IRON CURTAIN - The East German Border during the Cold War

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
  • From an old US Army Documentary series - a look at the infamous Inner-German Border...the "Frontier of Democracy" during the Cold War.
    Featuring the troopers of the US Army's 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

ความคิดเห็น • 326

  • @stevehubler3024
    @stevehubler3024 ปีที่แล้ว +191

    Served with 11th ACR in Fulda 1988-90. Witnessed the fall of the Iron Curtain. Fascinating period in history.

    • @williamharris9525
      @williamharris9525 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      I hear ya. Weiden (Camp Pitman) for me. 1988 to 1989, 1ST Armored Division, augmentee

    • @garyhardison9265
      @garyhardison9265 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      HQ, USAUER here and no clue.

    • @garyhardison9265
      @garyhardison9265 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Left and a few months later it fell

    • @williamharris9525
      @williamharris9525 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@garyhardison9265
      What troop?

    • @williamharris9525
      @williamharris9525 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@garyhardison9265
      Somebody has to do the dirty work

  • @jefftroyer1151
    @jefftroyer1151 ปีที่แล้ว +83

    I went through east Germany on a train from Innsbruck to Berlin in 1979 as a civilian. Saw the border again in 1982 while at reforger 1982 with the 82nd airborne.

    • @markjamison9677
      @markjamison9677 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Was there from 80 to 82 3/63 third infantry 63rd armor

    • @KKTR3
      @KKTR3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I rode Amsterdam to Berlin to innsbruck in 1991 odd ridding in what had been the east .

    • @Paleotech1
      @Paleotech1 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Travelled Europe in the late 1970s as a civilian. Did REGORGER 82 with the 1/504 82nd. Was advanced party 30 days ahead. LTC Arkers driver RTO. Detailed to the 10th SFG at Bad Toltz for 30 days. Like something out of “Where Eagles Dare”. What a hoot.

    • @boandlkramer2539
      @boandlkramer2539 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      From West Berlin
      It was a better world than ❤

    • @4phishn
      @4phishn ปีที่แล้ว

      I made the same trip when I was about 11 in 1975 I think. I remember feeling like I was in a WWII espionage movie. While peering out of the train window I would see east German soldiers stationed along the train tracks monitoring the train all along the route.

  • @garystalnaker9203
    @garystalnaker9203 ปีที่แล้ว +72

    “The Second Calv has a dual mission….Carrying out a delaying action.” That is military speak for “Yeah, you are going to get wiped off the face of the map, but keep them busy overrunning you long enough for us in the rear to put our beers down and mobilize”.

    • @daddyrabbit835
      @daddyrabbit835 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      We were always told we were speedbumps.

    • @xarker
      @xarker ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Border Ops at Camp Gates referred to the sector war plan as "Operation Speedbump."

    • @israelriverajr
      @israelriverajr ปีที่แล้ว

      @@xarker I remember Camp Gates 1980- 1983

    • @davidspector8871
      @davidspector8871 ปีที่แล้ว

      We had the same situation at GTMO back in the 80's. They called it the frontier of freedom back then too.

    • @marcelbork92
      @marcelbork92 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      They did not need get "wiped" out. They could have run away or, better, not "joint" armed forces at all in the first place.

  • @Bone74838
    @Bone74838 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    As a young person researching all of this, it all feels so bizarre. Like i am looking into history from a parallel earth.
    I belive most of my generation will never know what those decades of the cold war or the iron curtain was about or that it ever happened.
    Thank you for sharing this documentary. It was great.

    • @Hunter_Nebid
      @Hunter_Nebid 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      There are still lots of us around who were part of all of this... I was stationed in West Germany near Munich when the Iron Curtain fell and I'm not even 55 yrs old lol

    • @Baldwin-iv445
      @Baldwin-iv445 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      God I hope we don't.

    • @neilalbaugh4793
      @neilalbaugh4793 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Yes, it is a good documentary. I was a Sp5 in Germany from 1961 to 1963, a section chief of a Corporal guided missile support unit. Our missile could be equipped with a variety of warheads, including nuclear. Our primary mission was to protect the Fulda Gap, an armored invasion route that the Soviets & Warsaw Pact would undoubtedly file through if they were to attack Western Europe. We spent a lot of time in the field, responding to "alerts" ( training exercises simulating an actual attack). The situation was tense back in those days. If you want to know what life was like in East Germany, watch the movie "The Spy Who Came In Out Of The Cold".

  • @purberri
    @purberri ปีที่แล้ว +13

    I was stationed in Wiesbaden 1981-84 they took us to the border for a tour so we could see the towers and markers. Went back to Germany 1986-1992 drove the corridor and went thru checkpoints A-C. Drove over into East Berlin. Took a tour bus in 1988 to Prague. Was in Bremerhaven when the wall came down. A period of time I’ll never forget.

    • @thomyg425
      @thomyg425 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      thank you for serving

  • @josemoreno3334
    @josemoreno3334 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Love Cold War History. Me and my three brothers are cold war veterans. One Army, Two Marines and me in the Air Force. I went TDY twice to West-Germany in the early 1980s.

  • @ericthiel4053
    @ericthiel4053 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Stationed in Vilseck from 09 to 2015. Was a beautiful place to be. Its crazy to think about it being divided back then, you can still tell east from west Germany but the country as a whole is an awsome place!!!

    • @paulslajchert937
      @paulslajchert937 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Rose barracks HHC 2/2 inf 95-98. Germany is a great place. Would love to go back for a visit

    • @thomyg425
      @thomyg425 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      thank you for serving

    • @Hunter_Nebid
      @Hunter_Nebid 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      It's crazy for some of us to think about just walking into what was East Germany and East Berlin and that there's 90% fewer of us there than when I got there in early 89.

  • @davidkanengieter
    @davidkanengieter ปีที่แล้ว +25

    My dad was 2nd Cav in the late 60s. While on border lookout, they were told that if there was an invasion, their life expectancy was less than 3 minutes.

    • @DaveSCameron
      @DaveSCameron ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Such a strange situation I think, looking back now. I'm English and lived over there in the 1990s.

  • @scottburns2600
    @scottburns2600 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    This must've been like summer camp compared to Vietnam service

    • @sharonrigs7999
      @sharonrigs7999 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Most things would

    • @Kalleri13
      @Kalleri13 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      On the other hand, there was always potential for the worst hell in history to break out too.

  • @frankez99
    @frankez99 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Lived at Kelly Barracks and Heidelberg in the 80s/early 90s as an Army brat. Loved it. Enlisted in the USAF at Rhein Main and did 26 years……11 assignments and never got Germany. Did go TDY to Ramstein and passed through Hahn heading downrange. What a life

  • @celticlofts
    @celticlofts 3 ปีที่แล้ว +39

    I lived in Fulda in 1986 and worked for the US military there. The Irish pub in Fulda was a regular hangout for the US military and locals alike.

    • @adamfrazer5150
      @adamfrazer5150 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Geez talk about a (potential)front-row seat 😳 Was it a stressful time or was the atmosphere more 'business as usual' ?

    • @celticlofts
      @celticlofts 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@adamfrazer5150 : To a great extent it was business as usual. The locals had seen the military there since the end of the Second World War so they really didn't know any different. I lived in a little village outside Fulda and the only evidence of military activity was the occasional helicopters or fighter jets passing overhead, usually early in the morning. Despite the "threat level" it was still a lovely place to live and 35 years later I still miss it.

    • @daddyrabbit835
      @daddyrabbit835 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@celticlofts My wife and I just stayed in Rasdorf this past September. Just a beautiful little town. Ironically, we had "cross the border" into the former East German city of Geisa to find an open store.

    • @pavelbindas
      @pavelbindas ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I lived in Czechoslovakia and there was nothing worse than the Russian army. They destroyed everything from apartments and the environment, plus they got drunk out of boredom and were aggressive.

    • @PaddyPatrone
      @PaddyPatrone ปีที่แล้ว +2

      ​@@adamfrazer5150 The Germans knew that when the Cold War got hot, Germany would end up as an apocalyptic no man's land.

  • @dsg256
    @dsg256 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    Was stationed at Illesheim in 2020-2022, the border is gone but it still feels like another time, and the land still bears some scars; reference point markers on mountains, and peculiar 4 lane concrete “farm roads” built by the Army so that their M60 tanks didn’t destroy the civilian roads on their way around the Bavarian countryside. I’m sure the German farmers and cyclists enjoy their beautiful roads now!

    • @jefftroyer1151
      @jefftroyer1151 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I was at Illesheim in 82 during reforger

    • @thomyg425
      @thomyg425 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      thank you for serving

  • @DaveSCameron
    @DaveSCameron ปีที่แล้ว +27

    Worked there for a few years and what a fantastic country with incredible facilities and people. 👍

    • @thomyg425
      @thomyg425 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      you should be always welcome

  • @mohammedcohen
    @mohammedcohen 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    ...my late brother, Tim, was with the 11th ACR in Bad Kissingen from 1975 to 1978...he LOVED it!!!

  • @jackshittle
    @jackshittle ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I flew in the Navy for 5 years as a crew member on P-3C Orion's & loved it (1990-1995). I'm not sure how this duty actually was for an enlisted soldier but just based solely on this video it seems like this would have been one of the better places to be during that era.

  • @ronaldmercer9616
    @ronaldmercer9616 2 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    547th Engineer Battalion 84 to 87 been to the border many times, those in East Germany couldn't wait to get out , went back to the 10th Engineers in 92 ,and the West Germans couldn't wait for them to go back

    • @lodickasvlajeckou
      @lodickasvlajeckou 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

      You asked these east germans?

  • @kristhompson5800
    @kristhompson5800 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Was on the border with 3/11th Armored Cavalry in Bad Hersfeld in the Fulda Gap; 83/87

    • @williamharris9525
      @williamharris9525 ปีที่แล้ว

      Served in I troop at 3/11, McPheeters barracks 92-93 (shut down the post)

  • @marshalltravis3217
    @marshalltravis3217 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Ah,,,the good ole days. Miss this

    • @siggifreud812
      @siggifreud812 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      indeed. things were much simpler - all in black and white....

    • @MrAvant123
      @MrAvant123 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Putin does too !

    • @Ocinneade345
      @Ocinneade345 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@MrAvant123putin would not be acting this way.

    • @GoldenAgeSk8Video
      @GoldenAgeSk8Video ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Ocinneade345exactly…Ukraine would be part of the Soviet Union & therefore not invaded…Chechnyan wars probably been avoided as well…they were happier under Soviet state than Russia 🇷🇺…(Baltic states, not so much..)

    • @Ocinneade345
      @Ocinneade345 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@GoldenAgeSk8Video exactly

  • @jmeccaman
    @jmeccaman ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This is about 20 years before I was there, and the equipment we had was much more modern, but this was exactly the same in 1988-1990. I was fortunate enough to be camp duty commander at Camp Harris the day the border came down!

  • @ivanlowjones
    @ivanlowjones 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I still have pictures of several East German border guards that I took in 1987-1988 when I was stationed in the US Army Berlin Brigade. Those guys wouldn't crack a smile to save their lives.

  • @exn207
    @exn207 ปีที่แล้ว +47

    These german troops were "Bundesgrenzschutz", border police. Policeman also trained as infantry and in the anti-tank role.This military trained police force was a cunning plan to preserve a military force in times when West Germany was demilitarised. Before the Bundeswehr was established in 1956 the border police had a lot of Wehrmacht veterans, many of them enlistend to the Bundeswehr later. But 'till 1990 the "Bundesgrenzschutz" still trainend policemen in using G3, MG3, Panzerfaust and infantry tactics.

    • @MrAvant123
      @MrAvant123 ปีที่แล้ว

      Well just like now there were nutters on the loose !

    • @CuttySobz
      @CuttySobz ปีที่แล้ว

      @@MrAvant123 Nutters? Look at you on your high horse.

    • @MM22966
      @MM22966 ปีที่แล้ว

      Huh. I didn't know the Germans had a full-up paramilitary like that during the Cold War. Makes sense. If WW3 happened, it would go from customs check to "Stop that panzer, schnell!" at light-speed.

  • @paulgerald5808
    @paulgerald5808 5 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    2nd Armored , 3rd Armored Division 1942 to 1946 , World War Two .

  • @DavidUKesb
    @DavidUKesb 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    I'm British and crossed the Iron Curtain in 1989 from West Germany to the DDR.

  • @tomdis8637
    @tomdis8637 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I “toured” East Germany with the Pennsylvania Pro Musica Baroque group in 1976. Six weeks traveling all across the country - Halle, Erfurt, Ohrdruf, Eisenach, Leipzig, Sühl, Weissenfels, Weimar, Karl Marx Stadt (now renamed Chemnitz), East Berlin. A “translator” and “political officer” - both Stasi - kept a close watch on us at all times. Our official translator spoke no English…we hired a “freelance” translator whose English was perfect, doubtless a spy, as she crossed over to shop for her glamorous outfits in West Berlin. Military convoys everywhere. We actually socialized with Soviet Army officers in an underground club in Karl Marx Stadt. Weird. The East Berlin Bahnhof was the most frightening part of all…guards with machine pistols screaming, walking on catwalks, and loosing attack dogs underneath the arriving trains to search for people trying to escape.

  • @hypercomms2001
    @hypercomms2001 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I hitched hiked from Munich to Berlin and across the transit autobahn...

  • @andreaslermen2008
    @andreaslermen2008 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Was a fun time, we had more Americans around in my hometown then Germans. When my brother and his friends want to party, they exchanged beer for whiskey, because it costs nearly nothing in the PX. Everyone know someone from the army and it was a very relaxed relationship. My co workers from the former DDR haven't had any fun stories with the Soviet troops there, they took care to keep them separated.

  • @daviddural2978
    @daviddural2978 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I was a mortar crewman for A Troop 1/1 Cav. We maintained a border camp in Widen. 1980-83.

    • @richb5433
      @richb5433 ปีที่แล้ว

      O’Brien barracks👍

  • @MrZodac
    @MrZodac ปีที่แล้ว

    Very nice time document. Thank you so much for uploading.😊

  • @hansxyz3799
    @hansxyz3799 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I Remember Reforger as a German Kid, we trade BEER BOTTELS with American GI for M.R.E. (C Ration from Nam i guess) 😂 good Times there

  • @Gorillafishing
    @Gorillafishing ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I was on this border fur drei jahre. 84 to 87 camp Pittman

  • @christopherjames836
    @christopherjames836 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I was there in the 3rd. Armored Div. 1987-1989. Mech Infantry.

  • @adamfrazer5150
    @adamfrazer5150 3 ปีที่แล้ว +37

    I love these cold-war era productions, heavy on the propaganda I suppose, but valuable in painting a picture of America's outlook at the time 👍
    If you want Maximum Propaganda, watch the Vietnam feature hosted by The Duke himself !

    • @MrAvant123
      @MrAvant123 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      So are you saying there was no Berlin wall and no one was surveiled or shot trying to leave the Soviet areas ? And everyone in E Germany was super-happy with the lifestyle ?

    • @RikkiSpanish
      @RikkiSpanish ปีที่แล้ว +8

      ​@MrAvant123 I don't think that's what he meant. I think what he meant by "propaganda" was the idea that life in East Germany & Czechoslovakia was an unbearable existence. The film seemed to be trying to make that point, along with Warsaw Pact nations being these insatiable, land-hungry invaders. Let's be real here, it wasn't like that. Both sides said a lot of awful things about each other. Almost none of it was true.
      I'm American, but I lived in what was East Berlin and was married to a man who was born & raised in East Germany. We had many ridiculously long conversations about our very different childhoods. I had many great conversations with other former East Germans, as well as people from other former Warsaw Pact nations. While life was not always perfect, they made the best of it and lived happy lives(is life truly perfect anywhere?). In fact, the adjustment to life after unification was very difficult for many of them. Some are nostalgic for the old days simply because they are nostalgic for their youth. Some really do miss life under communism because they do not enjoy many of the uncertainties that come with a more capitalist society.

    • @hubcap3738
      @hubcap3738 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      ​@@RikkiSpanish this is what I thought, but it's great hearing it from someone that actually knows from personal experience. I can't actually see the difference between what each side is doing, the only difference too me is The Soviets were closer to home than the USA.

  • @James-nl6fu
    @James-nl6fu ปีที่แล้ว +3

    "How Times have changed. How Times haven't." Germany is united but Russia is still insane

  • @williamharris9525
    @williamharris9525 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Did my time as an augmentee at Camp Pitman, Weiden, FRG, 1988-1989. Worked with 1-1 Cav, 1ST AD.

  • @thomyg425
    @thomyg425 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Just last week i was visiting „little berlin“ in name Modlareuth in bavaria.
    the iron curtain was dividing this little village and i remember when i saw it in real 1987.
    only for defending this village was around 6000 us soldiers assigned.
    so a real history and thanks a lot to all to serving for us.

  • @cucoboo
    @cucoboo ปีที่แล้ว +1

    15th maintenance company 1983-1984 63g MOS. Spend a wonderfull time in Downs Barracks Fulda.

  • @yossiallen3316
    @yossiallen3316 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Was stationed there myself 1984

  • @panderson9561
    @panderson9561 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    I was in Germany in the mid 80s...not military, just went to do the tourist thing. I had never been in Europe or Germany before. I didn't get as near to the border as this documentary shows. But it was an eerie feeling going from the middle of America, to that near, a potential, WWIII, seeing troops and military vehicles everywhere you went, knowing that any second the Russian planes could fly over on a bombing mission. I guess the West Germans were just used to it.

    • @ballagh
      @ballagh ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I was in Germany for a school trip in 1982, manly around Munich. If anything the troops and military seemed absolutely ordinary. It’s strange what you get used to, but then again I’m from Northern Ireland.

    • @robs5688
      @robs5688 ปีที่แล้ว

      I don't know where you were in Germany that you saw "troops and military vehicles everywhere".
      I was born and lived the first 11 years of my life in West Germany during the 1960s, near Heidelberg in fact, where the headquarters of the entire US Army in Europe was located, and I never saw "troops and military vehicles everywhere".
      Frankly, I think you're full of s**t.

  • @patrickmac2799
    @patrickmac2799 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    very dramatic production

  • @Lepercurtidoo
    @Lepercurtidoo 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Well, it all comes back. Just a bit more to the East. The irony ..at point Alpha. The infamous old hotspot between West and East there's a memorial with the word " Peace" written in German , English and .... Russian. I suggest the Russian version should be painted over.

  • @mohammedcohen
    @mohammedcohen 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I spent the bettr part of 3 years in Illesheim (HHC 4/35 Armor, 1st Brigade, 1st AD) from Nov 71 - Jul 74)

  • @KKTR3
    @KKTR3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thank you Mike

  • @issahumps
    @issahumps ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Was in 4/2 stryker cavalry regiment in 2006 when we got reflagged from 1/25th out of Washington state lol. How cool. They made a big deal about our arrival to Germany at the time. All because putin threatened the missile shield in Poland.

    • @MrNajibrazak
      @MrNajibrazak ปีที่แล้ว +1

      The US should have a foreign legion. I dont have interest to be American. But i believe in what America is protecting & preserving which preserves democracies worldwide.

  • @mnoble2288
    @mnoble2288 ปีที่แล้ว

    Was stationed in Bamberg 1980-‘83
    Good times!

  • @eugenedavis6792
    @eugenedavis6792 ปีที่แล้ว

    How could forget this one, I was station there from '86 to '89 in U.S. Army...B Co, 237Th En Bn; Heilbronn, Germany. Don't forget about the Fulda Gap.

  • @mohammedcohen
    @mohammedcohen 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    ..."Nurnberg is a favorite of Cav troopers on leave"...yeah... the Fraunetormauerstrasse...I can dig it...

  • @hueyman624
    @hueyman624 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This looks like the early 60s, before Vietnam. Only saw B model Hueys. But the film maker as in today still cant get the sound of the helicopter right. The sound used here was as in many shows and movies is a piston powered Bell 47 or H-13. Not the distinctive sound of the Huey. I was a Huey Crew chief, heavy maintenance project manager and pilot for over 10 years.

  • @drau331
    @drau331 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    As a former member of the German Federal Borderpolice I worked at this border. Daily espionage was usual. And daily provocations by the east German troops was normal. From just photographs to literally moving the border - all was possible.

    • @wonneproppen-jb2jm
      @wonneproppen-jb2jm ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Danke auch für Ihren Dienst. Als Junge habe ich den BGS immer sehr bewundert, speziell nach der Operation Feuerzauber...you know what i mean 😉

    • @mathisnotforthefaintofheart
      @mathisnotforthefaintofheart ปีที่แล้ว

      How did they move that metal fence?

    • @drau331
      @drau331 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@mathisnotforthefaintofheart They dismouted and fixed it to poles they set a few meters to the west. One by one. If we wheren't there in time, it looked as nothing happened... They where fast.

    • @mathisnotforthefaintofheart
      @mathisnotforthefaintofheart ปีที่แล้ว

      @@drau331 I see....but ultimately there was no more place to move? I mean,...and how did you address this? Put the poles back yourself?

    • @drau331
      @drau331 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@mathisnotforthefaintofheart It was an international thing. Our border was observed by th US-Forces. When we had such an incident, we had to contact them, they contacted the Russians, they the local east german borderguards. Than they reported it back the whole way, than the US Goverment told them to remove their stuff and after a time, mostly two weeks or so, they removed the poles and fence by themselves under the watch of US-forces, west German boarderguards and sometimes the whole theater on the east side,means Russians and east german Army...

  • @mohammedcohen
    @mohammedcohen 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    ...my late brother, Tim, was in Berlin in 1989 when the Wall fell on the night of my 40th birthday (9 Nov 1989)...he was there because h took a European out after being discharged from the Berlin Brigade in 1987 and lived with his German girlfriend while working for the British Army in their service club as a bartender...

  • @MatthewLangsley
    @MatthewLangsley ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Mike - Is it possible to provide more info on the date of this film and perhaps on the producers, channel, narrator, etc., please?

  • @michaelcoffey609
    @michaelcoffey609 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Embassy duty in Berlin 1988-1989.

    • @MrNajibrazak
      @MrNajibrazak ปีที่แล้ว

      i read that there was an air of hope and celebration during the era esp in that part of the world.
      besides the the music of that era was great. i wonder how was the night scene there like? were there any subcultures like the acid house movement in Berlin like it did in the UK?
      no i am from the East. That era always fascinate me.

  • @Brian-zo1ll
    @Brian-zo1ll ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The good old days.

  • @yossiallen3316
    @yossiallen3316 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    East Germany's armed forces were the best of the Warsaw Pact.

  • @Hand6108
    @Hand6108 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    My father was in Bamberg in the early 80s with the 101st. They played around the border non stop

    • @bobybarra3096
      @bobybarra3096 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Border Watchers...BRO..Border Regent Office, Big Red One❤

  • @DennisRider-e6o
    @DennisRider-e6o 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    This was made pre-blackout insignia days

  • @billpugh58
    @billpugh58 ปีที่แล้ว

    Nice reassuring music:)

  • @mohammedcohen
    @mohammedcohen 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    ...those f**kin' alerts...always at 0300/0400...

  • @cyberfox981
    @cyberfox981 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Watching this movie and I think reinventing Soviet union will be great idea for USA just to have something great to do and think about, bring them back that sense of usefulness.

  • @metanumia
    @metanumia 4 ปีที่แล้ว +45

    Imagine what the post-war world would've been like if after the fall of the Nazi Third Reich, the Russian Soviet Army actually gave full control and autonomy *_back_* to the inhabitants and rightful owners of the land of the formerly independent European nations that the Russian forces occupied after pushing the Nazis back to Berlin. Hundreds of billions of dollars could've been spent on improving schools, universities, hospitals, medicine, highways, infrastructure, science, the environment, and the quality-of-living of the citizens of the USA, Europe, Russia and many other nations after WWII instead of being spent on weapons of mass destruction and other armaments invented and purchased in unimaginable quantities by both NATO and USSR forces.
    In reality, the primarily Russian armed forces seized the land they cleared of Nazis and took total control over the peoples living there and subjugated them, forming the U.S.S.R., a Russian-controlled totalitarian empire that was cruel to not only the people they "liberated", but also to the Russian citizens due to Stalin and later Soviet dictators ruling with an iron fist and assassinating, torturing, or imprisoning anyone with political dissent or criticism in the hellacious Gulags where the prisoners became slaves of the Soviet state.
    I hope everyone on Earth has learned the valuable lessons of World Wars I and II, the Cold War arms races, and of conflict throughout history. If not, then humanity will see endless suffering and future arms races and conflicts that risk annihilating the entire human species and most of life on the planet for thousands of years.

    • @mmdirtyworkz
      @mmdirtyworkz 4 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      americans are doing the same thing today with globalism, usa has become no1 communist country of today.

    • @1695AB
      @1695AB 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Imagine people like you stop blaming Russia/USSR for all the problems in the world

    • @dozy3768
      @dozy3768 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Чушь другого фронта

    • @jasonm949
      @jasonm949 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Are you dense? The USSR, and Stalin murdered 20 million of its own citizens before Hitler even came into power. So, they were the good guys?

    • @bubblegumfacebabe
      @bubblegumfacebabe ปีที่แล้ว

      do you even realize that the US did the exact same thing across the globe? an example off my head is how the US kept replacing elected socialist leaders in South America with awful dictators, a lot worse than any socialist or communist

  • @richardsmith9609
    @richardsmith9609 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The video fails to mention that there were massive , armor heavy Brigades stationed in close proximity to the border. I served in two of these Brigades from 1973 to 1979. My Cavalry Platoon spent many days every year up on the border and had trained so much on the actual terrain that we just about didn't need maps to know where we were. We coordinated with the Cav units on a regular basis as the Cav was just an early warning unit. These heavy Armor and Mechanized Infantry units would be thrown in to the battle immediately if the Warsaw Pact showed signs of aggression. My platoon also had the training and ability to deploy and detonate tactical nuclear weapons. We had an internal Atomic Demolition Team which took part in the employment of a low yield nuclear device. Search Atomic Demolition Mission ADM for more info on this. This device weighed less than 90 pounds and was easily transported. The Warsaw Pact had similar devices.

    • @MrNajibrazak
      @MrNajibrazak ปีที่แล้ว +1

      was born in 75 and am old enough to read about the constant fear of a WW3 back in the 80s in the news as soon as i learnt to read. but somehow comparing to what it is like nowadays it feels like the free world was more prepared for war than it is now.
      i cant help but wonder if Russia would dare to invade Ukraine or China would be so bandit like in its foreign diplomacy if the US still maintain high readiness as it did during the cold war.
      But nowadays i can't help but wonder if democracies in Asia are going to collapse soon due to the complacency and political correctness of the West today. I also believe that the war will escalate due to the constant display if complacency and weakness by the Western leadership.
      i am not an American or ever planning to be, but thank for your services Sir. Thanks for keeping the enemy at bay.
      I wish you all the best in health and happiness. God bless.

  • @marshalltravis3217
    @marshalltravis3217 ปีที่แล้ว

    I do miss the Cold War. Great times to be alive and in West Germany. Beers, buddies and girls…

  • @hollanddutchman3169
    @hollanddutchman3169 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    There has to come a new ironcurtuin

    • @siggifreud812
      @siggifreud812 ปีที่แล้ว

      it is currently being formed: "new" Nato borders with Belarus and Russia. Nothing will ever compare with Berlin though, during the cold war.

    • @hollanddutchman3169
      @hollanddutchman3169 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@siggifreud812 that is true

    • @MrAvant123
      @MrAvant123 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes, because while there is anybody who likes or thinks like Putin around its needed.

  • @markmoon2766
    @markmoon2766 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    what year is this film from?

  • @christophepaternoster6712
    @christophepaternoster6712 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    The Yalta accords3!

  • @454FatJack
    @454FatJack ปีที่แล้ว +1

    In movie FN FAL Bundeswehr 1950’s (G 3 issued 1959-)

  • @Hunter_Nebid
    @Hunter_Nebid 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I was stationed in Augsburg for my first tour of duty. When I got there, the Cold War was still in full swing, 330,000 American troops in West Germany with tactical nukes. A year later, we were watching the Iron Curtain amd Wall collapse, hundreds of thousands of people joyously fleeing Socialism. Desert Storm kicked off just in time to put our world-class gear and training to work all over Saddam, but almost none of the heavy units or combat support units returned to unified Germany. It's startling and sad to see just how fast the painful lessons of the past are eagerly repeated. Not so long ago, being American was cool, people around the world truly loved us and our enemies truly feared us (if not our politicians).

  • @abeabreu4485
    @abeabreu4485 ปีที่แล้ว

    3rd Armor Division; Friedberg, Germany (Ray Barracks).

  • @MM22966
    @MM22966 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Heh. The BGS German troops still have stallhem-pattern helmets...

    • @andrewbarron7690
      @andrewbarron7690 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I have one of those BGS helmets.
      West German paint,helmet liner and some welding was added to the helmet shell I have which is actually made and stamped by Quist in late WW2.
      As I understand the BGS used the stahlhelm to mark themselves out to the East Germans as border guards instead of combat troops from the Bundeswehr or the US who used M1 style.
      Some of the BGS helmets must have served for half a century until retirement.

    • @MM22966
      @MM22966 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@andrewbarron7690 Ah, that is actually quite clever. Thanks!

    • @andrewbarron7690
      @andrewbarron7690 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@MM22966 The BGS say thanks for the compliment.

  • @encoreunefois1X
    @encoreunefois1X ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Definitely not propaganda, still most absorbing.

    • @pungarehu
      @pungarehu ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I presume that’s sarcasm old chap

    • @encoreunefois1X
      @encoreunefois1X ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@pungarehu Dang!, there's me trying to be subtle about it.

  • @roobear78
    @roobear78 ปีที่แล้ว

    look back now and say its all hilarious how they watched and took photos of each other etc,but it wasnt funny liveing during the cold war,i was a teenager when the curtain fell and you could sense and feel the relief all over europe

  • @prairielandoutdoors7544
    @prairielandoutdoors7544 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I see the scouts were using M-114's.

  • @KrulliKlikk
    @KrulliKlikk ปีที่แล้ว +1

    You’re telling me there is a border Czech at the Czech border?

  • @elmermason9685
    @elmermason9685 ปีที่แล้ว

    Been there, done that. Bad Kissingen, Germany. 2/11 ACR. 1973-1975.

  • @marshalltravis3217
    @marshalltravis3217 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I miss these days..

  • @tavish4699
    @tavish4699 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    BGS were fucking dope
    they were ex wehrmacht soldiers and were equiped witht the same stuff theyx had used since 1940

    • @andrewbarron7690
      @andrewbarron7690 ปีที่แล้ว

      The East German NVA and Grenztruppen carried on just as much of that "tradition" on the other side of the border plus they were unlucky enough to keep serving another nasty Totalitarian regime.

    • @sharonrigs7999
      @sharonrigs7999 ปีที่แล้ว

      Im sure there were ex SS guys too!

  • @hefttackerdererste2837
    @hefttackerdererste2837 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Irgendwo muss mal Schluss sein für die Amis. Kein Ami, kaum Krieg.

  • @ethanmcfarland8240
    @ethanmcfarland8240 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    when was this made?

  • @fmw944
    @fmw944 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Amercian soldier uses east german Pentax Camera.

  • @jasont9947
    @jasont9947 ปีที่แล้ว

    7:53 If I were their Motor Sergeant.....

  • @Veritas419
    @Veritas419 ปีที่แล้ว

    Clearly a much more pleasant experience than being sent to Vietnam.

  • @Wizardof
    @Wizardof 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Principal "SEYMOUR" Skinner is a much better history teacher than Mrs. Krabopple.

  • @panthermartin7784
    @panthermartin7784 ปีที่แล้ว

    Yes, the "free world" .

  • @robertanderson1272
    @robertanderson1272 ปีที่แล้ว

    B1/10 FA 3rd ID. Ledward Barracks Schweinfurt 79-82

  • @stefanhernold345
    @stefanhernold345 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    ...or, as we used to say in the `60s: The freedom of (West) Berlin is being defended in Vietnam.

    • @stefanhernold345
      @stefanhernold345 ปีที่แล้ว

      Good thing, btw, that, thanx to Poot`n invasion of Ukraine, NATO countries have become more unified than *ever* since the Cold War ended.

    • @MrNajibrazak
      @MrNajibrazak ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Freedom in Malaysia as well, it greatly discouraged the communists terrorists in Malaysia as well when the supplies they were promised by CCP was getting funneled to Vietnam.
      It saved the democracy in Malaysia. That is why i can never consider the war was a waste, and am eternally grateful to those which served and especially those which gave their all.

  • @crazyhorse18
    @crazyhorse18 ปีที่แล้ว

    Top👍👍

  • @Redwhiteblue-gr5em
    @Redwhiteblue-gr5em 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    This is how it was! The vigilance of units like the US Army 2nd ACR kept the peace

  • @kristerlund8845
    @kristerlund8845 ปีที่แล้ว

    If the US were so concerned then why didn't they help Czechoslovakia in -68?

    • @penduloustesticularis1202
      @penduloustesticularis1202 ปีที่แล้ว

      And start another war?

    • @kristerlund8845
      @kristerlund8845 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@penduloustesticularis1202 I'm not so sure that would have led to a war. If NATO had interviened Soviet would have backed off, since they didn't want a war either.
      Look at former Yugoslavia, Tito basically told Stalin to f*ck off and built a good relationship with west instead.

  • @dampfross7332
    @dampfross7332 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Da war Deutschland noch schön jetzt sind wir der Nahe Osten 😂😂😂😂

    • @exn207
      @exn207 ปีที่แล้ว

      Bist'n dreckiger Ossi-AFD Wähler? Geh doch nach Moskau.

  • @kivanccebi7591
    @kivanccebi7591 18 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Best army Soviet army l miss Soviet army

  • @marshalltravis3217
    @marshalltravis3217 ปีที่แล้ว

    I was born in Nuremberg,,,

  • @Kabutoes
    @Kabutoes ปีที่แล้ว

    I wish they made a Vietnam DMZ video like this

  • @alanburke1893
    @alanburke1893 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I hope to see the border checks seen replicated on the Kerch Peninsula into Crimea from 2024.

  • @eneadaniel824
    @eneadaniel824 ปีที่แล้ว

    Poor German's finally their country is reunited the enemies are home because they got homes at their own.

  • @martinbitter4162
    @martinbitter4162 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What year was this filmed? 1960s?

    • @siggifreud812
      @siggifreud812 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      based on the cars and the ladies hairstyles, it is 60s, for sure. it might have been scary at times, but it was better than Vietnam, me thinks....

    • @herosstratos
      @herosstratos ปีที่แล้ว +1

      1972 11th ACR was deactivad in Vietnam, in May 1972 14th ACR was reflagged as 11th ACR.

    • @sharonrigs7999
      @sharonrigs7999 ปีที่แล้ว

      ​@siggifreud812 Would be a better gig than South Korea at that time too.

    • @davidturner5023
      @davidturner5023 ปีที่แล้ว

      ​@@herosstratos1960,s see those M-14 rifles.

  • @OlekRahmel
    @OlekRahmel ปีที่แล้ว

    14:52
    @map:
    It"s no USSR it is POLAND
    THX ;-)

  • @ThePSmoke
    @ThePSmoke ปีที่แล้ว

    I had family living in East Germany, and am glad the Berlin Wall fell. But aside from being in English, the narration sounds almost like the biased propaganda the USSR would make.

  • @DennisRider-e6o
    @DennisRider-e6o 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    M-14s

  • @alanstrong55
    @alanstrong55 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    That had to be a no comfort zone if any place was. Czech citizens did not like this a bit, namely Alexander Dubcek. Mean old Russ wrongfully ruled this place. Glad Communism got toppled.

  • @sashadala346
    @sashadala346 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Adolf Hitler first used the phrase: Iron Curtain.
    Churchill purloined the phase from Hitler.

    • @KKTR3
      @KKTR3 ปีที่แล้ว

      How do you know that

    • @sashadala346
      @sashadala346 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@KKTR3 A May 1943 article in Signal, a German propaganda periodical, discussed "the iron curtain that more than ever before separates the world from the Soviet Union".[12] Joseph Goebbels commented in Das Reich, on 25 February 1945, that if Germany should lose the war, "An iron curtain would fall over this enormous territory controlled by the Soviet Union, behind which nations would be slaughtered".[7][13] German foreign minister Lutz von Krosigk broadcast 2 May 1945: "In the East the iron curtain behind which, unseen by the eyes of the world, the work of destruction goes on, is moving steadily forward".[14]
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Curtain

    • @sashadala346
      @sashadala346 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@KKTR3 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Curtain#

  • @allansmith3837
    @allansmith3837 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wish to hell the border was still there it kept the Yanks on there toes. Things were more balanced. The USSR made a big mistake trusting America. Should have listened to the native Americans white man speak with forked tongue.