Behind enemy lines in East Germany with a US Military Liaison Mission driver Part 2 (185)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2021

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We return to the 2nd part of Tom Favia’s story with the US Military Liaison Mission which the Soviet Union permitted to operate in East Germany, ostensibly for monitoring and furthering better relationships between the Soviet and Western occupation forces. The British & French also had missions as did the Soviets in West Germany. Part 1 is here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode183/ As you would expect there are some incredible incidents that Tom shares with us including one with a drunk Soviet Major who tries to defect. Tom was with USMLM when the Wall opened in Nov 1989 and describes the uncertainty of the time with Soviet soldiers selling parts of tanks and munitions. If you have listened this far, I know you are enjoying the podcasts so I’m asking for donations to support my work and enable me to continue producing the podcast. If you become a monthly supporter, you will get the sought after CWC coaster as a thank you and bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a financial contribution is not your cup of tea, you can still help us by leaving written reviews wherever you listen to us and sharing us on social media. It really helps us get new guests on the show. I am delighted to welcome back Tom Favia to our Cold War conversation… There’s further information on this episode can be found here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode185 If you can’t wait for next week’s episode, visit our Facebook discussion group where guests and listeners continue the Cold War Conversation. Just search Cold War Conversations on Facebook. Thank you very much for listening. It is really appreciated. Radio GDR If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR. Please leave a review. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a written review. 0:00 Introduction and Tom Favia's experiences with the US military liaison mission 1:23 Request for donations and benefits for monthly supporters 2:56 Tensions and incidents with the Soviets 7:36 Dealing with Stasi and interactions with East German citizens 13:19 Disclosure of mission details and important findings 21:30 The opening and aftermath of the Berlin Wall 27:11 Challenges post the fall of the Berlin Wall and other intelligence organizations 31:33 Experiences leading up to unification day in East Germany 34:07 Recruitment into the on-site inspection agency and working out of Frankfurt 38:33 Cold War souvenirs and remembering fallen comrades 43:25 Episode wrap up, acknowledgements of patrons, and sign off Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:06.2	This episode is brought to you by Sun Express Airlines.
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0:31.1	and secure your seats today.
0:34.9	Early morning fog rising from the ground.
0:38.3	We drove into this training area.
0:40.4	The fog is sort of rising up a little bit more.
0:43.3	And I see that we're in the middle of a bivouac site from the Soviets.
0:48.1	There was probably 60, 70 small pup tents all over.
0:57.1	And so you can imagine, what do you do now?
1:08.4	This is Cold War Conversations. If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War history accounts.
1:11.6	Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app so that you don't miss out on future episodes.
1:17.0	We return to the second part of Tom Favier's story with the US military liaison mission,
1:23.5	which the Soviet Union permitted to operate in East Germany,
1:27.2	ostensibly for the purposes of monitoring and furthering better relationships
1:31.3	between the Soviet and Western Occupation Forces.
1:35.7	As you'd expect, there are some incredible incidents that Tom shares with us,
1:39.8	including one with a drunk Soviet major who tries to defect.
1:44.5	Tom was with the US MLM when the wall opened in November 1989
1:49.9	and he describes the uncertainty of the time,
	...

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