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As we dug, we knew that at any time, the ground above our heads could suddenly be ripped open.

I voluntarily consented to actively support the security forces of the GDR and their righteous fight.

But now the water was actually dripping into the tunnel until it was flowing in.

From BBC Radio 4, this is Tunnel 29, I'm Helena Merrimon.

Chapter 5, the trap.

It's now July and the walls been up for almost a year.

In the east, the streets right next to the wall are quiet.

The houses empty, except for the rats, and barbed wire hangs from chimney to chimney like Christmas decorations.

Every so often though, the streets next to the wall get bursts of life.

Nieder mit Stachenland und Sandbauer.

Sandbauer!

There are the protests when people in the west come to the wall and shout into the east.

Then there are the songs which separated lovers play to each other over the wall.

And then there are the vans which drive up to the wall on both sides of the border.

They've got loudspeakers on the top of them and they play music and propaganda with each other.

And all this time through the protests, the loudspeaker wars, the escapes, the wall itself has changed.

They're now tripwires, land mines, electric fences, spikes, spotlights,

and should these fail to stop and escape?

The vopos, the bodyguards, are armed with pistols, machine guns, mortars, anti-tank rifles and flame throwers.

When the wall first went up, a lot of people thought it wouldn't last that long.

Now, a year on, they realise it's here to stay.

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