Berlin Wall To Be ‘Modernised’

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31005, 10 March 1966, Page 17

Berlin Wall To Be ‘Modernised’

N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright)

WEST BERLIN, March 9.

The Berlin wall, set up in 1961 with strong barbed wire fences and concrete slabs, will be modernised and made less ugly by 1970, according to reliable reports reaching West Berlin tonight.

A new modern border has already been set up in three separate stretches bordering the British, French and American sectors of West Berlin. According to well-informed sources in West Berlin, the modernised border is to face West Berlin only with a mesh wire fence. Behind this is to follow a so-called contact fence with alarm signals. A stretch of about 50 yards follows this in which there are to be watch towers, bunkers, movable searchlights and watchdogs on cables. A second alarm signal cable follows

and then a concrete road for border guards. Next comes a ploughed strip, followed by a trench then a grass strip with spe-cially-developed grass which allows footprints and tracks to be recognisable for 24 hours. A second mesh wire fence is to complete the border security installations. The West Berlin sources said the idea of the modernised wall was to make it as refugee-proof as possible while simultaneously presenting a friendlier look on either side compared with the present ugly concrete wall and barbed wire fences.