Bashing down the Berlin Wall,One of the most controversial icons of the Cold War, the Berlin wall wa

Bashing down the Berlin Wall,One of the most controversial icons of the Cold War, the Berlin wall was a barrier to prevent immigration from Soviet controlled East Berlin to Allied controlled West Berlin.  After World War II, Germany was divided up between the United States, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union.  The Western Allies controlled West Germany while the Soviet Union controlled Eastern Germany.  Likewise Berlin was also divided between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.  One major problem for the Soviets and East German government was the mass exodus of East German peoples to the west.  Thousands of Germans fled to West Germany to escape Communism and to live in a free country.  This was especially easy in Berlin where East Germans simply needed to cross a street in order to escape from East Germany.  In 1961 East Germany sealed its borders and made it illegal to leave the country without government permission.  Likewise in Berlin a wall was constructed between east and west to prevent East Berliners from escaping to the west.  The early version of the wall was nothing like the later concrete behemoth that was erected in the late 1960’s.  Rather it was a line of razor wire, barbed wire, sand bags, and a thin cinder block wall that was hastily mortared into place.  However, this was enough to keep most people from crossing, and it was a sad affair as family members were separated from each other and hundreds died attempting to cross the wall.Over the decades many Germans created brilliant plans to cross the wall, including the use of disguises, parachutes, and tunneling.  One German with an audacious and totally badass plan was a train engineer named Harry Dieterling, the chief engineer of a steam locomotive in East Germany.  Dieterling learned that in their haste, the Berlin Wall had literally been built over a set of train tracks near his route.  On December 5th, 1961 he and his fireman Helmut Lichy filled his train with as many friends and family who wished to escape and he set out for the track headed for the Berlin Wall.  When he approached the wall he ordered full steam ahead and the locomotive lurched to maximum speed. Guards shouted halt and fired warning shots, the dove out of the way as the train sheared through sandbags, barbed wire, and guard posts with ease.  At over 40MPH, the multi-ton locomotive then slammed into the wall and cleanly battered through it, bashing its way to freedom like a pissed off Incredible Hulk.  Dieterling, his fireman, and 25 other passengers escaped to the west, 7 passengers chose to return back to East Berlin.  The next day the train track was dismantled, and the Berlin Wall was quickly repaired. -- source link

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