The time is the 1950s, the place is Berlin
Voices Under Berlin
 
Berlin
Website Links

Berlin and Field Station Berlin

Save Teufelsberg!

The Field Station Berlin Vets Group is sponsoring an action to Save Teufelsberg! and preserve it as the "Major Arthur D. Nicholson" Cold War Memorial, in memory of the last casualty of the Cold War, the U.S. Military Liaison Mission tour officer who was shot and killed by a Russian sentry near Ludwigslust on March 24, 1985; and in recognition of the countless men and women of the Allied Armed Forces who resolutely stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the West Berliners during the Cold War, ensuring that the island of freedom known as "West Berlin" remained free. Follow this link to learn how you can help.

The Field Station Berlin Vets Group

This is the place to go for Field Station Berlin Vets on the web. This is a Yahoo Group where you can swap war stories and talk with other Field Station Berlin vets, view photos of Berlin and T-berg, and use a host of resources like the Reunion page. You have to join to be able to access the info available here, but it's worth it.

They also have a Field Station Berlin Vets "News" page, which—I am pleased to point out—has a short blurb on Voices Under Berlin.

78th ASA SOU Group

This is the place for Berlin ASA Vets "who served in Berlin, Germany between the end of WWII through the end of the 'Vietnam Era'." Smaller than the Yahoo Field Station Berlin Vets Group, but an interesting crew nonetheless. You have to join to be able to participate, but it's worth it.

For Field Station Berlin souvenirs like:

stickers Field Station Berlin Sticker, mugs Field Station Berlin Cup, note cards Field Station Berlin Notes, a clockField Station Berlin Clock,

a Christmas Tree Ornament Field Station Berlin Christmas Tree Ornament , or Christmas Cards Field Station Berlin Christmas Cards,

we invite you to visit the Voices Under Berlin store at CafePress.

And don't overlook our Berlin T-Shirts page, or

our "Americans in Berlin" Cinderella Stamps pages. Americans in Berlin Cinderella Stamps pages

The Berlin Island Association

This is the place to go for Air Force vets of USAF Security Service (USAFSS), USAF Electronic Security Command (ESC), USAF Intelligence Command (AFIC), Air Intelligence Agency (AIA) units in Berlin, Germany. "Dedicated to the heroes and heroines of Tempelhof, Marienfelde, Teufelsberg, Club Silverwings and other places of high social repute." Most of the features are "Members Only," but be sure to take a look at the "Welcome to Berlin" packet on the "Mementos Page". Their only swag is BIA lapel pins. It's a neat pin. Too bad I wasn't in the Air Force.

Gatow Old Boys Association

The Royal Air Force equivalent of The Berlin Island Association.

Berliner Kameraden

An association of former members of the 280th ASA Co in Berlin. Has a history of the 280th ASA Co, a history of Andrews Barracks, "What Was the ASA?," and a photo gallery.

Field Station Berlin

The FSB page at Military.com. Not as active as the FSB Vets Group, but, nevertheless, a place to look for FSB vets. Registration required. Ignore the swag links on the page. They are only for general military stuff; nothing specific to FSB.

USMLM Association

United States Military Liaison Mission to the Commander-in-Chief, Group of Soviet Forces, Germany (USMLM), had its representational headquarters in Potsdam, and its Operational & Administrative Headquarters in West Berlin. The Mission was a four-service unit staffed by officers and enlisted men from the US Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.

Berlin U.S. Military Veterans Association

A place to get together with Berlin Brigade vets. They have an active Reunion program. Dues are $20/year, for which you get a newsletter.

Berlin Brigade Memories

This website is just what its name implies: a website full of memories about the American presence in Berlin. A much less formal site than the Allied Museum, it is full of snap shots of places that those stationed in Berlin will immediately recognize: from the PX and Commissary, to McNair, Andrews and Clay Allee, from USMLM to T-berg. Heartily recommended as a place to visit.

Berlin Brigade Wall Watchers

This is a Yahoo Group for folks interested in Berlin, but the focus on veterans of the Berlin Brigade. Membership is necessary to post and access the archives, but it's worth the effort.

The Berlin Observer

This is a website with archive issues of stories from the Berlin Command official newspaper, The Berlin Observer. The stories are in PDF format. No membership needed, but contributions are welcome.

Berlin Tunnel
Website Links

The Cold War Museum

The Cold War Museum is presently only a virtual museum, but it is looking forward to developing its permanent physical location at the Lorton Nike Missile Base upon approval from Fairfax County Park Authority. The museum has an article on the PBJOINTLY (Project Gold) tunnel, written by T.H.E. Hill.

The Allied Museum in Berlin

Located on Clay Allee in the Outpost Theater and "Nicholson Library", they have exhibits commemorating the period during which the city of Berlin was Occupied by American, British, French and Soviet military forces. The museum has an article on the PBJOINTLY (Project Gold) tunnel. It also has a number of "tunnel" pages"

Wikimedia Gallery of B&W Tunnel Stills

A collection of black and white photographs of the Project Gold tunnel right after it was discovered in 1956. Courtesy of the German Archives, via Wikimedia. This hand-written sign, for example, says "Property of the Government of the USA: Entry prohibited," in both Russian and German. Berlin Tunnel Sign

The International Spy Museum

The International Spy Museum—located in downtown, Washington, DC at 800 F Street, NW—also has a Berlin tunnel exhibit.

The CIA

The Declassified CLANDESTINE SERVICES HISTORY: THE BERLIN TUNNEL OPERATION 1952-1956 is available from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Electronic Reading Room. Just search for "Berlin Tunnel". Must reading for every spy tunnel aficionado.

Report on the engineering that went into the tunnel.

Wonderful Tunnel

The original Time Magazine article on Project GOLD from Monday, May. 07, 1956. The last line is quoted in Voices Under Berlin: "It's the best publicity the U.S. has had in Berlin for a long time."

The Berlin Spy Tunnel Affair

An interesting article on Project GOLD from Invention & Technology Magazine (Spring 1995 Volume 10, Issue 4). A good, brief overview.

The Spooks from Rudow

A first-hand account of the Berlin tunnel (located in the Rudow district of Berlin) with pictures by John Quirk. Hosted by Berlin Brigade Memories.

CIA: The 1950s: The Berlin Tunnel: (Operation PBJOINTLY)

A very-good academic overview of the specialist literature on the Berlin tunnel by J. Ransom Clark (Emeritus) Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio.

A Berlin Tunnel Cryptologic Factoid

In a letter to "The Times" on Blechley Park from July 1980, a reader reveals a factoid about the Berlin Tunnel that I had not see before: US Navy Bombes (electro-mechanical computer-like machines built to recover Enigma keys) "were still being used in 1956 to solve East German police traffic in case it revealed intelligence about the CIA's Berlin Tunnel."

For further reading: "The Last Bombe Run, 1955" by Colin Burke.

Berlin Books

Potsdam Mission: Memoir of a U.S. Army Intelligence Officer in Communist East Germany
by James R. Holbrook, Cork Hill Press (November 30, 2005), 304 pages.

A memoir by a Veteran of the Cold War with whom I am proud to have served. It traces his career from private to LTC, with stops in West Point, DLI, Field Station Berlin and USMLM. A lucid, historical account. The chapter on life at Field Station Berlin is often overlooked in reviews. It takes a look at FSB coverage of the Soviet shoot down of an Air Force RB-66 reconnaissance aircraft in 1964. Highly recommended.

My Life as a Spy
by Leslie Woodhead

The memoir of a famous British documentary filmmaker who began his adult life as a RAF Russian linguist in Berlin. It covers language school, his work in Berlin and what happened to his classmates when they grew up. Highly recommended for Monterey Marys, both 'ground pounders' and 'zoomies.'

Spies Beneath Berlin
by David Stafford, Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (January 27, 2003), 222 pages.

A readable historical account of the Operation GOLD (PBJOINTLY) Berlin Spy Tunnel. Begins with an overview of the Operation SILVER spy tunnel in Vienna. No spy-tunnel aficionado should be without one.

Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War
by David E. Murphy, Sergei A. Kondrashev, George Bailey, Publisher: Yale University Press, 584 pages, illustrated.

In insider's look at CIA and KGB operations in Berlin in the 1950s, with an extensive chapter on the Berlin Spy Tunnel. Essential reading.

Outpost Berlin: The History of the American Military Forces in Berlin, 1945-1994
by Henrik Bering, Publisher: Edition Q (July 1995), 266 pages.

A readable journalistic history of the American military in Berlin from 1945 to 1994.

Berlin and the American Military: A Cold War Chronicle
by Robert P. Grathwol, Donita Moorhus, Publisher: NYU Press, 200 pages.

Another competent history of the American military in Berlin from 1945 to 1994.

Berlin Then and Now
by Nick Gay, Publisher: Thunder Bay Press, 180 pages.

An album (11.3 x 9.7 inches) of photographs of Berlin before and after World War II.

Kidnap City: Cold War Berlin (Contributions to the Study of World History)
by Arthur L. Smith, Publisher: Greenwood Press, 216 pages.

In the wake of World War II, people were being snatched off the streets of West Berlin by communist agents with great regularity. Smith's account of this chilling and intimidating phenomenon is clear, well researched and coherent.

Experiences with the CIA's 1950's Berlin Spy Tunnel
by Robert T. Browne, presently in search of a publisher.

This manuscript is an espionage "Who Done it?" in the most literal sense of the phrase. It is a memoir of the Berlin Tunnel and those who worked it, told by four of the actual military participants of PBJointly: Robert T. Browne (Colonel, retired), John E. Quirk, Eugene N. Kovalenko, and Russell Knapp.

Berlin Kidnapping Cartoon

copyright bar