BRITS BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

At the beginning of the Cold War, a peculiar military mission began its work officially, and unofficially, gathering intelligence inside Soviet-occupied East Germany

- ANDREW LONG

In September 1946, the British military government of occupied Germany, and its Soviet opposite number, signed an agreement formalising a military liaison between the two newly neighbouring powers. The idea was to create a communications channel to resolve disputes or misunderstandings which could lead to, at best, a diplomatic incident – at worst, a military confrontation. ‘Liaison’ created a pathway for the discussion of issues and resolution of disputes before they escalated out of control. The agreement, which became known as the Robertson-Malinin Agreement (RMA), created reciprocal missions in the British and Soviet zones, accredited to the respective commander-in-chief, and remained in place, unaltered, until German reunification.

The British Mission was called the British Commanders’in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces of Occupation in Germany – BRIXMIS, BRX, or to those who served in it, the Mission. The Soviet equivalent in the British zone of West Germany was known as SOXMIS, and similar agreements were made in 1947 with the Americans and the French, creating the US Military Liaison Mission (USMLM) and the Mission Militaire Française de Liaison (MMFL). Together with BRIXMIS, they formed the Allied Military Liaison Missions (AMLMs).

The Mission had two headquarters: a forward HQ in Potsdam, the Mission House, inside the Soviet Zone (later the German Democratic Republic); and a rear HQ, located at the Olympic Stadium in West Berlin. The only way Mission personnel could cross from West to East was via the Glienicke Bridge (the ‘Bridge of Spies’), running the gauntlet of Soviet guards and closely watched by the East German secret police, the infamous Stasi. Their opposite number in Potsdam was the Soviet External Relations Branch (SERB), staffed mainly by GRU and KGB officers.