26 December 1962 · Driving through
The armoured bus of Boxing Day
On 26 December 1962 two families in a bus armoured with steel plates and fitted with a snowplough broke through the three barriers of the GDR control point at Drewitz and reached Dreilinden in West Berlin.
The bus belonged to Hans Weidner, a businessman whose small firm was threatened with nationalisation; its driver was Jürgen Wagner. According to t-online, two of the passengers armoured it, with 9-millimetre steel plates, protection for the tyres and a ram at the front. It was disguised as a workshop vehicle and fitted with a snowplough.
Early on 26 December 1962, Boxing Day, two men, two women and four children set off. They chose the Drewitz/Dreilinden crossing because the long approach let the bus build up speed. The West Berlin police called the GDR side the Babelsberg control point. With the border guards firing at it, the bus smashed through all three barriers.
Three of the many shots hit the bus, but no one was injured. At about 5.30 the group arrived at the West Berlin checkpoint at Dreilinden. Two days later GDR customs officials began installing tank barriers at the Heerstraße crossing, which the West Berlin police linked to this breakthrough.
Sources
Whose account is this? Drawn from Western official records, press reports and historical research.
Western official records
- Report of the West Berlin Schutzpolizei for December 1962Chronik der Mauer (document: Polizeihistorische Sammlung des Polizeipräsidenten in Berlin)
- Berliner Mauer; Grenzübergang Drewitz/Babelsberg, 26 December 1962 – Landesbildstelle Berlin (Landesarchiv Berlin, F Rep. 290 (02) Nr. 0086603)Landesarchiv Berlin (catalogue via Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek)
Press
- DDR und die Mauer: So spektakulär flüchteten Menschen in die Freiheitt-online
- Mit gepanzertem Bus und Seilbahn in den WestenNordwest-Zeitung
- Flucht, 28 December 1962 – photograph by Heinz Wunnicke: press conference with Hans Weidner and Jürgen Wagner (Landesarchiv Berlin, F Rep. 290-02-04 Nr. 7502)Landesarchiv Berlin (catalogue via Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek)
Historians and memorials
- Chronik 1962 – DezemberChronik der Mauer
Facts checked against the sources: November 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “The armoured bus of Boxing Day”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/armoured-bus-drewitz-1962/ (accessed [date]).
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