The story of this place
The best-known crossing point of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie was the only place foreigners and Allied personnel could pass between the American sector and East Berlin. In October 1961 it became the flashpoint of the Cold War: after a dispute over Allied access, ten US M48 tanks and ten Soviet T-54s rolled up barrel-to-barrel, just metres apart, for sixteen tense hours — the closest the superpowers came to open combat in Europe. Escapees tried to crash the barrier by car and tunnel; Peter Fechter bled to death nearby in 1962. A replica guardhouse and the sign 'You are leaving the American sector' still mark the spot.