Warriors of the Cold War want medals for risky work

Intelligence officers who operated in East Germany call for recognition of dangerous missions

BRITAIN’S “forgotten Cold War Warriors” have called for recognition of their part in undertaking life-and-death missions in hostile environments following the Second World War.

Their plea comes after veterans who made Britain a nuclear power were awarded medals in 2022 for the first time.

Ben Wallace, the former Defence Secretary, praised the Nuclear Test Veterans for their “invaluable contribution to the safety and security of the UK” at the time.

Now, British intelligence officers who operated behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War have urged Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, to ensure they are awarded medals that speak to the “risk and rigour” they displayed during covert operations in East Germany.

There are believed to be under 1,000 veterans of the British Commanders’-in-chief Mission to the Soviet Forces (BRIXMIS) who operated in Germany between 1946 and 1990. They wish to be awarded the General Service Medal to acknowledge their efforts.

Over four decades the Americans, French, Soviet and British forces worked together to establish reciprocal liaison missions with Western staff in East Germany and Soviet staff in West Germany.

Their members claim to have suffered poisoning, laser attacks on patrols, random rammings and physical assaults on numerous occasions, resulting in damage to Mission vehicles, broken bones and career-ending injuries.

Major General Peter Williams (retd), chairman of the BRIXMIS Association, told The Daily Telegraph the veterans operated on everyday patrolling tactics and techniques that were based on a philosophy of “actively fighting for information that the Soviets and East

Germans were determined to keep from us”.

In one particularly harrowing incident, General Williams and a number of his team were travelling in a car when it was rammed by an East German Air Force (EGAF) 10-tonne truck outside the main gate of the EGAF radar station at Athenstedt, near Halberstadt.

“That none of us was killed or seriously injured was a miracle,” he said.

“The car should have rolled, which would have led to serious, possibly fatal, injuries, but we were saved by a roadside fruit tree, and ended up sandwiched between the truck and the tree.”

General Williams said that in 2011, along with his wife, they returned to the incident site to meet the driver of the 10-tonne truck, former EGAF corporal Hartmut Luederitz. “He confirmed that the ambush was pre-planned on the instructions of the

Stasi and that the Stasi had ordered the ambush to be initiated,” he said.

“As we almost reached the front gate his officer ordered him to surge forward across the road and the truck duly rammed the Opel Senator, which was doing about 40mph.

“Luederitz stated to us that he received two weeks’ extra leave for his part in the ambush, but he had been told that, if they had managed to kill us, he would have received six weeks’ leave and a 1,000-mark bonus.”

Speaking previously on the matter, Lieutenant General Sir John Foley, who had a distinguished career in military intelligence, said: “In my opinion, based on my experience as an SAS squadron commander and then Director SAS, as a battalion commander in Northern Ireland and as a frequent Tourer, the risks faced in East Germany were at least as high as those in other campaigns (Borneo, Northern Ireland, Oman) and were often higher.”

‘If they had killed us, the corporal would have received six weeks’ leave and a 1,000-mark bonus’