From early Saturday morning until late that night, work details from While the battle group was enroute, members of the garrison in Berlin spent a busy weekend preparing far their arrival. The Berlin-bound infantrymen passed under the Hammer and sickle of communism as they left the Soviet Marienborn checkpoint. Just before the column spearhead moved into the East Zone, American, British and French military police and a West German border patrol man raised the flags of the four They also count the number of men, and compare the lists with identity cards. The Soviets at the control point can look inside but not enter any Vehicles were cleared through the Soviet checkpoint a march unit at a time. The convoy was split into march units to ease the problems of command and control. Soviet jet patrolled the autobahn most of the time. Half hidden, by trees and bushes, the “VOPOs” watched the convoy’s progress across communist territory. Enroute, the convoy was under close observation by uniformed and plainclothes East German police. Divided into five march units, the convoy from Helmstedt stretched over 100 miles of East German autobahn. Sunday morning, advance element of the convoy reached Berlin at noon. With the lead vehicle moving into the Soviet Zone of East Germany at 6:34 a.m. Johns, Jr.,Ī 1931 graduate of Virginia Military Institute. The battle group is commanded by Colonel Glover S. The Mannheim, Germany area in a 50-mile convoy of 491 vehicles and trailers to join their allies in isolated West Berlin. Ordered to Berlin by President Kennedy to beef up United Statesįorces in the Divided City, the 1,500-man battle group moved from The 1st Battle Group of the 18th Infantry arrived in West Berlin last Sunday afternoon and paraded through the city to the cheers of thousands of flower-tossing Berliners.
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