THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

By Debbie Bulloch



Today, November 9, marks the 20th anniversary of the tearing of the Berlin Wall. Television images of jubilant men and women bringing down the Wall and walking across the barrier that had formerly separated a nation’s people are still fresh in the minds of most people. Like images of brave students defying Chinese Army tanks at Tian'anmen Square, the images of the Wall’s fall will live forever as a tribute to man’s indomitable desire for freedom.

Following the end of World War II, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin built up a belt of Soviet controlled nations on Russia’s Western border. The so-called Eastern bloc included Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia plus a weakened, Russian-controlled East Germany.

As part of the Soviet plan to keep control over the German people, Russian dictator Nikita Khrushchev ordered the puppet government of East Germany to build a wall in the city of Berlin. The wall would separate Russian-controlled East Berlin from free West Berlin.

On June 15, 1961, two months before the construction of the Berlin Wall started, the chair of the East German government, Walter Ulbricht, stated in an international press conference, "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!" (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!). It was the first time the colloquial term Mauer (wall) had been used in this context.

The record of an August 1961 telephone call between Nikita Khrushchev and Ulbricht, however, clearly indicates that Khrushchev ordered Ulbricht to build the Berlin Wall. On Saturday, August 12, 1961, East Germany government officials attended a garden party at a government guesthouse in Döllnsee, a wooded area to the north of East Berlin. It was at this party, that Ulbricht signed the order to close the border and erect a wall that for nearly three decades tore thousands of German families apart and helped enslave an entire nation.

At midnight, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border and by Sunday morning, August 13, 1961, the border with West Berlin was closed. East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the border to make them impassable to most vehicles; they also installed barbed wire entanglements and fences along the 97 miles (156 kilometers) around the three western sectors and the 27 miles (43 kilometers) which actually divided West and East Berlin.



The wall was built slightly inside East Berlin, on East German territory. During the construction of the wall, East German troops stood in front of the wall, with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to defect. Additionally, chain fences, walls, minefields, and other obstacles were installed along the length of the inner-German border between East and West Germany.

What followed after the erection of the Berlin Wall is one of the greatest crimes ever committed by an occupying army – a steel and cement testimony to the moral fallacy, emotional bankruptcy and political failure of Communism.

The human spirit’s desire for freedom, however, is far stronger than any man-made wall. During the Wall's existence, there were approximately 5,000 successful escapes to West Berlin.

Early successful escapes involved people jumping the initial barbed wire or leaping out of apartment windows along the line but these ended as the wall was fortified. To solve these simple escape attempts, East German authorities no longer permitted occupancy of apartments near the wall; any building near the wall had its windows boarded and later bricked up.


On August 15, 1961, Conrad Schumann was the first East German border guard to escape by jumping the barbed wire to West Berlin.

To keep its own people from escaping to freedom, the East German government issued “kill orders” for anyone attempting to escape. The East German government repeatedly denied issuing such orders. In October 1973, researchers working after the re-unification of Germany, found evidence that East German soldiers had been in fact issued “kill orders” by their government. In the order, the government told East German soldiers that people attempting to cross the wall were criminals and needed to be shot: "Do not hesitate to use your firearm, not even when the border is breached in the company of women and children, which is a tactic the traitors have often used".

If an escapee was wounded in a crossing attempt and lay on the death strip, no matter how close they were to the Western wall, they could not be rescued for fear of triggering engaging fire from the 'Grepos', the East Berlin border guards. The East German guards often let wounded escapees bleed to death in the middle of this ground. The most notorious failed escape attempt was that of Peter Fechter, an eighteen-year-old East German. On August 17, 1962, Peter was shot and bled to death in full view of the Western media.

The exact number of people who died trying to cross the Wall has been disputed. Alexandra Hildebrandt, Director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, estimates the death toll to be well above 200. An ongoing historic research group at the Center for Contemporary Historical Research (ZZF) in Potsdam has confirmed 136 deaths. Prior official figures listed 98 as having being killed.



On June 12, 1987, in a speech at the Brandenburg Gate commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin U.S. President Ronald challenged Gorbachev, then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear the Berlin Wall down.

In that fateful summer afternoon, President Reagan spoke these words:

We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!



President Reagan then added the following words:

As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, 'This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.' Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.



With these words, President Reagan ignited a worldwide fire that eventually led to the tearing of the Wall, the end of Soviet oppression of countless millions of Eastern Europeans and the ushering of a new era of freedom.



The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is located in Simi Valley, California, within short driving distance of my home. I have visited the Reagan Library on many occasions. I was even there when the President’s body was carried to his final resting place. As a person whose family suffered under the yoke of Communist oppression, I am personally grateful to the man whose brave words were responsible for the demise of Soviet oppression.

There is a section of the Wall on permanent display at the Reagan Library. On my first visit to the Library, I headed straight for the garden area where that piece of the Wall stood in muted testimony to the suffering of the millions of victims of Soviet oppression.



After a minute in front of the Wall, I began to cry. Standing so close to a piece of the Wall that had helped to separate and enslave my own people I could feel the pain of all the other families that had been separated and enslaved by the wall – not just in Germany but everywhere else in the world where the Soviet boot tried to crush man’s aspiration for freedom.

It was the same sensation I experienced when I stood in front of the Holocaust exhibits at the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance and the interment exhibits at the Los Angeles Japanese American Museum. These were the voices of men, women and children crying out for the freedom to which all of us humans are entitled to as our birthright.





On the 20th anniversary of this important moment in history, we should pause and reflect on the importance of the freedoms that we enjoy. More importantly, we should pledge to never rest until freedom rings on every corner of the world.




Editor's Note: The photographs shown here were taken from various archival, historical resources. The photographs are subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. The copyright owners fully reserve all rights to their work. The photographs are used here for educational and illustrative purposes only. No comercial use is intended or implied by their use here.

Editor's Note (Part Two): The comment by "anonymous" reminded me of this 1960s song by group The Rascals:

THE RASCALS - People Got To Be Free

SIXTY-FIVE YEARS AGO - D DAY

By Debbie Bulloch



Sixty-five years ago, on June 6, 1944, a day now known to history as D-Day, Operation Overlord, the long-awaited invasion of Northwest Europe, began with Allied landings on the coast of Normandy. The task was formidable because the Germans had turned the coastline into a continuous fortress with guns, pillboxes, wire, mines and beach obstacles. The successful outcome of the war in Europe hinged upon establishing a beachhead at Normandy and from there joing with the Allied forces that had previously landed in Italy.

In preparation for the invasion, Americans, British, Canadians as well as members of the French Resistance underwent months of special training: supplies were amassed in southern England; engineers planned an under-water pipeline to France; and prefabricated harbors were assembled. Ground, sea and air forces rehearsed endlessly to ensure perfect timing and co-operation. The landings at Normandy Beach spearheaded the final assault into Germany’s Third Reich.

The Normandy Landings were the first operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Neptune and Operation Overlord. The landings commenced on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), beginning at 6:30 British Double Summer Time (H-Hour). In planning, D-Day was the term used for the day of actual landing, which was dependent on final approval by General Dwight Eisenhower and the Allied High command. . The assault was conducted in two phases: an air assault landing of American, British and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France commencing at 6:30. The invasion required the transport of soldiers and materiel from the United Kingdom by troop carrying aircraft and ships, the assault landings, air support, naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval fire-support. There were also subsidiary 'attacks' mounted under the codenames Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable to distract the Kriegsmarine and the German army from the real landing areas. The landing at Normandy was the largest single-day amphibious invasion of all time, with 160,000 troops landing on June 6, 1944. In total 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships were involved. The landings took place along a 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.



The Invasion Fleet was drawn from 8 different navies, comprising 6,939 vessels: 1,213warships, 4,126 transport vessels (landing ships and landing craft), and 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels.

The overall commander of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force, providing close protection and bombardment at the beaches, was Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay who had been responsible for the planning of the invasion of North Africa in 1942 and one of the two fleets carrying troops for the invasion of Sicily in the following year. The Allied Naval Expeditionary Force was divided into two Naval Task Forces: Western (Rear-Admiral Alan G Kirk) and Eastern (Rear-Admiral Sir Philip Vian – another veteran of the Italian landings).



An important part of Operation Neptune was the isolation of the invasion routes and beaches from any intervention by the German Navy – the Kriegsmarine. There were two principal perceived German naval threats. The first was surface attack by German capital ships from anchorages in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea. This did not materialize since, by mid-1944, German battleships were damaged and the Kriegsmarine's fuel allocation had been cut by a third.

The second perceived major threat was that of U-boats transferred from the Atlantic. Air surveillance from three escort carriers and RAF Coastal Command maintained a cordon well west of Land's End. Few U-boats were spotted, and most of the escort groups were moved nearer to the landings.



During Operation Neptune Allied warships, from battleships to destroyers, provided supporting fire for the land forces. For example, the Canadians at Juno beach had fire support many times greater than they had had for the Dieppe Raid in 1942. The old battleships HMS Ramillies and Warspite and the monitor HMS Roberts were used to suppress shore batteries east of the Orne; cruisers targeted shore batteries at Ver-sur-Mer and Moulineaux.

Fire support from Allied ships went beyond the suppression of shore defenses overlooking landing beaches. Firepower from ships was also used to soften-up and break up enemy troop concentrations as Allied troops moved inland. This was particularly noted in German reports: Field-Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt reported that:

... The enemy had deployed very strong Naval forces off the shores of the bridgehead. These can be used as quickly mobile, constantly available artillery, at points where they are necessary as defense against our attacks or as support for enemy attacks. During the day their fire is skillfully directed by . . . plane observers, and by advanced ground fire spotters. Because of the high rapid-fire capacity of Naval guns they play an important part in the battle within their range. The movement of tanks by day, in open country, within the range of these naval guns is hardly possible.



The success of the amphibious landings depended on the establishment of a secure lodgment from which to expand the beachhead to allow the build up of a well-supplied force capable of breaking out. The amphibious forces were especially vulnerable to strong enemy counterattacks before the build up of sufficient forces in the beachhead could be accomplished. To slow or eliminate the German's ability to organize and launch counterattacks during this critical period, airborne operations were used to seize key objectives, such as bridges, road crossings, and terrain features, particularly on the eastern and western flanks of the landing areas. The airborne landings some distance behind the beaches were also intended to ease the egress of the amphibious forces off the beaches, and in some cases to neutralize German coastal defense batteries and more quickly expand the area of the beachhead. The U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were assigned to objectives west of Utah Beach. The British 6th Airborne Division was assigned to similar objectives on the eastern flank. 530 Free French paratroopers from the British Special Air Service Brigade, were assigned to objectives in Brittany from 5 June to August. (Operation Dingson, Operation Samwest).

East of the landing area, the open, flat, floodplain between the Orne and Dives Rivers was ideal for counterattacks by German armour. However, the landing area and floodplain were separated by the Orne River, which flows northeast from Caen into the bay of the Seine. The only crossing of the Orne River north of Caen was 7 kilometres (4.5 mi) from the coast, near Bénouville and Ranville. For the Germans, the crossing provided the only route for a flanking attack on the beaches from the east. For the Allies, the crossing also was vital for any attack on Caen from the east.



Airborne troops, mostly paratroopers of the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades, including the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, began landing after midnight, 6 June and immediately encountered elements of the German 716th Infantry Division. At dawn, the Battle Group von Luck of the 21st Panzer Division counterattacked from the south on both sides of the Orne River. By this time the paratroopers had established a defensive perimeter surrounding the bridgehead. Casualties were heavy on both sides, but the airborne troops held. Shortly after noon, they were reinforced by commandos of the 1st Special Service Brigade. By the end of D-Day, 6th Airborne had accomplished each of its objectives. For several days, both British and German forces took heavy casualties as they struggled for positions around the Orne bridgehead. For example, the German 346th Infantry Division broke through the eastern edge of the defensive line on 10 June. Finally, British paratroopers overwhelmed entrenched panzergrenadiers in the Battle of Bréville on June 12. The Germans did not seriously threaten the bridgehead again. 6th Airborne remained on the line until it was evacuated in early September.

The U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, numbering 13,000 paratroopers and delivered by 12 troop carrier groups of the IX Troop Carrier Command, were less fortunate in quickly completing their main objectives. To achieve surprise, the drops were routed to approach Normandy from the west. Numerous factors affected their performance, but the primary one was the decision to make a massive parachute drop at night (a tactic not used again for the rest of the war). As a result, 45% of units were widely scattered and unable to rally. Efforts of the early wave of pathfinder teams to mark the landing zones were largely ineffective, and the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar beacons used to guide in the waves of C-47 Skytrains to the drop zones were a flawed system.



Three regiments of 101st Airborne paratroopers were dropped first, between 00:48 and 01:40, followed by the 82nd Airborne's drops between 01:51 and 02:42. Each operation involved approximately 400 C-47 aircraft. Two pre-dawn glider landings brought in anti-tank guns and support troops for each division. On the evening of D-Day two additional glider landings brought in two battalions of artillery and 24 howitzers to the 82nd Airborne. Additional glider operations on June 7 delivered the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment to the 82nd Airborne, and two large supply parachute drops that date were ineffective.

After 24 hours, only 2,500 troops of the 101st and 2,000 of the 82nd were under the control of their divisions, approximating a third of the force dropped. The dispersal of the American airborne troops, however, had the effect of confusing the Germans and fragmenting their response. In addition, the Germans' defensive flooding, in the early stages, also helped to protect the Americans' southern flank.
Paratroopers continued to roam and fight behind enemy lines for days. Many consolidated into small groups, rallied with Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs) or junior officers, and usually were a hodgepodge of men from different companies, battalions, regiments, or even divisions. The 82nd occupied the town of Sainte-Mère-Église early in the morning of June 6, giving it the claim of being the first town liberated in the invasion.



Assisting in the planned Normandy Landings were members of the French Resistance. The various factions and circuits of the French Resistance were included in the plan for Overlord. Through a London-based headquarters which supposedly embraced all resistance groups, État-major des Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur (EMFFI), the British Special Operations Executive orchestrated a massive campaign of sabotage tasking the various Groups with attacking railway lines, ambushing roads, or destroying telephone exchanges or electrical substations. The resistance was alerted to carry out these tasks by means of the messages personnels, transmitted by the BBC in its French service from London. Several hundred of these were regularly transmitted, masking the few of them that were really significant.

In addition to the tasks given to the Resistance as part of the invasion effort, the Special Operations Executive planned to reinforce the Resistance with three-man liaison parties, under Operation Jedburgh. The Jedburgh parties would coordinate and arrange supply drops to the Maquis groups in the German rear areas.

Total allied casualties (killed, wounded, missing, or captured) for the Normandy Landings are estimated at approximately 10,000. These include: United States–6,603, of which 1,465 fatal; United Kingdom–2,700; and Canada–1,074, of which 359 fatal. An unknown number of civilians (mostly French) were wounded or killed.

The beaches at Normandy are still referred to on maps and signposts by their invasion codenames. There are several vast cemeteries in the area. The American cemetery, in Colleville-sur-Mer, contains row upon row of identical white crosses and Stars of David, immaculately kept, commemorating the American dead. Commonwealth graves, in many locations, use white headstones engraved with the person's religious symbol and their unit insignia. The largest cemetery in Normandy is the La Cambe German war cemetery, which features granite stones almost flush with the ground and groups of low-set crosses. There is also a Polish cemetery.



Streets near the beaches are still named after the units that fought there, and occasional markers commemorate notable incidents. At significant points, such as Pointe du Hoc and Pegasus Bridge, there are plaques, memorials or small museums. The Mulberry harbour still sits in the sea at Arromanches. In Sainte-Mère-Église, a dummy paratrooper hangs from the church spire. On Juno Beach, the Canadian government has built the Juno Beach Information Centre, commemorating one of the most significant events in Canadian military history. In Caen there is a large Museum for Peace, which is dedicated to peace generally, rather than only to the battle.

D-Day was significant because it was the turning point of World War II. It marked the start of the Allies' invasion of Western Europe and paved the way for Allied victory.

Today, let’s remember the enormous personal sacrifices made by the men and women who participated in the operations leading up to, and including, D-Day. Their commitment to a world free of dictators, where men, women and children can live in peace, is an enduring monument to all that is good and wonderful in the human race.

It is our responsibility to see that their sacrifices were not made in vain!

Bless you all.