Border guards of the inner German border The border guards of the inner German border comprised tens of thousands of military , paramilitary and civilian personnel from both East and West Germany , as well as from the United Kingdom , the United States and initially the Soviet Union . East Germany . The East German side of the border was guarded initially by the Border Troops ( " Pogranichnyie Voiska " ) of the Soviet NKVD ( later the KGB ) . In 1946 , the Soviets established a locally recruited paramilitary force , the German Border Police ( " Deutsche Grenzpolizei " or DGP ) , under the administration of the Interior Ministry for Security of the State Frontier ( " Innenministerium zum Schutz der Staatsgrenze " ) . Soviet troops and the DGP shared responsibility for patrolling the border and crossing points until 1955 / 56 , when the Soviets handed over control to the East Germans . The DGP became increasingly militarised as the East German government decided that protecting the border was a military task . Although it was notionally a police force , it was equipped with heavy weapons , including tanks and self - propelled artillery . In 1961 the DGP was converted into a military force within the National People ' s Army ( " Nationale Volksarmee " , NVA ) . The newly renamed Border Troops of the GDR ( " Grenztruppen " , commonly nicknamed the " Grenzer " ) came under the NVA ' s Border Command or " Grenzkommando " . They were responsible for securing and defending the borders with West Germany , Czechoslovakia , Poland , the Baltic Sea and West Berlin . At their peak , the " Grenztruppen " had up to 50 , 000 personnel . Around half of the " Grenztruppen " were conscripts , a lower proportion than in other branches of the East German armed forces . Their political reliability was under especially close scrutiny due to the sensitive nature of their role . They were subjected to intensive ideological indoctrination , which made up as much as 50 per cent of their training time . They were not allowed to serve in areas near their homes . Some categories of individuals were not allowed to serve in the " Grenztruppen " at all ; for instance , if they had close relatives in West Germany , a record of dissent or dissenting family members , or were actively religious . Even if they were accepted for service , trainee border guards who were suspected of political unreliability were weeded out at an early stage . As one later recalled : " At the officers ' training school there are always 10 per cent whose loyalty is suspect who are never sent to the border . " The ultimate role of the " Grenztruppen " was to prevent border escapes by any means necessary , including by shooting escapees . Their marksmanship was expected to be substantially better than that of regular NVA troops ; they were required to be able to hit two moving targets at with only four shots , by day or night . Failure to shoot was itself a punishable offence , resulting in severe consequences for a soldier and his family . The East German regime ' s distrust of its own citizens extended to its border guards , who were in a better position to defect than almost anyone else in the country . Many did in fact flee across the border ; between 1961 and 1989 , around 7 , 000 border guards tried to escape . 2 , 500 succeeded but 5 , 500 were caught and imprisoned for up to five years . To prevent such defections , the Stasi secret police kept a close watch on the border guards with agents and informers . A special Stasi unit worked covertly within the " Grenztruppen " , posing as regular border guards , between 1968 and 1985 . The Stasi also maintained a pervasive network of informers within the ranks of the " Grenztruppen " . One in ten officers and one in thirty enlisted men were said to have been " liaison agents " , the euphemism for an informer . The Stasi regularly interviewed and maintained files on every border guard . Stasi operatives were directly responsible for some aspects of border security ; passport control stations were entirely manned by Stasi officers wearing " Grenztruppen " uniforms . As a further measure to prevent escapes , the patrol patterns of the " Grenztruppen " were carefully arranged to reduce any chance of a border guard defecting . Patrols , watchtowers and observation posts were always manned by two or three soldiers at a time . They were not allowed to go out of each other ' s sight in any circumstances . When changing the guard in watchtowers , they were under orders to enter and exit the buildings in such a way that there were never fewer than two people on the ground . Duty rosters were organised to prevent friends and roommates being assigned to the same patrols . The pairings were switched ( though not randomly ) to ensure that the same people did not repeatedly carry out duty together . Individual border guards did not know until the start of their shift with whom they would be working that day . If a guard attempted to escape , his colleagues were under instructions to shoot him without hesitation or prior warning . Much of the work of the border guards focused on maintaining and scrutinising the border defences . This included carrying out repair work , looking for evidence of escape attempts , examining the area for signs of suspicious activities and so on . The patrol times and routes were deliberately varied to ensure that there was no predictability , ensuring that a patrol could potentially appear at any time from either direction . Guards posted in watchtowers played an important role in monitoring the border , though shortages of personnel meant that the watchtowers were not continuously manned . During the final years of the East German state , the lack of manpower was so severe that cardboard cut - outs of guards were placed in towers to present the illusion that they were occupied . The " Grenztruppen " also had the task of gathering intelligence on West German and NATO activities across the border line . This task was performed primarily by the " Grenzaufklärungszug " ( GAK ) , an elite reconnaissance force within the " Grenztruppen " . These became a familiar sight for Western observers of the border as the GAK troopers , uniquely , were tasked with patrolling the western side of the border fence – i . e . in the outer strip , adjoining the geographical border between the two German states . Not surprisingly , given that they could defect with only a few footsteps in the right direction , the GAKs were drawn from the most politically reliable echelons of the " Grenztruppen " . They worked closely with the Stasi and were often seen photographing targets across the border . They also guarded work detachments carrying out maintenance work on the western side of the fence . The workers would be covered by machine guns to discourage them from attempting to escape . To maintain what the East German state called " Ordnung und Sicherheit " ( " order and security " ) along the border , local civilians were co - opted to assist the border guards and police . A decree of 5 June 1958 spoke of encouraging " the working population in the border districts of the GDR [ to express ] the desire to help by volunteering to guarantee the inviolability of the border . " Civilians living in villages along the border were recruited into the " Border Helpers " ( " Grenzhelfer " ) and " People ' s Police Helpers " ( " Volkspolizeihelfer " ) . They were tasked with patrolling the strip behind the border defences , assisting at control checkpoints and reporting any unusual activities or strangers in their area . In one border community , Kella in Thuringia , the mayor boasted in a 1967 speech that nearly two - thirds of arrests on the border that year had been made by local civilians . The locals were , however , kept away from the border strip itself . The border guards were usually recruited from far - away regions of East Germany to ensure that people living near the border would not become familiar with its workings . Even children were brought into the fold . A " Young Friends of the Border Guards " organisation was established for children living in the border region , modelled on a similar Soviet organisation . The original Soviet version fostered a cult of the border guards , promoting slogans such as " The frontier runs through people ' s hearts . " West Germany . A number of West German state organisations were responsible for policing the western side of the border . These included the " Bundesgrenzschutz " ( BGS , Federal Border Protection ) , the " Bayerische Grenzpolizei " ( Bavarian Border Police ) and the " Bundeszollverwaltung " ( Federal Customs Administration ) . In addition , the British Army , the British Frontier Service and the United States Army carried out patrols and provided backup in their respective sectors of the border . West German troops were not allowed to approach within one kilometre of the border individually or within five kilometres in formation without being accompanied by BGS personnel . The BGS – which today forms part of the " Bundespolizei " – was responsible for policing Germany ' s frontiers . It was initially a paramilitary force of 10 , 000 , established in 1951 , which was responsible for policing a zone deep along the border . It eventually became the basis for the present national semi - militarised police force . Its numbers were later expanded to 20 , 000 men , a mixture of conscripts and volunteers equipped with armoured cars , anti - tank guns , helicopters , trucks and jeeps . Although it was not intended to be able to repel a full - scale invasion , the BGS was tasked with dealing with small - scale threats to the security of West Germany ' s borders , including the international borders as well as the inner German border . It had limited police powers within its zone of operations to enable it to deal with threats to the peace of the border . The BGS had a reputation for assertiveness which made it especially unpopular with the East Germans , who routinely criticised it as a reincarnation of Hitler ' s SS . It also sustained a long - running feud with the " Bundeszollverwaltung " over which agency should have the lead responsibility for the inner German border . Although it was nominally a customs service , the " Bundeszollverwaltung " ( BZV ) was responsible for policing much of the inner German border . Its original duties focused on stopping smuggling across the border , though this task virtually ceased after the border was fortified in 1952 . The BZV continued to man the few remaining border crossings but its duties now evolved into the policing of the border zone to a depth of about . Unlike the BGS , which was based in barracks located further back from the border , BZV personnel lived with their families in communities along the border . They carried out regular policing tasks with the power to arrest and search suspects in their area of operations ( with the exception of the section of border in Bavaria ) . They regularly patrolled the border line – including the river border along the Elbe , where they maintained a fleet of patrol boats – in two - man patrols or with the iconic " Zollhunde " , trained customs dogs wearing a " Zoll " ( " Customs " ) strap . The BZV was , in effect , West Germany ' s eyes and ears on the border . The " Bayerische Grenzpolizei " ( BGP ) were a product of Bavaria ' s semi - detached relationship with the rest of West Germany . The Bavarian government argued that the 1949 Basic Law vested police powers in the hands of the " Länder " and not the federal government , and thus that the BZV had no business carrying out police duties on Bavarian soil . It consequently raised its own border police force , the BGP , to carry out policing duties along the length of the inner German border in Bavaria . By the late 1960s , the BGP had 600 men patrolling its sector of the border , alongside the BZV , BGS and U . S . Army – effectively duplicating the duties of the BZV . Not surprisingly , this led to turf wars between the two agencies . Western allies . The British Army conducted only symbolic patrols along its sector of the inner German border and gradually reduced the tempo of its border operations as the Cold War progressed . By the 1970s it was carrying out only one patrol a month , only rarely using helicopters or ground surveillance radar and erecting no permanent observation posts . The British border zone was divided into two sectors . The first stretched from Lübeck to Lauenburg on the Elbe and the second from Lauenburg to the border with the U . S . Zone – a total distance of about . Although patrols were stepped up in the 1980s , they were carried out primarily for training purposes . Soldiers were issued weapons but not ammunition . Unlike the Americans , the British did not assign specific units to border duty but rotated the task between the divisions of the British Army of the Rhine . The border was also patrolled in the British sector by the British Frontier Service ( BFS ) , the smallest of the Western border surveillance organisations . The BFS had been established ( as the Frontier Control Service ) in 1946 to take over control of border crossing points from the British Army . Its personnel manned frontier control posts along all of the international and interzonal borders of the British sector , including the Danish and Dutch borders as well as the inner German border . The German customs service was re - established under BFS supervision and manned crossing points on the borders of the British zone of occupation along with BFS personnel . When German sovereignty was re - established in 1955 , customs responsibilities were handed over to the Germans . A heavily reduced BFS remained in operation to serve as a liaison between British military and political interests and the German agencies on the border . One curiosity of the BFS was that despite being entirely land - based , its founding Director was a Royal Navy captain . He instituted the highly distinctive uniform of the BFS , designed in a quasi - naval style with silver rank badges . The BFS was finally disbanded in 1990 following Germany ' s reunification . The United States Army maintained a substantial and continuous military presence at the inner German border throughout the entire period from 1945 to after the end of the Cold War . Regular American soldiers manned the border from the end of the war until they were replaced in 1946 by the United States Constabulary , a lightly armed constabulary force responsible for border security . It was disbanded in 1952 after policing duties were transferred to the German authorities . In its place , two dedicated armoured cavalry regiments were assigned to provide a permanent border defence . The 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment based at Nuremberg and the 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment based at Fulda – later replaced by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment – were tasked with monitoring the border using observation posts , ground and air patrols , countering border intrusions and gathering intelligence on Warsaw Pact activities . Unlike their East German counterparts , U . S . soldiers did not stay for more than 30 days on the border , though they carried out regular patrols around the clock using foot and helicopter patrols . They also used a variety of technical measures such as ground surveillance radars to monitor Warsaw Pact troop movements across the border . A rapid reaction force was on constant duty further behind the border to provide backup in an emergency . The American presence on the border provoked political controversy in Germany . During the 1960s the state of Hesse refused to grant U . S . forces land rights to its observation points or allow them to install paved access roads , electricity or telephone lines . It took the view that since there was no legally recognised border , there was no legal reason for their military observation posts to be built along it . By the 1980s the American border presence had become the target of peace activists , who in 1984 blockaded the U . S . Observation Post Alpha with a human chain . The U . S . withdrew from the inner German border in 1991 . Cross - border contacts . Perhaps appropriately for a cold war , the relationship between the East and West German border guards and officials was frosty . As a " Bayerische Grenzpolizei " report of 1968 noted , " the conduct of the Soviet zone [ i . e . East German ] border troops continued unfriendly and uncooperative . Officers and officials only sought contact to obtain information about refugees or to influence the border population with their propaganda . " There was very little official face - to - face interaction between the two sides on the ground , as the East German border guards were under orders not to speak to Westerners . Klaus Grünzner , a former West German border guard , later recalled : " I served . . . for eight years and the East German police never said a single word to us , except in 1974 during the World Cup , when East Germany beat us . One of the guards shouted at us : ' Sparwasser [ a GDR striker ] really socked it to you ! ' " After the initiation of " détente " between East and West Germany in the 1970s , the two sides established procedures for maintaining formal contacts through fourteen direct telephone connections or " Grenzinformationspunkt " ( GIP , " border information point " ) . They were used to resolve local problems affecting the border , such as floods , forest fires or stray animals . For many years , the two sides waged a propaganda battle across the border , erecting signs with slogans promoting their respective ideologies . Both sides used balloons , rockets and mortars to fire propaganda leaflets into the other ' s territory with the aim of undermining the other side ' s morale and sowing doubts about their government ' s policies . The West German government and political parties of both left and right , especially the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats , participated in the campaign . West German leaflets sought to undermine the willingness of East German border guards to shoot at refugees attempting to cross the border . Some leaflets depicted dead and dying refugees alongside captions such as " The world knows that the overwhelming majority of the People ' s Army soldiers are decent young men who would not dream of committing murder . " Other leaflets sought to encourage desertions by highlighting the material benefits enjoyed by defectors to the West . According to NVA officers who defected across the border , the West German leaflets were quite effective in reaching their target audience . Border troops were said to be avid readers , despite risking severe punishment if they were caught even picking up propaganda leaflets . Reasons advanced for taking the risk included trying to find out the true facts , affirming solidarity with West Germany , the thrill of doing something forbidden , demonstrating secret opposition to the regime , and simple curiosity . East German leaflets and slogans played on Westerners ' desire for peace . A common theme was the allegation that the Bonn government was threatening European peace and security by its supposed " revanchist " aim of restoring German ' s 1937 borders . West Germany ' s moral values were also criticised ; one leaflet accused the government of corrupting its people with " pictures of playgirls and naked female legs " . West Germany ' s membership of NATO was a frequent target . NATO exercises in Germany were denounced as " warmongering " and the stationing of nuclear weapons on West German soil was condemned ( though , of course , Soviet nuclear weapons went unmentioned ) . Bonn ' s claimed continuity with the former Nazi regime was also a theme of East German propaganda , as was the emergence of the far - right National Democratic Party . Some leaflets were bellicose , warning of the consequences of a Western attack : " The manoeuvre " Oktobersturm " [ a Warsaw Pact military exercise in 1965 ] is a serious warning addressed to the Bonn militarists that an attack on the GDR will conjure up their own demise . " The number of such leaflet drops was immense . During the 1950s , West Germany sent millions of propaganda leaflets into East Germany each year . In 1968 alone , over 4 , 000 projectiles containing some 450 , 000 leaflets were fired from East Germany into the West . Another 600 waterproof East German leaflet containers were recovered from cross - border rivers . The " leaflet war " was eventually ended by mutual agreement in the early 1970s as part of the normalisation of relations between the two German states .