. Imagine your first time going through remembering to pull up get out, take these but NOT those, salute the officer if he’s a Soviet, wait there if they’re DDR police, give them this but make sure that it’s NOT stamped, but the other this IS stamped…
Even for a soldier used to this level of instruction it must have been so daunting!
Neh, there's a system, Soviet Military have certain authority, GDR police absolutely none, sometimes an explanation makes things 10x as more difficult then need to be.
I'm glad someone else wrote this coz, snap! 😅
@@youria2559 GDR was not recognised as a country by western allies and this was strictly followed by agreement made after the war. Soviets had to tolerate transit to west Berlin for allied forces members
Interestingly the footage on 14:00 show a soviet memorial what was in the west Berlin. There was always soviet soldiers guarding it and was prohibited to enter this area around because a one German did attack guards years ago so west Berlin police was watching that no any civilians can come close to the Soviet guards.
This was also only case where Soviet army members could enter west Berlin during the separations of Germany
My Mother visited Eastern Europe in the 80s. She was in what was then Communist Hungary. She said to me it was the first time she was really in fear. She was doing a cross europe trip.
@@youria2559k
I was with 62 Transport & Movement Squadron based in Berlin mid 80s and did this a lot. The RMP would take the times you left and when you got out at the other end they could see if your were speeding on the way. Being a junior rank, they would knock an hour off so you could speed. Since we always drove military vehicles, we would never bother to stop when a east German guard/police tried to stop you along the Auto Bahn for speeding, they would be parked on the hard shoulder, with a camouflage net over their white vehicle, which you could see for miles.
We also carried one SLR and a baronet with 10 rounds of ammo which we had to hide within the vehicle. (We would discuss who got the weapon and who got the bayonet if confronted with a Russian tank).
Also it was totally different at night, with neither us or the Russian solders followed the procedure, what would normally happen is that they would want to barter with you, at the time i was there they loved digital watches, which we could get cheap for a few pounds. So with one of them, you could get Russian military hats, badges etc. I had a good collection. (This bartering happened on the Berlin Military Train also).
A baronet? A fully loaded member of the aristocracy in the glove compartment?
@@joelsoetendorp3279 you never know when one might come in handy
1977-79 served in Berlin and did many border patrols , threw food and fruit over the wire to the East German guards in their observation towers. They used to dangle their dog tags out the window to signify they had less than 6 months conscription left. Going from West to east was like entering a different time in history. Also did the military train guard from Berlin through East Germany and back , armed with a pistol , lots of women working on the railway lines at that time. Watched Rudolf Hess in Spandau prison from the attic window of our barracks just across the road. Loved West Berlin .
Was the presence of the Hi-Power ever needed?
East Germany was much tougher on Nazis than was West Germany - or the USA. And rightly so.
Me too.76-79 My dad's lt col Northey RE) office overlooked Spandau prison. Dad built Hess a summer house which near caused a diplomatic fall out with the soviets. We lived in Stallaponer Allee backing onto the Grunewald and the teifelburg. Exciting times. Loved the train journey and going into East Berlin in the staff car, swapped biscuits pushed through a slit in the window to the guards for a few button (still got them). I was 10 but still had my own green id card.
@@charlieboy868 Yes, the Grunewald , we used to drive through in our land rover on the way to do border patrol , and one day our Corporal shouted " Stop !!! We will have a smoke break here " , then we found out he had noticed half a dozen girls swimming naked in the lake , it was quite a long smoke break , ha ha .
@@robertanderson9149 1977 summer holidays - as a family we would walk miles each day but on one occasion it must have been the same lake ( very close o the Harvel) we walked straight into nudist colony. my mum covered my eyes over and said keep walking straight ahead; thankfully not before I got an eye full of the "Madonna's with the big bobbies" , after all I was only 10!
Thanks Mike for showing us this film-a nerve-wracking time for any Allied soldier with precise and complicated instructions to be followed in order not to enflame a delicate international situation!
This is AMAZING! Thank you so much for posting it!
The guide on how "You are better off to stay home".
There's satanic panic, and this is filled with Red Scare.
I never was the driver when this was required, but I did get to do the documents and salutes with the Russian Soldier at the check points. I remember the smell of cooking food behind the painted out window as I waited for the form to be stamped . I also picked up several copies of the Soviet News Magazines that were in the hut, (I still have a couple of them) where they had "photoshopped" out the birth mark of Mikhail Gorbachev. 2 years later the wall was down and all changed, I am pleased to have experienced it and this film brought it all back.
@@alexander-lc4dr P*rnography was Banned
@@alexander-lc4dr To some (mostly Americans), that is pornography!
I went to Berlin the last week of December 1989. I never forget the final week of the DDR. We traveled with a West European Renault 21, equipped with a telephone, which was very rare at that time. We stayed in Hotel Stadt Berlin, the only hotel in the heart of East Berlin where foreigners were allowed. It was history in the making. Unforgettable.
The GDR still existed until October 2nd 1990, it dissolved at midnight between October 2nd and 3rd. So last week of December 1989 wasn't the final week. In fact at this point only the Berlin Wall had fallen already and Erich Honecker had resigned (both in November 1989), talks about reunification only started in January 1990.
@@blahfasel2000Honecker resigned back in mid October.. no,talks about reunification started in November,what about Kohl's 10 pionts plan for united Germany 10 days after fall of the wall?
I was there then. Bloody marvelous times.
I started my National Service in the SADF in early 1989.
It is interesting to see what SEEMS like a dry, boring video as only the military could make, knowing that tensions would be high all through the trip.
Thank you for showing us your world.
Great video for jogging your memory, I did this trip a few times but really struggle to remember most of it! I do remember an issue with the Russians just before Bravo, which necessitated the RMP to come and sort it out (which they did, very quickly) and many years later at the time of Perestroika I interviewed President Gorbachev and resisted the urge to mention the incident!
Must’ve been a privilege to interview Mr Gorbachev
It must be strange to be German and see videos like this one. So recent, and yet so utterly alien.
For us who was born after this, it sounds like a fairytale that didnt happen for real.
I was stationed in menden when the wall fell. My ex German father in law held a party for the first East Germans that came there.The jubilation and friendliness soon ended after a few months. They all ended up hating each other. It seems like 5 minutes ago
@@wodens-hitman1552
Not surprised. What many don’t understand is that for East Germans - they had 60 years of dictatorships. They or their parents has basically lived under the the lack of freedom of the 3rd Reich for 13 years then immediately moved under the dictatorship of the Communists which was just as if not more repressive. They had not had freedom at all unlike the Germans in the west where it basically finished for them in May 1945. For the east it wasn’t over until the 1990’s.
It depends on wether you are from west- or east germany.
I’m from a tiny village in the Scottish highlands and my dad is ex RAF. He was a civvy in the 80s and we used to go on holiday to Holland Germany a lot. I remember being sat in the back of the car and near soiling myself when I first saw fecking gun towers beside the bloody road….they were occupied by soldiers with guns that looked huge to my 7 year old mind! I soon forgot about that though when we were in Holland and I got a cone of chips from a stall - they were dripping in mayonnaise and I think that effed me up more than the towers!
Continental Europe - bloody mayonnaise on everything !
A wonderful and informative documentary ...thank you Mike Guardia channel for sharing 7:22
He didn't. This is a reuploaded copy of the UA-cam video "BFG To Berlin". Audio is worse.
You made a very interesting video. Thank you for uploading.
Imagine getting stopped by Soviet troops with a VCR in your front window and explaining you're doing a video that willl end up uploaded to UA-cam...
Got to love the funky tune at start and end of the video,proper 80's news bulletin tune!
I served with the RAF from 1971 to 1977 in Berlin. This certainly brought back a lot of memories.
Stop, you’ve reach an online Soviet checkpoint. You’ll need to backup the claim in your comment.
*Salutes you*.
@@mr.afrikaans1747 Seeing me thinks of Alt-History where the wall didn't come down. We would be using a App for Crossing through.
I was there in 70-72. I may have spoken to you in one of the bars. I was in Wavel Barracks. Seeburger Straße
@@toke7560 I don't think so I wasn't born then. Unless you spoke to my Pre-Human Spirit. XD
@@toke7560 I was stationed at RAF Gatow
I served in West Berlin in 1973-5 and 1988-9 and was based in Brook Barracks in Spandau. Happy days!
I made this journey with a West German holiday coach company. We all had to hand the the coach driver our passports. On taking our passports we had to stick a number on it at remember the number. At Marienborn we was parked out in the open and remained in the coach. Photo's of the coach was taken by the GDR border guards who then boaded the coach to individually hand out passports back...you had to give the border guard your number and he would go through the passport and give it back to you the year was 1979 and I was a 15 year old British civilian. Along the Motorway we stopped at a rest stop...we could buy cheap cigarettes and booze. I bought 3 cartons. You could pay in German DM £ or $.
At 15 years old, you had already experienced a lot.
Very interesting. I was in the Royal Engineers in Hameln 1986-91 and in that time went through the DDR to do the Berlin marathon and later saw the unification of East and West Germany. The poor state of the Berlin corridor roads are what I particularly remember and the RMP having to help us at Bravo on the way back.
Hurrah for the CRE
Lived and served in Berlin from 1989 to 1992 some great memories
This was genuinely quite chilling to watch
I think the Narrator's voice is excellent and very exacting.
About the breakdown procedure, you must understand that most people back then did NOT have mobile/cell phones, so they really had to do all of that to make sure the RMP knew what was really going on.
Thanks for the video! My family lived in Ramstein AB in then West Germany from 1974-77. Dad always wanted to take the troop train to West Berlin, but my mom was too scared of the commies to go along with him. My uncle was Active Duty USAF in the mid 80s in Germany. He told me there was a sports car club, and they would host a periodic sports car drive from West Germany to West Berlin and back just to make the East Germans and Soviets angry/jealous when they saw NCOs driving Porsches, Mercedes, etc. 🙂
Very interesting! I live near Checkpoint Alpha and know the track very well, at least since the reunion.
Nice filmdocument 🇬🇧👍🏼 🙏🏼
I remember these travels well but as a german civilian 😬 🥵👮🏻♂️
It seems so weird watching this procedure. I never did this trip (Even though I'm ex - Forces). But the Wife and I had a great holiday in Berlin a few years ago, stayed in a hotel in the former DDR and visited the Rotating restaurant at the top of the Tower.
I remember hitch hiking from Berlin to Hamburg in 1987... amazing...
How beautiful this tour is on the beautiful German roads. The forests on both sides of the road
I lived in the British Sector of Westberlin and had played in a german dartsteam. We played against teams from the British Barracks, Smuts BKS, Wavell BKS, Alexander BKS, QLRs and so on. At the end we was very drunken. I had bought my tax free cigarretes at the NAAFI😊
I had many British friends but 1994 left the Royal Army the united Berlin.
It was one of the best times of my life.
30+ years later and the thought of even having to do that seems daunting.
I hope Harry Kane has seen this informative video for a safe and efficient passage into Germany.
Wow, that was detailled and specific. Great to keep such memories alive in todays society, just as a reminder if need be. Also, I think the guys who made the film, two years later they were "why the fuck we go to that trouble?" :D
I was serving with the Armoured Sqn the night the wall came down what a night that was, I remember passing the one Soviet camps on the way out of Berlin the weekend before I was amazed at the state of the place, lots of broken windows covered with torn plastic....
In the RAF this film is what we would of classed as 'Pongo Proof'.
I bet it wasn't though😂
Thanks for this! I always wondered how one got to West Berlin from greater West Germany. Sure, everything says that "Berlin was wholly inside the GDR", but no info on how you got to West Berlin.
Still, though, it's funny that this was made in 1989. Bit of a waste of production budget, eh?
🤣
Probably took quite a while for them to film , edit etc, all that for the wall to fall a few months later 😆
1986-87. Superb posting. I can’t remember the barracks name. It was a double barracks. 2 Infantry Regiments and a shared NAAFI. (That wasn’t such a great idea!) Out main gate near to chic Pichelsdorfer Straße. I loved the bars, the people, the shops. Wonderful to have been there before the wall came down. Rudolf Hess! Must be one of the last to see him in Spandau.
Brook and Wavell barracks!
@@frankmorton1920 Yes. We were at Wavell. The BFT course was round the whole complex.
strangely hypnotic.
I did this trip many time in the military between 1981 to 1983, but can't remember getting out of the vehicle at the Russian check point at any point, same at check point Charlie, we always remained in the vehicle.
Brings back memories.....i left Berlin 1992, visited in 2004, stayed in a hotel in the former east, great place.
Erich Honecker joke (German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.)
Erich is with his mistress Helga and says to her; "My darling Helga I love you deeply and will do anything for you"
She says; "Erich, I vant you to tear down ze Berlin wall"
He thinks about it for a moment and replies; "Zis is good, you vant to be alone with me"
I was in BAOR from 84-86 and remember we all had to carry a SOXMIS card. Wherever you went there was a mass of mind boggling instructions you had to follow, I know people who made this journey. seems a lifetime ago but still very familiar.
I did 87 to 97 in menden and Dortmund and have still got mine in my bedside table
At 11:17 This SSVC 'training film' was probably made earlier than 1989 since the white-on-black BFG private car number plates were changed to UK-style ones for RHD vehicles after PIRA began targeting British service personnel in West Germany, in 1988.
Indeed they did. An ASU shot dead our RSM Mike Heakin on 12.8.88 when our posting in Lemgo ended. BFG plates were such an obvious indicator of British military ownership.
I knew someone who was stationed in west Berlin and they would take their R&R in the East as it was so cheap, when there locals would buy the clothes off their backs, especially Levis, Adidas, wrangler, and any brand name items of clothing so they started to take stuff over to barter, vodka was their main currency and unsmokable soviet cigarettes, cartons of 200 for 50p, this was in the 1970s,
Thank god this madness ended 30 years ago.
Lots of west Germans regretted it not long after. I was married to one
Fascinating!
I remember in 1990 driving out directly westwards to Route2 instead of going south first, took you thru a huge Russian military base just the other side of the wall then got stuck in a Russian convoy as the road was only 1 lane each way took about 2 hours to get to Route2 almost 1 hour more than the old south route.
super cool that we can just watch what used to be highly classified briefings that are now rendered defunct, from the comfort of our homes, just because.
A very enjoyable video about a very different time.
Fun fact, my 'other' car was built in what was the GDR/DDR. Can you guess what it is?
Trabant?
@@commandingjudgedredd1841 Yes, a 1988 Trabant P601 Kombi.
The Eisenacher was a very superior car indeed.
Just after the fall of the wall, shops in west Germany were selling little die cast Trabbi toy cars with a piece of the Berlin wall in the pack. Maybe should have bought one but at the time we figured that the bit of rubble could have come from anywhere.
Amazing how when my German mom took me to my first visit to West Germany in 1984 (I'm a GI baby) I was literally right at the edge of the Iron Curtain only kilometers away. I still remember the special news report in 1989 about the Wall coming down and my mom couldn't believe it. My Army veteran Dad simply said "I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime." My uncle Klaus once got into trouble having cartons of cigarettes in his car when he got stopped on the autobahn checkpoint into West Berlin. The East Germans did a good job scaring him but took the smokes and let him go.
I still find it hard to believe that in 1982, I did this, as an 18 year-old civilian, (in my 1st job) as an HGV driver, for a Wiesbaden-based firm. It was the defining moment in my politics: I leant out of my truck's cab and offered a stick of gum to an East German Border Guard. He had an AK47, slung over his shoulder and an Alsatian guard dog on a leash. The look of terror, at my gesture, taught me all I needed to know about their doctrine (former Chancellor Merkel's doctrine); he was terrified, looking over his shoulder, because of a gesture of kindness.
Marvellous and unusual recollection!
Well, somehow on this GDR checkpoints I got a atmosphere how was to meet SS soldiers back then
@@manjelos I mean, the uniforms and insignia were very similar but the hats are 100% the same
As a young man in the RAF I remember travelling through the corridor, as we passed the Trabant cars we waved at the occupants who were dressed in rags, they give us the finger which I thought was a bit miserable, I thought if that’s communism for you, you can keep it , it was only later on in life I was told that they weren’t allowed to fraternise with us and if caught would be answerable to the Stasi and probably prison, I also noticed how bleak the countryside was and clearly remember a dull little house with some smoke coming out the chimney, again later on in life, a former East German electrician instructor informed me that they weren’t allowed to paint their houses in bright colours, finally I remember reaching West Berlin, and taken back by the leafiness, grandeur and beauty, after all it was the showcase for the West, great times and humbled to go when the wall was up and to see the poverty communism brought
I remember this like yesterday, I was 15 years old my Dad was BAOR , we had a caravan and pitched it at an raf base in Berlin , im glad I was old enough to take it all in , going from West Berlin into the East was like going from a cartoon to a black and white movie
Ha! We had a caravan up at RAF Gatow too! We were there 82-92.....went to the Havel School on the camp too......good tines and happy memories.....East Berlin fascinated me with how 'primitive' it seemed.....things like the ripples in the road at traffic lights to help the trabants stop
@@richardrevill9329 we were there 80 to 89 , I went to PRS Rinteln , lived in Herford amongst other places, my dad was in the signals , fond memories mate :)
That's a great description of the DDR compared to the West. I can remember standing on top of a platform that overlooked the wall and looking sideways you had modern, colourful West Germany on one side and grey, drab, 1940's DRR on the other!
I did this 85, 86 a few times. Still got my travel document.
Chris Rea doing the security announcements. Thank you sir. (lol)
Crazy how times have changed.
Did anyone get lost, breakdown???? Would love to here their stories. I was stationed in Belgium/The Netherlands late 80's. Had some interesting journeys back snd forth!!!!
my left ear loved this
When in doubt, request the presence of a Soviet Officer
Remember, you only attract attention to yourself by speaking in Russian!
Advice i follow to this day.
Whats the name of the song that plays at the start?
Can I get this guy as my satnav?
What a pain! Thank goodness this is all over…..
The sound is not working.
Been there done that.Nearly every Einfahrt and Ausfahrt you would be tailed by some sort of jeep.Or see police cars in the central resevation under a cam net to catch you speeding.
Reminds me of today's Germany: Speed cameras everywhere and officials that take themselves waaay too seriously..... 👎
At this time, a 36 years old Putin worked as kgb officer in Dresden. Control of the people.
The former KGB HQ in Dresden is now a clinic for alternative medicine!
@RebelRebelious Putin must return to the clinic and have his brain examined. I think 🤔 the best alternative cure would be by drilling through his head and seeing what's inside. Although there might be nothing 🤔 at all.
Is this from afn TV or SSVC TV?
How on earth were you supposed to remember all this? 4 minutes in, and I'm already totally confused!
Nice yorkshire closing
Blimey....takes me back ;-)
God imagine the dystopian horror of Russia having this kind of authority, anywhere, anytime. I'm glad i'm too young to have ever had to experience it.
Never drove but used the 'propaganda express ' from Hannover to Berlin many times. In fact, I still have an unopened bottle of wine from the buffet car. Being served a meal with wine by white gloved waiters at the border when the engine was changed to a DDR one. I always wondered what the poor old Russian and DDR conscripts thought about it?
Great times.
Seem to recall meals in the dining car were something like 70p a head, and full silver service....."The Berliner ?"
@@user-mz3sj7do4b
I forgot about payment.
I do remember it was eveing meal going and a full english on the way back.
That was the idea of it. A propaganda exercise to mess with the heads of young Soviet and DDR troops. They'd see allied troops dining on food that would grace the Orient Express or the Savoy whilst they were fed cabbage soup and boiled potatoes.
@@RebelRebelious "The Propaganda Express"
My father made this video ❤
back when the British army was a proper army
Question?
What would happen if you didn't return a salute?
GULAG
The Soviets had a standard complaint form which they would deliver in person to the RMP at Checkpoint Bravo. It was a bigger deal than it sounds and also fairly unusual. To be fair the Sovs preferred to swap badges, hats etc with forces personnel so wouldn’t have worried too much.😊
I reckon it was a custom to acknowledge that this was a military to military encounter and operating about the occupation rules, so if you didn't return the salute you might be seen as suggesting that you weren't military so not entitled to that status, which is at the least a diplomatic no-no.
You had to salute them even wearing civilian clothes. We used to have chewing gum and BIC lighters stuffed down the side of the drivers seat, so when the barrier opened i would throw the gum and lighters onto the floor as we drove off, you would look in the rear-view mirror to see everyone running out to pick everything up !
My dad was in RAMC at Kladow in Berlin and our family made this trip a couple times. It was such a different Berlin back then : clean, orderly and safe. Dad was correct when he told us how the DDR was a brutal military dictatorship and couldn’t care less about their people. No wonder the Ossies wanted out when they suffered under the DDR and Stasi
Such bs. Your dad was a bigot, and so are you. You don't know anything about Germany. East Germany got ravaged by privatization after the Fall. Plenty of Boomers regret the GDR.
Funny getting lectured by someone who still lives under Monarchy 😂😂
I would not like to contradict your dad but I must mention how ordinary people in the DDR lived family lives whose children went to school and married and had families of their own without worries concerning security police, secure in a job, homes, and food, enjoying life. I know. I was there.
@@jean6872 Be careful. A Wessi will be along soon to tell you that you remember wrong.
@@kyle8952 ha! ha!
@@jean6872 yeah, you nazist conspiracy-theoretic tin-foiled hats!
I did it several times but only on the British Military Train!
Did this journey many times as a child with my parents.....my dad was butchery manager for the NAAFI.....I used to be terrified of the Russian Guards 😂
No Ambition and... :D
So is this film and procedure only for the UK personnel? Are there French and Americans who follow their own? Or did the British control this for all the Allies?
The Americans were too busy making videos for all the other countries they politely didn't get out of after their welcome was long over ;)
Lol, I was there in 1989 visiting from where I was based in Fallingbostel.
No sound
Do not use Rastatten 😂 that one caught me off guard 😂
In Dolby THX quadrophonic stereo sound !
No way I'm going there now, it sounds like a right minefield!
Just in time for the end of the IGB
Why was it so crucial for BFG forces to return the Soviet sentry's salute? "We come in peace" ?
How much red tape did you have to got through to film that! Interesting the respect given to Soviet officers and zero to the east germans!
West Berlin rocked. 84, 87,88,89,90. Great times!
Amazing historical film, with instructions not to engage with DDR officials or obey their instructions, always requesting the presence of a Soviet Officer if in doubt
Who maintained this stretch of the Autobahn, the GDR or West Germany?
GDR and it was'nt very well maintained.
Sounds awfully complicated.
why did it say the end, that you should not talk in russian to a soviet military personnel because it woul attract attention? wouldnt it make it easier?
Making things easier for your enemy is rarely a good idea.
If were going to openly speak Russian in front of Soviet officials, you might as well wear a badge that says "I'm not just a normal squaddie - I'm very likely a spy or intelligence officer. Please follow me closely, scrutinise my every move and possibly arrange for me to 'disappear' unexpectedly while I'm in the DDR/Berlin."
Due to the nature of my job at Gatow, i was regulary followed around Berlin as were my colleagues, talking to a Russian would mean a very quick plane ride back to the UK.
A friend of mine hated Berlin and wanted to get posted back to the UK, as he had only just arrived he told his senior officers he would go to the Soviet embassy in Berlin to have a chat about what we did at Gatow.......
He got a far as the entrance to the embassy, was arrested by the BMP, the next day an unscheduled flight from Brize Norton arrived to take him back to the UK !
The British military are not overly happy to see you chatting to the Russians, Chief Technician Douglas Ronald Britten was a well known example for all of us who worked at RAF GATOW and RAF DIGBY !
Amazing really this was Germany within living memory. Thank goodness its over.
i wish travelling with ryanair was this easy.
Happy Days!
Very Scary Times
scary indeed but safer come to think of it comparing with what we are facing now and most likely to face in the near future for believing that the world is safe after the cold war.
these wars which are happening today happened due to our complacency being convinced that the threat is over. Bandits would think twice if the free world never let their guards down.