access and at the same time deter the Soviet Union from creating such a threat as a result of a
peace treaty with the GDR.” (State Dept, Feb. 1970, p. 51) In a final analysis, the Western
Powers determined that the Soviets were unwilling to risk war and that any actions on their
part would be more defensive in nature.
Khrushchev, through Andrei Gromyko, the Soviet Foreign Minister, reiterated to the Western
Powers that if a treaty was not forthcoming, the Soviets would conclude a separate peace
treaty with the DDR. The Soviets continued to apply pressure for resolution on the Berlin
question. In his speeches of August 7 and 11, Khrushchev conjured up the specter of nuclear
war with the west if pushed by the United States. He “combined an aggressive stance with a
posture of reasonableness” by publicly asking for multilateral conferences but “he offered no
new proposals for negotiations and merely continued to insist that, if the Western Powers
persisted in their refusal to sign a German peace treaty, this problem would have to be settled
without them.” (State Dept., April 1970, p.73)
On Saturday August 12, 1961, East Berlin mayor Walter Ulbricht signed an order to close the
border and erect a Wall. The tide of East Germans flooding to the West through the many
roads, canals, crossings, and trains, came to an abrupt end. It is estimated that 3.7 to 4 million
East Germans escaped to the West. The daily flow of refugees in the beginning of August was
roughly 1, 500 East Germans, but after Khrushchev’s “bomb-rattling” speech, the daily number
had risen to 1,926. On August 11, unbeknownst to all, the last 2,290 refugees seeking the
freedoms of the west, entered the Marienfelde reception center in West Berlin. Overnight, in a
swift, unexpected manner, the door to freedom closed, and was to remain so for 28 years.
On the night of 13-14 August 1961, East German police and military units sealed off all arteries
leading to West Berlin. The communists pulled up train tracks and roads, erected barriers
topped with barbed wire, completely isolating the Western sectors and preventing East
Germans from escaping to the West. The fences and barricades completely surrounded the 97
miles around the three western sectors and 27 miles that cut through the heart of the city,
dividing it. The Soviet Army moved three divisions closer to Berlin to discourage interference by
the West and presumably to assist in the event of large-scale riots. From August 13-23, the
Soviets and East Germans undertook a massive show of force in Berlin to stop the exodus of
refugees to the West. In a direct response to Soviet and East German operations to cut off
allied access to Berlin, at the end of August, Kennedy made a public show of ordering 148,000
National Guardsmen and Reservists to active duty.
The Standoff at Checkpoint Charlie, October 27, 1961
During the end of summer and into the fall of 1961, the Soviets and East German governments
continued a general harassment of US forces traveling from Checkpoints Alpha and Bravo which
allowed access through East Germany, and a series of threats were made by Soviets leaders
concerning unfettered access to air corridors as well. Military and Allied diplomats were also
harassed moving across the borders of the divided city. On 22 October 1961, just two months
after the construction of the wall, the US Chief of Mission in West Berlin, E. Allan Lightner, Jr.