The Communists' East German wall was virtually complete. Behind it, Red Boss Walter Ulbricht could whip his sullen millions into line without fear of an other mass exodus. But barricading Berlin was just the first surprise Old Spitzbart (pointed beard) had in mind for the West. Last week, pointedly, arrogantly, he began to reach for more, and as a result, on the tense and anxious Berlin frontier more and more armed men faced each other with weapons at the ready.
Just before midnight, word of the latest Communist move was flashed to duty officers at U.S. headquarters in West Berlin. Not satisfied with damming up the flow of refugees from East Berlin, the Reds now blandly announced restrictions on Westerners who wanted to enter the eastern half of the city. From that time on, said the East-zone radio, a West Berliner would have to get a pass and use only selected border crossings; "foreigners," i.e., Western Allied civilians and officials, would be allowed to use only one route for entering and leaving East Berlin. This was violation enough of the Four Power agreements guaranteeing free movement throughout the entire city, but the East Germans audaciously added another new "rule": Westerners on their own side of the line must stay 100 meters (110 yds.) back from the walled frontier "for their own safety."
On the Line. Hurriedly, U.S., British and French troop commanders met, decided on a tough reply. "The three Western commandants take a most serious view of [this] effrontery [and] are taking the necessary action to ensure security and the integrity of the sector borders," they announced. Within hours, a thousand heavily armed Allied troops (600 Americans, 200 British, 200 French) were taking positions all along the 25-mile East-West city frontier. Where the Wilhelmstrasse enters Communist territory, a hard-bitten U.S. sergeant and his crew raced up in a Jeep armed with a 106-mm. recoilless rifle and parked with the gun's muzzle pointed directly across at the Reds. At Friedrichstrasse—the one entry point now open to non-Germans—a platoon of American infantrymen moved up directly to the border opposite a group of East German Vopos and a water-cannon truck; an M48 tank and two armored cars rumbled up and parked near by.
Hour after hour, Western tanks, armored cars and armed Jeeps rumbled slowly back and forth along the frontier, making certain that the Communists did not try to enforce their 100-meter rule. West Berliners remained free to travel the border streets as they pleased. Overhead, U.S. helicopters kept constant watch. Next day, when one water cannon fired a stream at a crowd of West Berliners, G.I.s of the 6th Infantry Regiment, who were also splattered, reached grimly for the tear gas grenades that they carried conveniently on their shoulder straps. The squirting stopped abruptly.