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

“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”.

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.

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.

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.

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!!!

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.

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

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.

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

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

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!

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).

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Ah,,,the good ole days. Miss this

Thank you Mike

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!

My father served in Hungary in 1980-1982 at the side of the Soviet Army at the Austrian-Hungarian border. I have some videos, photos and souvenirs from this time. It's integersting to read about NATO soldiers' memories about that time.

Served on the West/East German border in northern Bavaria with Army Military Intelligence in early 1970s.This film is so far from an accurate picture of what went on that it just plain cracked me up. Examples: Armored cav units rotated border duty monthly, coming up to the border by convoy. An arriving unit's CO once called my office to report, "We lost a tank, can't find it anywhere." Crew took a wrong turn in a small city, wound up in a dead end alley. Damaged civilian vehicles and structures trying to get the thing out of there. True story, honestly. The US paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars annually b/c our troops routinely took shortcuts across German farmers' fields or destroyed narrow farm lanes by driving tracked vehicles down them. They were so bad at map reading, they routinely got lost and just drove basically over anything, trying to find their way. From some OPs you couldn't even see the border because trees and bushes were allowed to grow so high. I could go on, but you get the point. Still shake my head when thinking about.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

very dramatic production

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

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

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

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

Was stationed in Bamberg 1980-‘83 Good times!

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 !

Was stationed there myself 1984

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

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.

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

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.

Nice reassuring music:)

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.

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.

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.

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

The good old days.

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.

...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...

Top👍👍

The Yalta accords3!

88-end of 91. 2/3 fa fist. 1st BDE 3AD Ayer's Kaserne. The Rock!

when was this made?

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

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.

Embassy duty in Berlin 1988-1989.

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

This was made pre-blackout insignia days

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

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

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

2 nd ACR, HERE 👣

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

There has to come a new ironcurtuin

I miss these days..

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

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

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

Yes, the "free world" .

What year was this filmed? 1960s?

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

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.

Amercian soldier uses east german Pentax Camera.

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

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

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.

I wish they made a Vietnam DMZ video like this

+1

Definitely not propaganda, still most absorbing.

I was born in Nuremberg,,,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

M-14s

12:52 = Papa hat mich in der Menschentoilette gelassen

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.