Night in this city is unlike night anywhere else in the world, for this is Berlin in the fall of 1961, and in the shadows, history waits. The United States Army presents The Big Picture, an official report produced for the armed forces and the American people. Good morning. It's approximately 8 o'clock here at checkpoint Charlie-Anne Friedrich Strasse in West Berlin. I'm Lieutenant Bainbridge, assigned to the 3rd Battle Group, 6th United States Infantry Hometown, Detroit, Michigan. The military police and myself are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week here on Friedrich Strasse. We're fully combat ready with our weapons and ammunition. For any eventuality that the Vopos, who are stationed some 15 yards to my rear, might decide to make. The Vopos that we find on duty here on the border are hardened communists. They are dedicated to their cause. They have been indoctrinated in the beliefs and ideologies of the communist philosophy since their youth. These Vopos have been brought in specially for this duty. They are the only trusted persons here on the border. It has been found that the Vopos previously had been undependable and had been defecting towards the West. The ones presently on duty are the chosen few. Lieutenant, what problems have our troops faced here? Vopos often have thrown rock setters, gas grenades and squirted us with fire hoses. Nothing that the American soldier has not been able to take care of. Lieutenant, how has the wall affected our own soldiers? Since the construction of the wall we have found that the morale of the troops that go in has gone up 100%. The American soldier now knows that he has a mission, a dedicated soldier, when going about this mission. He works hard, he is dedicated. I would like to say to you in my hometown, every hometown, that your American soldier is the best in the world. These are the best soldiers in the world. And along this length of Berlin Street, the only remaining border crossing between the Soviet and American zones of Berlin, are a heavy responsibility. Maintaining our rights here while avoiding any incident which might lead to serious international repercussions. Across the border, Vopos, East German people's police, armed and backed up by Soviet might, are determined to prevent any more East Berliners from crossing into the American zone of the city. They also threaten our legitimate rights of entry into East Berlin. With equal determination, we continue to assert our right of free passage into and within the city. West Berliners, whose lives are linked inevitably with the wall and what it means to their country, make no secret about their feelings. My name is Peter Yenisch and my age is 23 years old. I'm starting at the 3rd University and I'm born in Berlin, in the 3rd town here. The West Berlin people think that's a wall.  We don't like it at all. It's not only dividing our town, it's dividing the German country as a nation. The German people in West Berlin, they say we are very lucky that the American soldiers are here because when the American soldiers are leaving West Berlin, the town is lost for the free world, lost for us. With the closing of the border, Soviet divisions in East Germany were on the move with combat forces brought into strategic positions for the contest over the status of Berlin. Mobilization efforts during the last months of 1961 brought the United States Army to a strength of over a million men, subsequently increasing our troop strength throughout Europe. In the Berlin crisis, one of the most important demands on the American soldier is patience, watch and wait. Observation is the order of the day and night. It is a war of binoculars. Seldom have our soldiers been under such careful and continuous scrutiny, not only by the East Germans, but by West Berliners intensely involved in the fate of their city. Behavior, conduct and appearance of our troops are as important here as their tactical readiness. Our military leaders in Europe keep close tabs on day-to-day developments. Welcoming and firmly supporting the Allied position in the crisis, Mayor Willi Brandt of West Berlin and West German minister of economics Ludwig Erhardt keep abreast of the border tension. As a means of asserting Allied right of entry into East Berlin, US Army buses wait near checkpoint Charlie for a scheduled tour of the city on the other side of the wall. Frequently, East German border guards have delayed passage or attempted to halt it altogether. This time, the buses go through. On the other side, the view tells its own story. A city in which the prevailing mood is restriction and fear. As time passes at checkpoint Charlie, there are increasing delays and other forms of harassment. There is no pretense that East Germany alone is making the rules restricting entry into East Berlin. In a sober test of our entry rights, American civilian officials in West Berlin are sent through the checkpoint. Illegal demands of identification by the VOPOS bring quick action from United States Army authorities. Jeeploads of armed military police are ordered to escort official American representatives into East Berlin. Our show of determination works. The East German guards do not try to prevent our entry. Increasing tension brings swift and dramatic measures. Soviet tanks move to the border. The United States Berlin command responds quickly as our own tanks are dispatched to the area. They face the Soviet armor only a hundred yards away. Finally, the Soviets will withdraw. We will pull our tanks back. It is a grim game of point counterpoint. One thing is certain. We will keep faith with free Berlin and stand up for our rights there. Aware of their special responsibilities on this trouble spot between the free and communist worlds, American soldiers of the Berlin Garrison are combat ready and alert, but they continue to train intensively. Hand-to-hand combat training. Today's troops are required to show an all-around soldiering skill demanded by their critical mission. Skill in self-defense and knowledge of a wide range of military subjects. Decompany of the Second Battle Group runs through the proper assembly and disassembly of the M14 rifle. The M14 is lightweight, semi or fully automatic. It fires the NATO standardized round of ammunition. Mach city attack. One of the many continual training exercises in a type of fighting that might be anticipated in the event of outbreak of hostilities in the city. Here, our troops practice the science of street combat and house-to-house fighting. In any hostilities within a large city, civil disturbances would be a real problem. Our Berlin Garrison is equipped to take rapid and decisive actions to control such a situation. In riot control formation, a detachment engages in a practical exercise as it moves toward a group of American soldiers acting as hostile civilian demonstrators. The troops are equipped with tear gas. A helicopter is also used to disperse the mob by releasing tear gas overhead. Training in anti-riot methods is intensive here. One more highly skilled military technique required of our soldiers in Berlin. The American soldier stationed in West Berlin is well aware of the nature and importance of his assignment. I'm James P. Morgan from St. Louis, North Carolina. I serve in Delta Company as a sniper. I'm Samuel Dawson from Beckville, West Virginia. I'm 21 years of age. I served in the same unit with Morgan as a machine gunner.  Then there are 16 snipers in the company, which the mission during wartime is to just wander around on the battlefield and seek out and kill chemical personnel. Well, since they put the wall up between East and West Berlin, my job has became more important to me. It's to keep me more alert on my toes in the unit as a whole. Well, truly, you couldn't say that it was crisis, although it is. We know that everything seems normal till we have alert or something. Everybody moves around a lot faster than that. But we don't see very much what we expect something that we're really ready for in case there is. Toughness and pride in person and unit are characteristics of the United States soldiers who garrison Berlin. This precision bayonet drill by the Second Battle Group Honor Guard at McNair Barracks in West Berlin symbolizes the expert training given our soldiers who are demonstrating in this world focal point a military posture that will show the American fighting man at his best. Ready for whatever combat assignment he must face, the U.S. soldier here brings to his job a sense of mission worthy of his army's traditions. Defense of West Berlin is not only a United States responsibility. Also involved are British and French forces. In a joint British-American field training exercise on the outskirts of Berlin at Lake Onsee bordering the East German zone British troops conduct an amphibious assault using American armored personnel carriers. Despite the tightly sealed border, people in East Germany continue to risk their lives to escape to the free world. A small highly trained squad of American soldiers is ready to help refugees once they have crossed over to the American zone. This simulated rescue operation shows how the plan works and observe a spots a man trying to make his way to the American zone. Word goes back to an airfield. The squad is on its way. The location of the refugee has been narrowed down to a small wooded area. Search and rescue techniques have been developed so that the squad can swiftly reach any point along the border. There is no violation of the border area by our soldiers. Only after the defector has crossed to our zone does our operation begin. A unique test of United States responsibilities in the growing complex of East-West tensions. Determination on the part of the United States to stand by free Berlin is not new. Proudly arching into the sky over West Berlin, the Berlin Airlift Memorial recalls an earlier communist attempt to isolate and weaken this outpost of the free world. The man who engineered the airlift that broke the communist blockade of 1948-49, General Lucius D. Clay, now retired, returns to West Berlin in late 1961 as the president's special ambassador in the Berlin crisis. Mr. Lord Mayor, of course I am both happy and proud to be back in Berlin and to come here as no representative of President Kerry. He has sent me because of his very deep interest and concern in the welfare and the future to once again express our determination and its people. I shall always be free. May I add personally that I come with complete faith and steadfastness of people of Berlin and with complete assurance in the world of tomorrow and that it will live to fulfill that place. Thank you very much indeed. The largest parade in Berlin since 1946, commemorating the 174th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution. The significance of this event is not lost on the people of Berlin. For here, we affirm not only our own hard-won freedom, but the freedom of those to whom we have given our solemn commitment. Berlin, 1962. A time as critical as those years before America was a free nation. As at Valley Forge, the weight of the burden of freedom's defense once again rests upon soldiers, upon their determination to carry out their responsibilities. On the front line of the free world, these soldiers of the United States Army are well prepared. Big Picture is an official report for the armed forces and the American people. Produced by the Army Pictorial Center. Presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with this station.