Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcellus
Damn that is very interesting. So the Russians were capping random GI's in Europe back in the 70's and 80's?
Dangerous indeed. Wow.
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Indeed. Both the Stasi and the KGB were extremely active in West Germany during that time period. They had agents working the blackmail angle against young soldiers. I could never understand how in hell, Private "Dumb****" from Bumfuk, Iowa could have ever thought that a beautiful young lady would suddenly fall "head over heels" in love with him - but that tactic was EXTREMELY effective.
They were looking for (pretty much) any intel they could gather - from troop strengths to nuclear capabilities to the number of tanks at a particular Kaserne (Army Post). If the GI balked they would begin the blackmail. Usually, but not always, he would end up missing (AWOL) from his unit - then, more likely than not, he would be found hanged, floating in the river, electrocuted, or even outright shot. At the time, however, the general public back home never heard of these things. But they happened quite a bit during that time.
Then came Badder Meinhof and all bets were off.....
But honestly, it's nothing that we weren't doing at the same time - that, coupled with getting people across the "wall" - we were kept "busy".......