The Berlin Convoy August 1961

[Peter H]

http://www.essential-architecture.com/G-BER/BER-029.htm

It was clear both that West German morale needed more and that there was a serious potential threat to the viability of West Berlin. If West Berlin fell after all the efforts of the Berlin Airlift, how could any of America's allies rely on her? On the other hand, in the face of any serious Soviet threat, an enclave like West Berlin could not be defended except with nuclear weapons. As such, it was vitally important for the Americans to show the Soviets that they could push their luck no further.

Accordingly, General Lucius D. Clay, who was deeply respected by Berliners after commanding the American effort during the Berlin Airlift (1948–49), and was known to have a firm attitude towards the Soviets, was sent to Berlin with ambassadorial rank as Kennedy's special advisor. He and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson arrived at Tempelhof Airport on the afternoon of Saturday 19 August.

They arrived in a city defended by what would soon be known as the "Berlin Brigade", which then consisted of the 2nd and 3rd Battle Groups of the 6th Infantry, with Company F, 40th Armor. The battle groups were pentatomic, with 1362 officers and men each. On 16 August, Kennedy had given the order for them to be reinforced. Early on 19 August, the 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry (commanded by Col. Glover S. Johns Jr.) was alerted.

On Sunday morning, lead elements in a column of 491 vehicles and trailers carrying 1500 men divided into five march units and left the Helmstedt-Marienborn checkpoint at 06:34. At Marienborn, the Soviet checkpoint next to Helmstedt on the West German/East German border, U.S. personnel were counted by guards. The column was 160 km (~100 miles) long, and covered 177 km (~110 miles) from Marienborn to Berlin in full battle gear, with VoPos (East German police) watching from beside trees next to the autobahn all the way along. The front of the convoy arrived at the outskirts of Berlin just before noon, to be met by Clay and Johnson, before parading through the streets of Berlin to an adoring crowd. At 0400 on Monday, 21 August, Lyndon Johnson left a visibly reassured West Berlin in the hands of Gen. Frederick O. Hartel and his brigade, now of 4224 officers and men. Every three months for the next three and a half years, a new American battalion was rotated into West Berlin by autobahn to demonstrate Allied rights.

[Peter H]

Col. Glover S. Johns Jr.(1912-1976),1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry

http://www.military.com/Content/MoreCon ... _johns_bkp

Photo of a pensive Johns from Life Magazine,1st September 1961.From: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ... 2-enc1.htm

Johns was an aide to Patton before the war,later a Technical Adviser on the Patton movie 1970.

[Peter H]

According to David Hackworth who rode in the lead jeep of the convoy when it reached West Berlin:

..the Colonel's remarks early that morning,"We'll end up like Custer if those goddam Ruskies take us on,but we'll take a goodly number of those sons of bitches with us when we go".

..on every hill and every bridge,there was a Soviet or East German unit,tracking us with the main guns of their tanks..Tim Grattan called and asked if he should set up mortars if we got hit."No,just fight as infantry," I said as nonchalantly as I could,knowing full well it'd be over as soon as it began.Infantry in trucks was no match for wall to wall Soviet tanks..

..a photograph taken of Colonel Johns at this tired time was published ..in Life magazine.Some weeks later a Life reader wrote in to remark that the Colonel bore an uncanny resemblance to the subject of a Rembrandt painting called The Man with the Golden Helmet..we all thought this was kind of spooky..

About Face,page 382-384

[Peter H]

A convoy photo from Life:

[Peter H]

The convoy arrives safely in West Berlin

From: http://southwickresearch.com/Berlin/Berlin_Wall.htm

We were in a crowd of Berliners who welcomed the military convoy as it entered West Berlin. They excitedly cried out "Panzer!" (tank) when they saw armored vehicles coming.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/in ... wood2.html

The battle group coming? The days that followed the thirteenth of August, enabled the Western powers in Washington, in NATO, to regroup, to concentrate their thoughts, to lodge their protests with the Soviets and I think President Kennedy, from the American side, made some very strong decisions in consultation with his senior advisers, both military and State Department. And when the battle group came from West Germany, this was a stopgap, moral booster for the West Berliners. It was a we must do something response and let's at least get some troops moving in. And this as a very, very important show of force to both sides. It was a reassurance to the West Berliners and the rest of the world that the Western allies, and particularly the Americans, were not going to stand by. And I remember the spirit of the West Berliners as they turned out to greet that battle group after they paraded through the streets, they drove their vehicles all the way down town and made it a deliberate show of force and there were tears in the eyes of the Berliners, there were absolute unbelievable expressions of overwhelming fascination by the American troops when they came in. I recall they picked a very formidable soldier to lead that battle group in, it was Colonel Glover Johns, who was an American colonel who was the epitome of the warrior. He looked very much like the man with the golden helmet in medieval times. He had a handlebar moustache and he was a soldier's soldier. And Glover Johns led that battle group in and he told me later one day, he said, I got up on the reviewing stand and I watched my soldiers passing by in review and he said, one of the most interesting moments that occurred was one of my very popular black soldiers in my battle group, he had a rose stuck down his gun barrel that some young lady had thrown up to him on the back of his truck and he said, he had a rose behind his ear and he said, as he passed the reviewing stand, he turned around and his eyes rolled up and he saw me and he said, he saluted and it was like, oh God. And the moment of bliss just disappeared into one of absolute horror as he saw Colonel Johns. And he said, I looked down at him and I gave him a frowning smile of recognition, but the greatest thing that happened was this battle group that was sent in, because this was so necessary to let the Berliners know that someone cared and that the allies were not going to stand by and let this overwhelming transgression proceed unimpeded by the military. It was incredible. The response of the Berliners to the Americans and the French and the British has always been overwhelming here. There's been a love affair between the Berlin citizens ever since 1945, I think. And this was probably the highlight of the American military in Berlin was when this battle group came in to support the role of backing up the diplomatic and the military intentions to do something against this wall.