oct 27, 1961 - Checkpoint Charlie Standoff

Description:

On October 27th, 1961 only two months after the erection of the Berlin Wall, US and Soviet forces faced off at the US Army’s Checkpoint Charlie. The checkpoint was intended for the crossing of US diplomats from West Berlin to East Berlin as allowed per the agreement with Moscow on the postwar occupation of Germany. Trouble began on October 22 when senior US diplomat, E Allan Lightner Jr was stopped by East Berlin border guards while crossing to go to the state opera house in East Berlin, he was forced to turn back. A direct violation of the post war agreements. General Clay, in charge of Russian relations after the Berlin wall, began ordering US diplomats to be escorted through the checkpoint by US army military police. East Germans continued to resist and deny their rights of crossing the border, but diplomats crossed with the help of escorts.

On the 24th of October General Clay mobilized three teams, A which consisted of five M48 tanks, two mechanized infantry squads and an engineer team, B with one tank platoon, and C with one infantry company and one tank platoon. He used this team to make several displays of force in order to intimidate the East German border guards into letting vehicles through without incident. Despite the appearance of teams A and B more vehicles were denied access by East German police. On the 27th General Clay ordered the deployment of the teams to a mere 75 meters from the border, the soviets responded with 10 T-55 tanks of their own, which is when the famous standoff occurred. The tanks remained trained on each other for 16 hours before tensions subsided and both teams moved away from the border lines, but according to Seimen, a former USAREUR enlisted Soldier, they remained in the area.


Melancon, Dave. Tensions Ran High at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961 as Easterners Fled to West, Berlin Wall Went Up. 2009.
Hendrix, Thomas. “Standoff in Berlin, October 1961.” Www.army.mil, 22 Oct. 2010, www.army.mil/article/46993/standoff_in_berlin_october_1961.
‌
-Danique Weisbeek

Added to timeline:

Date:

Images: