Driving through
Cars, lorries, buses and even an armoured vehicle driven at, through or under the barriers.
The bpb notes that the first wall was only 30 centimetres thick and would not have withstood attempts to break through with lorries.1 On 13 August 1961 a VW Beetle drove through the single roll of wire at Ackerstraße. In November five people drove an armoured pre-war Opel through the Chausseestraße crossing under about 100 shots. On Boxing Day 1962 two families in a bus with steel plates and a snowplough broke three barriers at Drewitz, and in April 1963 Wolfgang Engels drove a stolen armoured personnel carrier into the Wall in Treptow and was pulled over it wounded.
On 5 May 1963 an Austrian drove a sports car with its windscreen removed under the closed barrier at Checkpoint Charlie; the Chronik der Mauer's chronicle records that the barriers were then fitted with vertical iron hanging rods.2 On the 12th a stolen, steel-plated bus tried to slalom around the concrete blocks at Invalidenstraße and crashed under fire just short of the last barrier;3 the chronicle counts 138 shots.2 Through the 1960s the GDR extended the crossing at Checkpoint Charlie, where the way was blocked by barriers, massive concrete obstacles and tank traps.4
The breakthroughs on this site cluster in 1961 to 1963 and again in 1986 to 1989, and the late ones mostly failed. A gravel truck went through Checkpoint Charlie in August 1986, where the automatic gate needed 13 seconds to close, and in March 1988 a lorry loaded with 92 empty gas cylinders broke four obstacles on the Glienicke Bridge. In November 1986 Manfred Mäder and René Gross drove a lifting-platform truck through a gate in the rear wall in Treptow and were shot dead. In 1989 a Trabant was caught by a steel cable at Drewitz and a ZIL lorry overturned against a barrier at Stolpe.
Sources for this text
- Vor 60 Jahren: Bau der Berliner MauerBundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb)
- Chronik 1963 – MaiChronik der Mauer
- Grenzübergang InvalidenstraßeChronik der Mauer
- The Border Crossing (Checkpoint Charlie, historical site)Stiftung Berliner Mauer
Checked October 2026. Facts taken from an escape record on this site link to that record, which lists its own sources.
40 events: 21 successful escapes, 1 partly successful escape, 17 failed attempts and 1 fatal attempt. At least 57 people reached the West in these events.
Related methods: by train
13 August 1961
A VW Beetle races through the barbed wire at Ackerstraße
On the day the border was sealed, a Beetle from East Berlin drove at full speed through the single roll of barbed wire across Ackerstraße.
16 August 1961
The flower-box lorry at Köpenicker Straße
At 6.30 on 16 August 1961 a driver loaded flower boxes in front of a florist's in Köpenicker Straße and drove back and forth, faking delivery trips. Then he drove straight over the crossing into West Berlin.
17 August 1961
Three young men crash a truck through the new barrier at Ruppiner Straße
Late on 17 August 1961 three young men drove a truck through the border barrier at Ruppiner Straße; the guards fired, but no one was hurt.
17 August 1961
A tipper lorry from the building site drives through the Sonnenallee crossing
At about 7.15 p.m. on 17 August 1961 a tipper lorry coming from the building site on the Heidekampweg drove through the Sonnenallee control point into West Berlin.
19 August 1961
A Konsum delivery van rolls through the wire at Staaken
The guards knew the van – it regularly delivered to the Volkshaus restaurant – so nobody checked it until it sped up and drove over the wire barrier into West Berlin.
22 August 1961
The lorry with an unloading permit that did not stop
At about 11.50 a.m. on 22 August 1961 an old private lorry with a permit to unload at the Zimmerstraße/Wilhelmstraße control point was let through, did not stop, and drove on into West Berlin.
8 September 1961
A Barkas van breaks through at the Brandenburg Gate
At 2.50 in the morning a Barkas van drove at about 70 km/h through the right-hand side of the Brandenburg Gate, which was secured with metal poles, and stopped on the western side.
10 September 1961
A lorry feints a turn, then ploughs through the Wall at Adalbertstraße
Two men in an H 6 lorry signalled a turn into Fritz-Heckert-Straße, then accelerated, forced a guard to jump aside and broke through the Wall into Kreuzberg.
3 October 1961
A Tatra crane lorry breaks through at Heinrich-Heine-Straße
Just before the checkpoint a building firm's crane lorry swung into Dresdner Straße, crashed through the border wall between two new blocks and raced into Kreuzberg under machine-pistol fire.
13 October 1961
Nine refugees run on when their lorry sticks in the wire
On 13 October 1961 nine East Germans tried to drive a lorry through the border into Zehlendorf. It got stuck in the barriers, but all nine ran on under constant fire and reached West Berlin; none of them was hit.
18 October 1961
A doctor from Hohen Neuendorf cuts both fences and drives through
On 18 October 1961 a woman doctor who lived right at the border in Hohen Neuendorf cut through both barrier fences and the concertina wire and drove her car, with two other people, into West Berlin.
14 November 1961
Armoured pre-war Opel at Chausseestraße
Five East Berliners drove an armoured pre-war Opel P4 through the Chausseestraße crossing under heavy fire and reached West Berlin unhurt.
9 April 1962
A cement lorry through the wall in Boyenstraße
On 9 April 1962 a lorry loaded with cement broke through the wall in Boyenstraße. It got stuck with most of it still on the eastern side, but the two men on board ran into West Berlin unhurt.
18 April 1962
Fatal truck breakthrough at Heinrich-Heine-Straße
Three young East Berliners crashed a truck through the Heinrich-Heine-Straße crossing; they reached the West, but the driver, 23-year-old Klaus Brueske, died of his injuries.
26 December 1962
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.
17 April 1963
Wolfgang Engels' armoured personnel carrier
A 19-year-old civilian army employee drove a stolen Soviet-built armoured personnel carrier into the Wall and was shot while climbing over, but reached the West.
29 April 1963
A stolen army workshop lorry through the Wall at Leuschnerdamm
Shortly after midnight on 29 April 1963 a stolen army lorry drove through the sight screen, two wire barriers and the Wall at Leuschnerdamm. The Stasi recorded it as a serious border breakthrough by presumably four men.
5 May 1963
Under the barrier in an Austin-Healey Sprite
An Austrian, Heinz Meixner, drove a low-slung Austin-Healey Sprite with its windscreen removed under the barrier at Checkpoint Charlie, carrying his fiancée and her mother hidden in the car.
12 May 1963
Failed bus escape at Invalidenstraße
Eight young East Berliners tried to ram a stolen, steel-plated bus through the Invalidenstraße crossing; it was riddled with bullets and stopped one metre short of the West.
4 July 1963
A gunner steals a loaded T-34 tank to break through to West Berlin
Left unsupervised in his barracks, an NVA tank gunner took the keys to the tank hall, loaded the machine guns of a T-34/85, picked up a friend and drove off towards Güterfelde – until an officer jumped onto the moving tank.
20 April 1964
Concrete lorry to the canal bank, then a swim
Two lorry drivers drove a loaded Škoda truck from a Teltow concrete works through the border fences down to the canal bank and swam across to West Berlin.
11 September 1966
Bulldozer through the Staaken border
Two married couples and a three-year-old child flattened the Staaken border fences with an armoured 18-tonne bulldozer until a tree stopped them in Spandau.
28 July 1983
Stolen tipper truck at Heinrich-Heine-Straße
A 21-year-old postal driver stole a KrAZ tipper truck and smashed through the gates of the Heinrich-Heine-Straße crossing, but was stopped by the roll barrier.
2 June 1984
Trabant against the Staaken barrier
A 38-year-old driver tried to force his Trabant through the Staaken crossing but crashed into a heavy barrier at the passport control line.
29 August 1986
Gravel truck through Checkpoint Charlie
Truck driver Hans-Joachim Pofahl, his partner and their eight-month-old baby smashed through Checkpoint Charlie in a truck loaded with five tonnes of gravel.
10 September 1986
A car rams the closed gate at Drewitz
At about 2.20 a.m. two people drove a car into a closed gate at the Drewitz crossing. Guards fired warning shots and arrested both, as lorry drivers arriving in West Berlin reported.
27 September 1986
Lada crash at Chausseestraße
Two young East Berliners drove a Lada through the gate at Chausseestraße at 80 km/h but crashed into a barrier and were jailed for over four years.
21 November 1986
Manfred Mäder and René Gross – lifting-platform truck at Karpfenteichstraße
Two East Berliners who had applied to leave the GDR drove a stolen truck with a lifting platform through a gate in the rear border wall in Treptow. Border guards opened continuous fire and both men were killed.
25 September 1987
A couple's dump truck sticks in the barriers opposite Zehlendorf – and a friend films it
On the evening of 25 September 1987 a young woman and a man tried to break through the border opposite Zehlendorf with a truck. The attempt failed and East German border guards arrested them. A friend in West Berlin filmed it.
9 December 1987
Wolga car on the Glienicke Bridge
Two men from Potsdam tried to ram a Wolga M 21 through the barriers on the Glienicke Bridge but were stopped at the very first gate.
10 March 1988
Truck full of gas cylinders over the Glienicke Bridge
Three men drove a truck disguised as a hazardous-goods transport and loaded with 92 empty gas cylinders through four barriers on the Glienicke Bridge. It was the first successful escape over the bridge.
31 August 1988
Guards shoot at a tipper truck approaching the Chausseestraße crossing
Two young men and a woman drove a tipper truck towards the Chausseestraße crossing; East German guards fired three to six shots and the three were led away, apparently unhurt.
10 March 1989
Tipper truck and ladder in Staaken
Three men tried to flatten the border fences in Staaken with a tipper truck and climb the Wall with a ladder, but the truck stuck in the second fence and one of them was shot.
31 March 1989
Three men break through the first control point at Drewitz
Late on 31 March 1989 a car with GDR plates and three men aboard broke through the first control point at Drewitz and hit a barrier; the three were led away. Travellers reported shots, which the GDR denied.
8 April 1989
Jan-Michael G.'s truck is caught in a cable barrier
On 8 April 1989 a heavy truck broke through both service gates at Ruppiner Straße but was stopped by a cable barrier designed to catch lorries.
26 April 1989
Stolen truck stuck in the death strip at Glienicke
A 21-year-old steelworker broke through the inner wall with a stolen truck but got stuck in the sand of the death strip after hitting a lamp post.
9 May 1989
Citroën at the Stolpe crossing
A 27-year-old fitter drove a Citroën through the first barrier at Stolpe at 80 km/h, losing the car's roof, before crashing into the base of a second barrier.
29 June 1989
Škoda through three barriers at Mahlow
A 27-year-old electrician approached the Mahlow crossing at walking pace, then accelerated through three barriers before crashing into a heavy crash barrier.
8 August 1989
Trabant caught by a steel cable at Drewitz
On 8 August 1989 a 33-year-old man from Belzig drove his Trabant into the Drewitz crossing, where a steel cable barrier stopped him.
15 August 1989
ZIL truck overturned at Stolpe
A 28-year-old man drove a ZIL-131 truck through several gates at the Stolpe crossing until it overturned against another barrier.
