Chapter 41

In the suburbs of West Berlin, the Red Flag 214 Engineering Brigade entered the designated locations under the guidance of the military staff stationed around West Berlin, unit by unit. They broke into the warehouses where barbed wire was stored, took the logs placed in the open, and quietly and systematically began their work. For the soldiers of the engineering brigade, building roads over mountains and bridges over rivers was part of their duty, and setting up a mere barrier was no challenge at all.

"Advance ten meters into the West Berlin area, leaving a ten-meter gap!" the staff officer from the operations department instructed. As for why this order was given, he himself did not know. This order was issued by Shelepov. What could a barbed wire fence less than two meters high accomplish? Even if it had barbed wire, it would be useless; one could simply remove their clothes and use them as padding to climb over. Real engineering required reinforced concrete, not easily destructible barbed wire. The ten-meter gap was to leave space for the real wall!

Along the invisible boundary line around West Berlin, the Soviet Union and East Germany deployed over 13,000 people. The process was both intense and silent, combining the atmosphere of a collective action with the caution of a secret operation. In this bizarre environment, the barrier around West Berlin was gradually taking shape. This barbed wire fence was not strong; its sole purpose was to prevent the movement of people.

At midnight, Shelepov, stationed at the Stasi headquarters, received one call after another. The barbed wire fences in the northern, western, and southern suburbs had been completed. Checking the time, it was 1:30 AM in Berlin. Shelepov yawned and said, "The barriers in the suburbs are already in place. The rest is up to you. We Soviets should not be directly involved; it would be awkward if any sleepless West Berliners saw us!"

"Don't worry, I've already made the arrangements!" Markus Wolf, aware of the gravity of the situation, picked up the phone on his desk, "The internal security forces are to move out and carry out the operation according to the original plan!"

"General Shelepov, thank you for helping the people of East Germany escape. It's very late; why don't you rest here?" Markus Wolf had been preparing for this day for a long time. East Germany had long known about the loss of people and was waiting for the right moment to act. He did not expect Shelepov to arrive in Berlin, making this day come so quickly.

Who helped you stop the people from escaping? Shelepov detested rumor-mongers. The Berlin Wall in his plan was not the same as the historical Berlin Wall. This was not just a matter of increased engineering and cost. The most important difference was the purpose. The historical Berlin Wall was indeed to prevent people from leaving East Germany, but Shelepov's Berlin Wall was to prevent people from getting out, not to stop them from coming in.

It was time to shift the blame. Shelepov had already drafted a statement in his mind for the next day. The barrier was established, and today's task was complete. He would let Markus Wolf handle the arrangements and stay there for the night. It was too late to go back and cause trouble for the two women.

Overnight, a more than 100-kilometer-long barbed wire barrier suddenly appeared. When the people of Berlin woke up in the morning, they found the city divided into two parts. By noon, the news had spread throughout Berlin. The people of West Berlin suddenly realized that they were surrounded by a 100-kilometer-long barbed wire fence, as if they were in a giant prison.

Around the barbed wire, East German People's Army soldiers stood everywhere. People wanted to ask questions but dared not. Even if they did, it would be useless. These soldiers were only ordered to patrol; the construction of the barrier was the responsibility of the internal security forces.

"Hello, Kolomna Electrical Factory? Comrade Badayev? Yes, it's me, Shelepov!" Shelepov said into the phone, "The high-power searchlights I ordered should be ready, right? Thank you for your trouble. Did it delay your production tasks? The red light lamps are also ready? At least they should look similar to the designs I gave you. Don't worry about the rest. Goodbye, Comrade Badayev..."

The telephone lines in the 1950s were still problematic. It took half an hour from the operator connecting the call to the actual conversation, which lasted only two minutes.

Shelepov chuckled after hanging up. High-power searchlights were common during wartime, especially for guiding anti-aircraft units against enemy night raids. In fact, there were not many factories still producing high-power searchlights, as fighter planes were becoming faster and higher, making these searchlights obsolete. The red light lamps were for intimidation at night; red is the most visible and represents danger. The design was based on infrared monitors, but the cost of real infrared monitors was too high, so a similar-looking lamp would suffice.

In the art of counterfeiting, unscrupulous capitalists could only come second. The top spot belonged to the intelligence agencies of various countries. However, unscrupulous capitalists counterfeited for profit, while intelligence agencies did it for strategic deception.

The establishment of the barrier caused a huge uproar. The news from West Berlin made the United States, the United Kingdom, and France extremely angry. The countries began to discuss countermeasures and prepare a unified statement to pressure the Soviet Union.

Do I give you a chance? Shelepov, wearing his long-unseen major general's uniform, appeared at the city hall in East Berlin, immediately causing a stir among the journalists. These journalists had come through the barrier's passage after applying for permission.

"General Shelepov, was this obviously hostile act by the Soviet Union approved by the General Secretary of the Soviet Union?" This was a British journalist who enjoyed stirring up trouble.

"General Shelepov, is the Soviet Union trying to force the United States to comply by establishing the barrier? Do you think it will work?" This was a journalist from the United States, the world's current king of rhetoric.

Shelepov did not even blink at these clearly hostile and aggressive questions. This was all within his expectations. "The establishment of the barrier is an action by East Germany itself!" Shelepov would never admit that he was behind it. In fact, it was not wrong; East Germany had planned to act on its own. "We have already transferred all the rights of a sovereign state, including the status of West Berlin, to East Germany. Personally, I see no problem with this. A barbed wire fence between two countries is not an uncommon thing!"

Shifting all the responsibility, Shelepov said with a clear conscience, "You can apply to your newspapers to set up an additional office in the capital, Berlin. It might not be so easy to come here in the future!"

This is just the beginning. In a few months, you will see what West Berlin will become...

[My update speed has always been very stable. With 12,000 update votes, I can only say that I have never written more than 10,000 words in a day, even for just one day.]

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