Berlin- Caught in the Mousetrap by Paul Grant

Author:Paul Grant
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-06-06T04:00:00+00:00

***

The morning had gone to plan. Hans and his men had been able to have breakfast without any particular alarm. However, by late morning, Berliners had grasped the significance of what was happening and the atmosphere started to be change. Groups of youths had gathered on the eastern side of the border on the Unter den Linden, well back from the Gate, but it was the western side where the real trouble was brewing.

At noon Hans had been called to the Brandenburg Gate crossing to assess the increasingly unruly protest gathering pace there. He was met with a crowd of at least a few thousand people on the western side of the barbed wire coils, which temporarily marked the border. For a while, he monitored the crowd, and whilst they were only shouting and hurling abuse at the militia men and some of Hans’ NVA units, he took no action. Within an hour, the crowd had started to throw missiles. Soon after, the border was breached as the crowd surged over the wire, throwing coats on top of it so they could trample over it. Reluctantly, he gave the order for his men to pull back and to use the water cannons.

In the midst of this chaos, Hans was approached by one of the rough looking Kampfgruppen.

‘Colonel, you must come at once to deal with some people who want to cross the border!’

Hans glared at him. ‘Are you mad, Corporal? Deal with the situation yourself. You can see I am busy here.’

‘Sir, I must insist. There is an American citizen with them. I cannot decide what to do.’

Hans shook his head. The water cannon had pushed the crowd back for now, but who knew what they would try next. He didn’t really have time for interruptions of this nature. However, he couldn’t deny being slightly intrigued by the militia man’s story and, more to the point, he didn’t need an incident with a US citizen at a border point for which he was responsible.

Hans strode across Parisier Platz, directly behind the Gate. He shook his head on seeing another militia man holding a man and woman at the point of a machine gun.

‘What the hell is going on here?’ Hans said to the militia man.

Before he could answer, the man held at gunpoint was talking. ‘Like I explained to these two goons, I am an American citizen. Me and my wife,’ he waved his hand towards the woman at his side, ‘are to be safely placed over the border by order of Major Weber of State Security.’

The militiaman said to Hans, ‘The lady has only an East Berlin identity card, Colonel. No permit.’

Hans turned to view the couple. The pair of them looked stressed. The man was waving his arms in exasperation. The woman looked exhausted and was clearly sporting recent injuries by the cuts and scratches on her face.

‘Please can I see your passport?’ Hans asked the American.

Reluctantly, the man handed it over, eyeing Hans with suspicion.

‘Kaymer?’ Hans had heard the name somewhere before.

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