Berlin is 100 miles to the east of the old GDR/DDR border so, matching the weather, I was tipped straight in mid-Cold War to my job with Intelligence & Security (although am tight-lipped about it!). At the end of WW2 Berlin was cut in two and the Soviets (and DDR) occupied the eastern sector. The western sector was split between the French in the top third, the Americans in the bottom third and the British between. In those days of managing the ‘Divided City,’ Americans, French and British together worked well at all levels in the peculiar situation that was isolated, very Cold War-ish West Berlin.

Berlin took a hammering in WW2. Post-war the building stock was renewed to resemble what existed before although alongside a modernist glass-and-colour place of worship in the Centre (or “Mitte”)is an exception to this, the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche which enjoyed a pious career until Allied bombing reduced it to a ruined shell, which it remains to this day by way of a permanent memorial. In the west of the former British sector, in an area of distinct natural beauty centred on the Havel lake, stands Teufelsberg, or “Devil’s Mountain,” a large landscaped mound, man-made from the wartime rubble of the ruined city.

In 1967 and 1968 I had to attend courses in BAOR, one at HQ Intelligence Group, the other on a completely different topic at the Command Pay Office. In each case I travelled from Berlin by rail and, funnily enough, both times through snow storms that had been “the worst in living memory.” Both journeys from home to training centre took twenty four hours while the return was a convenient and user-friendly six hours. My experience of BAOR this time (I’d served at HQ BAOR in 1957-1958) therefore was of interminable travel with enforced wakefulness, temporary accommodation in strange and strangely stark Sergeants’ Messes and cramming sessions in classrooms amongst a crowd of complete strangers.

West Berlin was surrounded by The Wall in the east and 50 miles of Wire and mines to north, west and south. Many found this claustrophobic but there were many hospitable beerkellers, fine restaurants including Indian and Chinese, and other entertainment venues to keep you happy and if all else failed, BAOR and all it promised was just 160 kms away down the Soviet-controlled autobahn to Helmstedt. I spent a fair amount of time in 3 (Security) Company Mess due to the friendship of Tom Wood, Paddy Burns, Robin Smith, Mick Hart, Les Haylor and Ron Samways; but I mustn’t forget to mention Len Leonard.

I arrived in Berlin aged 28, a single RAOC sergeant with a tan. Two and a half years later I left as a WO2 with a wife and child on posting to Intelligence Division, HQ Allied Forces Southern Europe at Naples. I never suffered from claustrophobia in West Berlin and lived through times that were both humdrum and exciting. However I always promised myself I’d return but still haven’t done so as it’s already 2004 I’d better get a move on.