Deutschland 83 on Amazon Prime

[Trooperdan]

Am watching this series in German with subtitles via Amazon Prime. Pretty gripping spy story that also has considerable insight to the West German citizens feelings about the deployment of Pershing II missiles to their county.

 

[old tanker]

Good series. Does an excellent job of weaving real events into the story. Any Cold Warrior who remembers "Able Archer" or the Rote Armee Fraktion aka the Baader–Meinhof Gang will recognize the times.

 

[steveno]

the Red Army Faction set off a bomb at Rhein Main AB in 1985 that killed two people. they were responsible for a lot of attacks on U.S. military and West German police

Red Army Faction - Wikipedia

 

[Absalom]

Well done as far as the historical background, the reconstruction of the early 1980s and the acting and suspense go.

Having gotten out of the German army not too many years before that time, however, I found the whole premise beyond ridiculous.

So the East Germans take some kid who‘d never even been in the West and infiltrate him into a high staff officer position after a few days of “training”. Like in any military, there were countless routines and habits, plus specific expertise, that would be second nature for a real Oberleutnant. And the differences in mannerisms, vocabulary, and life experiences between East and West Germans were such by the 1980s that he would have shown out in no time at all without lengthy conditioning.

He would not have lasted ten minutes once he set foot on that base in the real world.

 

[yaktamer]

I may have to watch it. I was assigned to Berlin Brigade, detached to Checkpoint Alpha in Helmstedt, '85-'86.

 

[handejector]

the Red Army Faction set off a bomb at Rhein Main AB in 1985 that killed two people. they were responsible for a lot of attacks on U.S. military and West German police

Red Army Faction - Wikipedia

I've read that Wiki before. Funny that it gives the date 1970 for the founding of the Baader–Meinhof Gang. In 1969, as a young soldier in Germany, I was sent on a guard detail for a remote US ammo dump in the woods. When we got there, the Sgt of the Guard issued each of us two LOADED magazines for our 14s. Anyone who has ever walked a guard post with an empty weapon will know what a big deal that was.

SOP was issue the formal challenge to Halt, Have ID placed on the ground, have the subject retreat ten steps, then advance and check the ID. If it did not look like US Army ID, shoot em.
Now the point- this was Spring, 1969. The rumor was the tenseness was because the Baader–Meinhof Gang had knocked off a small German ammo dump to get explosives, leaving 8 executed German soldiers behind.
I have no clue if it was true, but the Gang was obviously known at that time.
MISERABLE detail. 4 hrs on, 8 off for a week. Eating Cs. The barracks was tiny and grubby, no shower. No clean clothes. While I was trying to sleep, there was always one shift there playing cards and guffawing. By the end of the week, I thought about shooting a couple of them.
Several days in, I found a good comfortable spot to sit and read that gave me a good view of approach from any direction. One afternoon, I heard somebody coming. Jumped up, stashed the book, and emerged from behind one of the bunkers to challenge a Full Bird, a Capt, and a Lt.
The Bird laid his ID on the ground and told me: "This should be sufficient, young Specialist!" He was not amused when I required the ten steps back. I'm pretty sure they only took six or seven.

 

[CCantu357]

I watched this show a few years ago and found it to be very good. I believe there are some sequals as well, but I haven't watched them yet. I am currenlty watching FX's The Americans on Amazon and it is also a good espionage thriller.

I understand that these shows, much like James Bond movies, are not totally realistic. But I am a fan of the spy genere and find them to be great entertainment. They way I see it, realastic espionage would be rather boring. From what I understand, John le Carre did it best.

 

[steveno]

if you don't want to watch the whole video the part about the bombing is at about the 16:00 mark

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOH0ND_0mrM[/ame]

 

[Absalom]

I've read that Wiki before. Funny that it gives the date 1970 for the founding of the Baader–Meinhof Gang. In 1969, as a young soldier in Germany, I was sent on a guard detail ...

Now the point- this was Spring, 1969. The rumor was the tenseness was because the Baader–Meinhof Gang had knocked off a small German ammo dump to get explosives, leaving 8 executed German soldiers behind.
I have no clue if it was true, ....

I can provide some detail on both points:

The leading members of what became the RAF had indeed committed the first arson attacks in 1968, and were imprisoned for that. Supporters recruited a left-wing journalist, Ulrike Meinhof, for an operation to spring Baader from custody. This succeeded in West-Berlin in 1970, and Meinhof went underground with them. That’s the reason why the “official” birth of the Baader-Meinhof group is always dated to that prison break in 1970.

And the murder of soldiers you reference, quite a traumatic event in the history of the Bundeswehr, occurred on January 20, 1969. Four soldiers guarding an ammo depot at Lebach were killed by two armed intruders, a fifth survived seriously wounded. The perpetrators didn’t take explosives, though, but G3s and P1s with ammo. The initial suspicion was indeed of a political background, but it turned out to be criminal. The crime was quickly solved.

It did lead to significant changes in security in the German army too. When I was active in the 1970s, we walked guard with not just a full magazine, but a round in the chamber.

 

[handejector]

Thanks for that data. Just to be clear, Baader-Meinhof was spoken to me on that guard detail in the early spring of 69.
And yes, we were also locked and loaded. We did not insert mags and NOT chamber rounds. I never saw that done.