The Constabulary, the Border, The Cold War 1950-1952

[carl]

www.history.army.mil/documents/BorderOps/ch3.htm

[quincannon]

Carl: That is some fantastic stuff, something I appreciate you posting very much

I had forgotten that the 6th was over there as and ACR in those early days.

The 11th was reactivated here at Carson after its constabulary service and I think the 11th replaced the 6th.

Fort Meade, MD was the rotational post for the border ACR's during the 50's to mid 1960's

Meade had the 2nd, 3rd,(twice), 6th and 11th, and in 1962 also had the 150th ACR for about a year during the Berlin Crisis

[dave]

Carl
During your time in the Constabulary what was the biggest problem, pain in the butt, y'all experienced during your tour of duty? Civilians? East Germans? Russians? I am mainly asking about the minor troubles that always cause the most trouble.

I read about 3 trouble areas y'all faced:
1)   Sexton-Askalepov Agreement dealing with a boundary different from that agreed upon
2)   Changes to interzone boundary without agreements
3)   The East German town of Liebau being cut off from its nation

Did any of these concerns grow into real serious troubles?
Look forward to learning more.
Regards
Dave

[carl]

Dave,

None of those incidents had any impact as far as I was concerned,

even if I knew of them.

What was significant was that after July 1950, there was less

of a relaxed garrison attitude, and a drastic increase in

readiness and attention to business.

The only incident I was involved in was in September 1952

when an overzealous Lieutenant on Observation at the

Czech border reported artillery fire - turned out to be

blasting in a quarry. At the time Our Battalion was

taking its turn at a position fairly close to the

border.  I was NCO in our operations tent when

his message came in and I immediantly double

timed a couple of hundred yards away to the

officers tent to inform the S3.

I don't think many know that it was not

only AC units near the border, but FA

units took turns at specified positions

away from their home stations.

[dave]

I can only imagine how tense the situation was after the North Koreans attacked the South. Stalin was in power till 1953, I think, and he was a pain in the ass to Truman who handled him fairly well.
Regards
Dave