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Tom Briggs | all galleries >> Galleries >> Berlin (1971) > August 13, 1961 ... Berlin
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1961

August 13, 1961 ... Berlin

Berlin

... as we approach the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it might be worthwhile to look back and see what Checkpoint Charlie looked like on 8/13/1961 when the Russians began to erect the wall. This is the face-off between US and Russian tanks on either side of CheckPoint Charlie. For those of us who were there at the time, it seemed for certain that WWIII was about to break out. In the ensuing days and weeks, the Wall was built ... and the world was changed forever.
NOTE: The Russian tanks in this photo are actually T-54's ... this correction is thanks to my good friend, Valen Davidoff, a retired Russian Naval Officer in their Special Operations Branch (the equivalent of the US Navy Seals) ... see his comment below


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The Third Side12-Oct-2011 11:33
Love this photo and album! Those were tense times.

PS - US Navy Seals have no equivalent anywhere on earth.
Steve Sharp28-Apr-2010 22:21
Fascinating picture; (I was there 3 days ago!). Things have changed a *lot* in Berlin :)
Lawrence Solum23-Apr-2010 15:14
Great shot! Bravo.
Buba Jafarli08-Apr-2010 16:14
What an amazing document, Tom... We are so lucky the world managed to avoid the catastrophy and our grandsons live in a bit safer world now!
borisalex22-Jan-2010 05:24
Wow..this is a priceless time document, as an eyewitness you show here how close the world was to an apocalyptic war! Thank you for sharing!
Dave Beedon07-Nov-2009 20:43
Scary but cool.
anuschka04-Nov-2009 22:58
Most interesting, thanks for posting. V.
Steve Morris25-Oct-2009 08:54
Very impressive shot from history - quite remarkable!BV
Long Bach Nguyen06-Aug-2009 15:42
I was here in 89's and nothing is the same in your picture. There were lots of building were torn down for the no man land strip around the city. I think your picture should be in the history book.
Milan Vogrin14-Jul-2009 06:48
At the iron curtain, great photo of that time.
XiaoBernard9913-Jul-2009 06:24
The tle lens give an impressive scenery ,the presence of the forces is very important.The police had Taunus car made in Germany by FORD,the design of the JEPP is very near of my Wrangler of 2009!!,the pannel with the inscriptions finishing this extraordinary scenery.Thanks to share TOM
Sir, it's me 12-Jul-2009 23:11
Hmm... Sir, I can't to agree with you... IMO you're wrong with type of our tanks... Such form of tk's turret points to model T-54 or T-55... I can't to watch an AA mashine gun on the turrets... probably these are T-54... but clearly these aren't the model T-34...
As I remember we treat each other with respect and our Western group of troops had been equipped with the most modern tanks ... and not only them... )))
Yours truly,
Valen
bill friedlander10-Jul-2009 19:29
An image for the history books. A very tense moment in history that could have been catastrophic. V
Carol Rollins10-Jul-2009 12:36
Your image and comentary just gave me goose bumps. What an absolutely huge
historically significant image. Well done Tom. Thanks for bringing this back. ~
Jean-Luc Rollier10-Jul-2009 08:36
The tension is tangible! Impressive photo!
JL Vote
Ann...10-Jul-2009 05:16
A moment of time captured that we could do well not to forget......
Cindi Smith10-Jul-2009 04:41
I was born there. Wonderful capture! They called it the iron curtain when I was there, my Mom tells me.
Guest 10-Jul-2009 02:28
On the brink! ... a great photo-journalistic shot! The tension you captured here is palpable.
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