Cold War Photos.

[RoofRat]

As was said to me many years ago. The more pieces of the jigsaw you have, the better the picture looks.

Twice yearly there was a Tri-Mission operation...to count the old ones out and, the new ones in. Up until the 80's they would move via the railways,in Mannschaftwagens (similar to the jobbies in Dr Zhivago). We would sit in OP's on specific rail lines (whilst trying to avoid Trapos),for 24 hours counting anything military that moved.

After dark, you moved closer to the track to get a lower viewpoint against the night sky,giving you a silhouette of the wagons and,any kit. At a pre-arranged time,one tour would come off a line,whilst another tour took up an OP somewhere else along it. This normally went on for about 3 weeks.

In the 80's they started flying them in using Ilyushin ll-76 'Candid' into specific airfields,which made counting slightly more civilised.

 

[RoofRat]

Not to mention the counting of clay insulators on pylons in order to get an idea of the voltage being pumped down the line.

We had to run up and down the roadbed of the Rostock autobahn during its construction, much to the annoyance of the workers,to measure the tanks going into the ground at the petrol stations, the 'other fuel' tanks going in by the parkplatzs,conveniently located a stones throw from the hardened hangars and,taxiways.

An irate VoPo tried to stop us doing it and, was asked...if it was an autobahn or not ! He said yes,we said that under the 'agreement',we were allowed to transit on autobahns,even if they go through PRA's and, left him scratching his head...strange,we never got chased on that 'autobahn'.

 

[Dan Gleebles]

Why not? It's an accurate report.

I didn't place any prejudice or moral judgement on it.

It was a very pleasant lunch so I suggest you get over yourself. I was more interested in the Mongolian background.

It's just not worthy of mention in these more progressive times.

For the liberal minded among us, I guess.

 

[Brotherton Lad]

It's just not worthy of mention in these more progressive times.

For the liberal minded among us, I guess.

I'm the most liberal minded bloke you could possibly meet.

 

[velcrostripes]

Several years ago I went to my son's graduation lunch at Oxford University. (He's now in the Army.) I was asked to take a photo of a mother and graduating son. She was Russian. His partner, in a homosexual relationship, was Mongolian. We had lunch together.

I took the opportunity and told the mother, in my rather rusty Russian, that I was a Razvedchik (scout).

She said,'Nyet, Spion!'.

A few years back , when satnav was still a bit of a novelty , especially to East European truckers who could only programme them on " direct route " or " impassable to HGV's so don'f f*cking bother , but you are going to do it anyway " , my tiny village used to see a procession of lost EE truckers .
It was such a pleasure to watch one of my neighbours scold them in fluent and voluble Russian and see the look on their stunned faces .
He'd been something in Naval Intelligence or MI6 , I was never quite able to prise which out of him .

 

[Brotherton Lad]

A few years back , when satnav was still a bit of a novelty , especially to East European truckers who could only programme them on " direct route " or " impassable to HGV's so don'f f*cking bother , but you are going to do it anyway " , my tiny village used to see a procession of lost EE truckers .
It was such a pleasure to watch one of my neighbours scold them in fluent and voluble Russian and see the look on their stunned faces .
He'd been something in Naval Intelligence or MI6 , I was never quite able to prise which out of him .

Several years ago I did a part-time white van man stint. Mainly for the physical exercise (and the beer money). Cracking out in Russian usually raised a nod and a smile.

 

[9.414]

....

I always thought that, a good way to **** 'em up,if they ever decided to 'move West' was to get 'stay behind' troops to take out the 'reggies' and, either substitute a'la the Brandenburgers in the Battle of the Bulge or, just leave no signs.

...

I think you might find that that idea had occurred to the sort of people who might be in those troops

They were critical to battle plans such as where the MRR would turn right (or whatever) to form up for the attack. If they were directed left they would just keep going until they met the next marker (ie never) or ran out of fuel!

 

[retread2]

A couple of shots from the National Day parade rehearsals in 1980, some of the usual suspects, BMP-1, BTR--60-PB, SA-6, etc:

 

[medwaymud]

The old 5p piece was also the same size as 1DM and would work in German vending machines.

Allegedly..

And public payphones.

Definitely.

 

[Gardner6LXB]

Quick question. I have a friend, well more a friend of a friend really, who was an Ossie.
They both look back on the DDR days with fondness & wish the wall had never fallen.
They miss the law & order and sense of community. We were walking through Alex Platz late one night where we saw a load of drunken loutishness happening. He just looked over with disgust, pointed & said “DDR? Nicht!”.

Her husband was a party member & worked for the government in some capacity. He won’t say what he did & neither will she. All hush hush.
But, he did let slip once after many Radebergers that he had some sort of special passport that allowed him travel worldwide. Blau reiße pass, I think he called it. He hardly speaks any English, so it’s hard to push him.
Any ideas?

 

[Dan Gleebles]

I've just finished watching a Netflix drama series called '4 Blocks'.

German language with English subtitles and filmed in Berlin, the show follows the story of the city's serious and organised crime gangs.

It may be of interest to those who remember Berlin then and can compare it to a perhaps more diverse and vibrant city it is(?) now.

 

[Murphy_Slaw]

Quick question. I have a friend, well more a friend of a friend really, who was an Ossie.
They both look back on the DDR days with fondness & wish the wall had never fallen.
They miss the law & order and sense of community. We were walking through Alex Platz late one night where we saw a load of drunken loutishness happening. He just looked over with disgust, pointed & said “DDR? Nicht!”.

Her husband was a party member & worked for the government in some capacity. He won’t say what he did & neither will she. All hush hush.
But, he did let slip once after many Radebergers that he had some sort of special passport that allowed him travel worldwide. Blau reiße pass, I think he called it. He hardly speaks any English, so it’s hard to push him.
Any ideas?

Bugsy?

 

[Gardner6LXB]

Bugsy?

Maybe. But there was no mention of his family being killed twice & he totally ignored a flock of pigeons that were finishing off an half eaten bratty by the fountain, so I’m edging towards no.

 

[Brotherton Lad]

Quick question. I have a friend, well more a friend of a friend really, who was an Ossie.
They both look back on the DDR days with fondness & wish the wall had never fallen.
They miss the law & order and sense of community. We were walking through Alex Platz late one night where we saw a load of drunken loutishness happening. He just looked over with disgust, pointed & said “DDR? Nicht!”.

Her husband was a party member & worked for the government in some capacity. He won’t say what he did & neither will she. All hush hush.
But, he did let slip once after many Radebergers that he had some sort of special passport that allowed him travel worldwide. Blau reiße pass, I think he called it. He hardly speaks any English, so it’s hard to push him.
Any ideas?

There is a great deal of 'Ostalgie'. It's much the same as here; that society was better disciplined in the 1950s and early 1960s. Then the youngsters take over and let rip.

 

[Escape-from-PPRuNe]

A couple of shots from the National Day parade rehearsals in 1980, some of the usual suspects, BMP-1, BTR--60-PB, SA-6, etc:

View attachment 541465

View attachment 541466

OK, those photos look exactly like they were taken in a spy movie. Well done

 

[Escape-from-PPRuNe]

I've just finished watching a Netflix drama series called '4 Blocks'.

German language with English subtitles and filmed in Berlin, the show follows the story of the city's serious and organised crime gangs.

It may be of interest to those who remember Berlin then and can compare it to a perhaps more diverse and vibrant city it is(?) now.

There's an interesting distinction in the way (West-) Berlin is remembered in Germany and outside it. Foreigners tend to remember the cold war stories and, I think, also project backwards from the 1990s and 2000s poor but sexy, hipster capital of the continent era. (West) Germans talk about it being a boring provincial backwater where anyone serious left because everything important was somewhere else - industry, culture, media, politics - until reunification flipped this and made it where you went to move to the big city.

(Obviously the DDR was very different in this respect - everything important was concentrated in "Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR" as you were required to call it, including things like bread.)

That said the changes were well afoot pre-reunification. The Green Party was founded there in 1981 and Kreuzberg already had a reputation both as a hippie/hipster ghetto and as little Turkey in the 80s. (perhaps because the gastarbeiters moved in because everyone else wanted to leave? Although 80s/90s German ideas of multiculturalism were along the lines of "one foreigner lives here, let's make a documentary" so it didn't take much)

 

[sidsnot]

Ive been reading this thread with great interest. I was a padsbrat in West Berlin from 85-89 (when I joined up). I remember a couple of Brixmis gents being mates with my father. Can’t recall their names.
Just my tuppence worth.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RoofRat]

A couple of shots from the National Day parade rehearsals in 1980, some of the usual suspects, BMP-1, BTR--60-PB, SA-6, etc:

View attachment 541465

View attachment 541466

We used to get a sneaky preview at the pre-pre rehearsal out on the Berliner Ring,just to see if it was worth sending the pro-photographers across for a close-up jolly.

 

[sonofgreenfinch]

I've just finished watching a Netflix drama series called '4 Blocks'.

German language with English subtitles and filmed in Berlin, the show follows the story of the city's serious and organised crime gangs.

It may be of interest to those who remember Berlin then and can compare it to a perhaps more diverse and vibrant city it is(?) now.

Let’s see: ‘diverse and vibrant’ usually translates as…

 

[retread2]

Cold War? Cold War? This cold, was it?

The pic above is Scottweg in Charlottenburg, a street of MQs, two storey flats. This was the winter of 78-79 and the lazy Boxheads have yet to sweep the streets. At the end of this street, turn left and across the U-Bhf forecourt, round and across the car park for the Olympic Stadium and I was at work. Close enough that I used to go home for lunch (newly married you see).

This pic was taken with my back to our flat in Scottweg. The S-Bahn ran in the cutting beyond the fence. It got to -20C that winter, nobody talked about 'wind chill' in those days.

E2A: these are from scanned negatives and quite poor.