As the West resolutely girded for any Communist-made showdown on Berlin, East German Puppet Boss Walter Ulbricht showed signs of nervousness. He ordered the 100,000 men of East Germany's "People's Army" alerted to "maximum combat readiness" and gave them their first assignment: to use "all means" to try to stop the debilitating (and embarrassing) flow of refugees through Berlin to the West—an average of 1,000 per day last week. The Communists began to evict East Berliners who work in West Berlin from their homes, mounted a show trial of five East Germans charged with helping refugees escape (penalty: three...
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