The latest release in Osprey's "Fortress" series covers the building of border fences/obstacles and the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany for the better part of 40 years during the Cold War.

Initially, there was just a simple barbed wire fence separating the Soviet occupied section of Germany from those areas occupied by France, Britain and the United States. This fence went up in 1952 when the Soviets reneged on the treaty calling for the eventually reunification of Germany and tried to seal the border between the two states.

However, this did not stop the exodus of people from East to West. Such was the drain on the population of East Germany that the totals actually dropped. Most of these were the smartest and brightest of those living under Soviet rule and caused a 'brain drain' in East Germany. The border in Berlin was probably the easiest place to go from one side to the other and in an effort to finally put an end to the migration, in 1961 the East German and Soviet armies in the area started building what was to become the Berlin Wall.

This building continued to the actual borders surrounding East Germany and grew to become a very sophisticated and complex system of walls, mined areas, dog runs, anti-tank traps, bunkers and watchtowers. It was hugely expensive and occupied thousands of people to keep the East Germans inside the country. The numbers of people escaping to the West dropped precipitously and the number killed attempting to flee shot up (no pun intended).

All this came to an end in 1989 and today, it is difficult to find remnants of the old wall or border, so quickly was it dismantled.

Author Gordon Rottman tells the story of the building and upgrading of the border with photos of the various installations as they grew. The history of the men and organizations that had to man these border posts is also included. Illustrator Chris Taylor adds his skills to the work and combined with period photos, gives an excellent look at this most unfortunate part of man's attempt to keep a population at bay.

It is a book that I found quite intriguing and I'm sure you will find it equally fascinating.

March 2008.

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