Today we present an article written by retired US armor officer MAJ James M. Warford about US efforts to gather intelligence on Soviet armor during the Cold War involving the US Military Liaison Misison.  This article originally appeared in the Nov-Dec 2011 issue of ARMOR magazine in edited form.  Mr. Warford has provided us with the original and unedited version for your reading pleasure.

————————————————————————–

 The United States Military Liaison Mission, its Tri-Mission Partners and the Quest for the “Holy Grail”

By James M. Warford

“His weapons are stealth and discretion. He knows that successful collection is a deliberate and persistent endeavor which reveals the correct picture about his opponent from an emerging mosaic of separate information. Upon his individual judgment, initiative and courage, the success of USMLM is built.”

 Randall A. Greenwalt, Colonel, GS

Chief of Mission (1982)

The United States Military Liaison Mission, or USMLM for short, was officially established by the Huebner-Malinin Agreement, in April 1947. The agreement authorized the exchange of military liaison teams or “missions” as there we commonly called, between US and Soviet military headquarters’ in Germany. USMLM’s primary (official) mission was to, “carry out responsibilities for liaison between CINCUSAREUR, on behalf of the US Commander in Chief Europe, and CINCGSFG (Group of Soviet Forces, Germany).”1 It was, however, in USMLM’s secondary and until the end of the Cold War, secret role where its contributions can truly be measured. Its secret role was to “exploit its liaison status and attendant access for the collection of intelligence information in the German Democratic Republic.”2 This meant that throughout its 44 year history, members of USMLM were able to spy on and gather critical intelligence information concerning the Soviet Forces deployed in East Germany.

Of all their real-life missions, many of which rival the most daring exploits described in best-selling spy novels, the task of getting up-close and personal with the brand new Soviet T-64 MBT (later confirmed to be the T-64A), and obtaining metallic scrapings of the tanks armor, ranks as one of the most daring and critically important they ever conducted. The desire to touch the enemy’s truly revolutionary new tank (the best the Soviets had to offer), represented more than just a high-priority mission; it was in fact, the quest for the “Holy Grail.”

August 1978: USMLM technical quality photography of T-64As (USMLM History – 1978)

While in many ways, USMLM’s intelligence experts and linguists were an elite team, they were not unique. At Yalta in 1945, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Central Committee Secretary Stalin agreed that post-World War II Germany (and Berlin) would be reorganized into zones of occupation. Ultimately, this reorganization would include four zones; the American, the British, the Soviet and the French. Each zone was granted a liaison mission. The British mission was known as BRIXMIS, the Soviet mission was known as the SMLM (often abbreviated even further by American military forces to “smell ’em”) and the French mission know as the FMLM. The official headquarters’ for the three western missions were set-up in the city of Potsdam. Once established, the American, British and French missions were able to use their quasi-diplomatic status to observe, track and appraise Soviet military forces as they “toured” through East Germany. These “tours” normally consisted of two or three mission team members in a modified civilian sedan or (more recently) small SUVs. They would drive through East Germany both on and (more often than not), off-road. In many cases, the mission tours included tense stake-outs while hidden in the East German countryside for days at a time. If they were spotted by the Stasi (the East German State Security Police) or Soviet military forces, the chase was on. Tour members would do everything they could to avoid being detained (or “clobbered”) by their pursuers; including dangerous high-speed chases and escape and evasion maneuvers.

[Read more…]