BRIXMIS

Subsequent agreements in 1947 led to the exchange of similar missions between the Soviet zone and those controlled by French and US forces, although the British–Soviet arrangement was significantly larger than either of the others, with 31 individuals allowed passes in each case.

BRIXMIS maintained a permanent presence in its nominal home, the Mission House in Potsdam, East Germany, but its actual headquarters and operational centre were in West Berlin.

The original Potsdam Mission House at Wildpark was in fact damaged during anti-British disturbances in 1958, and a new one (34 Seestrasse, near the Glienicke Bridge) was provided by the Soviet authorities, together with a sum of money in reparation.

[2] Although symbolically highly significant, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 simply returned the situation to what it had been before its erection in 1961, and the need for liaison and the gathering of intelligence became no less pressing.

[3] While BRIXMIS formally disbanded on 31 December 1990, a small number of its staff remained to conduct similar operations covertly and without the quasi-diplomatic immunity of the Robertson-Malinin Agreement during the course of the next three years.

Such events included, for example, a parade on the Queen's birthday, receptions at the Mission House, and a Remembrance Day religious service at the Stahnsdorf War Graves cemetery, just south of Berlin.

[5] Informal contact was maintained through parties – usually in celebration of some one-off event – to which members of SERB, the Soviet External Relations Branch,[ii] were also invited.

Such trips offered excellent opportunities for getting to know members of the Soviet and East German armed forces (and civilians) who might not have otherwise been met in the course of normal duties.

[iii] Whilst these were to a large extent respected, there were also many unnotified "Missions prohibited" signs around most military installations, which were invariably ignored and even at times taken home as souvenirs.

[iv] The main risk to persistent offenders was that they might be declared persona non grata and have their passes withdrawn – a complete waste of the expensive specialist training they had undergone before being posted to BRIXMIS.

Such tours could take a number of days with the teams being entirely self-sufficient, cooking their own meals and sleeping in the countryside either in the vehicle, as the driver always had to, or, as the other two normally did, in bivouacs or one-man tents.