Polish Canal: Failed Journey to Freedom - Horydoly.cz - Outdoor Generation

Who was the searcher?

The searcher was a soldier of the Border Guard in the 1980s, whose task was primarily intelligence, but he was also armed for possible intervention with a weapon in his hand . It typically served as a checkpoint on trains and at stations where it was not tactical to deploy uniformed soldiers with standard equipment. He was also tasked with simple surveillance of people in cities about whom the intelligence department had information. Some searchers served in the field as rear patrols, for example by the roads or at the edges of the forest.

The equipment was as follows: Civilian clothes, sturdy boots, a ČZ 7.65 pistol in an underarm holster with two magazines, handcuffs, a radio in a backpack or bag, a telephone receiver that could be plugged into the socket of a field telephone spread over the terrain.

Here is a description of what I remember from the war: The Polish Channel was an internal designation within the Border Guard at the end of the 1980s. It was the direction in which mainly Poles tried to cross the state border. They succeeded or almost succeeded several times, and therefore the defense was constantly strengthened.

Look at the map attached to this article. I'll describe the basic direction of how it usually went.

You probably came to Cheb by train. Searchers in civilian clothes were already standing at the station, they had short hair and bulging armpits, but you didn't notice that as a civilian. You went into town, they followed you, and soon they knew you wanted to run away. They radioed you to headquarters, and either the regular police, then called Public Safety, or a Border Patrol trooper came to get you. In any case, you ended up in the border guards' interrogation room. If they found out you were just stupid and didn't do anything before, you could get probation or up to a year in jail. When you were an East German, you were handed over to the German Volkspolizei and the Stasi. In 1988 it was already considered a misdemeanor in Germany, so you probably only got probation there.

Václav Sloup is an asshole. I have always thought so and will always think so

When you were smarter, you checked into a hotel and pretended to be a tourist. But the receptionist probably tipped you off, or the maid looked through your personal belongings and went through your notes, equipment and clothes. If you waited a few days and went to castles, chateaux and galleries in the process, their attention might have waned.

Along the road to Pelhřimov, prudence was enough

If you wanted to look at the border, where you would actually try to escape, the bus driver or the Border Guard Assistant immediately pointed you out. This was the majority of local residents near the state border, i.e. just outside the city. A grandmother who weeded a garden, a hunter, a mushroom picker or a young border guard in a pioneer scarf.

When you survived this, you set out very late in the evening through the Spáleniště housing estate and past the former monastery, where the headquarters of the Chebská Brigade of the Border Guard was located, to the south approximately in the direction of the Holy Cross. At that time, a district led there, and a company of the Border Guard stood at the end. The smarter ones walked through the meadows and fields and crossed the railway. The more stupid ones chose one of the three bridges over the railroad cut and were caught a short distance behind them because there was no going there in the evening and someone from the local people tipped them off. All this despite the fact that we used to go there during the day to play as little children.

You turned to the southwest and along the road carefully covered yourself with a large line of trees along the road as well as overgrown corn. You were already very scared because you didn't know if there were any engineering or tracking obstacles waiting for you, or if they were going to shoot at you. They weren't there, but you didn't know that. Up until Pelhřimov, my parents and I went on trips. It was only after the village that there were signs No entry - Border zone.

You were tipped off by the locals at the ponds

When you didn't meet a searcher, a random border guard or a helper, you turned left at a series of ponds and went against the flow of the stream that fed them. You walked through tall grass under tall trees from Lower to Black Pond. Every carp that slapped the surface scared you.

On the other side of the forest, through which you had to pass between Černý and Lesní rybník, there was an observatory. Iron starling. About ten meters above, a roofed booth with a walkway to which a ladder led from below. In full condition, one border guard with a loaded submachine gun was walking around above, and the other was standing below under the stark. Both of them had a direct connection to the Svatý Kříž border company by telephone and by wire. It stood at the site of the old customs house about a kilometer away. Today there is a casino.

For example, the escape attempt of a military deserter ended here. He shot one border guard who wasn't paying attention and then maybe committed suicide or was shot by the border guards.

The meadow didn't give many chances to escape

When you knew there was an observation post, you went around it to the right. Otherwise, they caught you because it was placed in a good place and was invisible to the fleeing trespassers until the last moment.

From Černý rybník, you turned west along the shallow bed of a muddy stream. That was Poland's own channel. You basically had no other option. To the left and to the right was a field. It was fired from the left by return fire from the very starling you missed. From the starling above Pelhřimov could be seen from the right here on clear nights. The shot would be inaccurate, but it would reliably nail you to the ground.

After about three hundred meters in open terrain, you reached the forest. At its northern tip, a searcher in civilian clothes with a pistol was waiting for you, sometimes replaced by a two-man patrol with machine guns in uniforms.

You probably veered a bit to the right into the swamps on the rising meadow. In the distance above you, you saw a tall barbed wire fence. To the right and to the left of him stood two starlings manned by two border guards. They appeared to be far apart, but they were firing crossfire at each other very effectively in the immediate vicinity of the beacon.

Did you climb the fence and not get shot? You haven't won yet

The uncultivated meadow had low bushes, large sods, and the ground was very unclear at night. Especially when you were in a hurry. Fine wire was stretched in several places. When you stepped on it or broke it, the ejector was detonated. Either a practice grenade exploded, which was supposed to disorient and frighten you, or a flare used to orient the border guards where to look for you. As a test, photocells were also placed here, which reported your movement directly to the company without you knowing about it. Fortunately, there were still deer running around, so the operations officers didn't pay them much attention.

Read about the successful escape: Freedom train from Aš to Selb

Did you manage to get through this network? You had a signal wall in front of you in open terrain. You were seen by the guards from both starlings, and you could have been bumped into by a two- or three-man patrol with a dog that was constantly commuting this way. All you had to do was act fast and get lucky. You had to run over an asphalt road first, then a wide strip of soft rutted sand and climb over a tall T-shaped barbed wire fence. Then another strip of sand and you were in the woods. Even if the border guards didn't hit you with machine gun bursts and the dog didn't catch you before the start of the run for your life, you were far from winning.

That signal wall was not just a barbed wire fence, but primarily served as a sign that you were overcoming it. When the two wires touched, a signal rang at the company command post that you were currently scaling the fence. For the most part, digging around, quickly climbing over, or a naive attempt to isolate individual wires did not help. Time was your enemy. Within two minutes, the crew of the all-terrain vehicle, including the dog, was on the scene. Soldiers led by a trained dog rushed after you.

The run for your life is over. Mostly wrong.

Were you a fast runner and well-versed in the terrain? That may not have been enough at all. Even if you were less than a kilometer into Germany, the dog chased you and, when necessary, the soldiers let him loose. The wolf was not trained to bite you, but to stop you. He grabbed your arm and before you could get rid of him, if that was even possible, several submachine guns were aimed at you.

If that didn't help either, there was already a so-called overlay in action. The commander knew where you were probably running, so at the same time he sent a larger and slightly slower group of border guards with the emergency alarm unit. However, it was even more effective! In fact, there was another road parallel to the state border, on which a truck or several field gas trucks were driven by dozens of soldiers. They were already waiting for you to run into their arms.

Are you scared of the mumbler, but they still haven't caught you yet? Did you want to come back? Late, dove! Another massive cover came out from the rear units and cut off your way back inland.

See the landscape behind the wires: Lohhäuser at the end of the world

Did you have great luck, immeasurable courage, experience and the necessary knowledge? You've gone through all the pitfalls of the Polish Channel! Congratulations, you have won your life. You probably found yourself in the village of Pechtnersreuth or the town of Münchenreuth. But the German border guards from the Bundes Grenzschutz probably brought you there already. Such confusion did not go without their reaction, so they waited for you at the line to help you.

INFO: Policy of the Border Patrol Service

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