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(詳細は military liaison mission which operated behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany during the Cold War. BRIXMIS existed from 1946 – shortly after the end of the Second World War – until the eve of the reunification of Germany in 1990. Created by an agreement to exchange military missions, the stated object of BRIXMIS – and the Soviet equivalent in the British Zone, SOXMIS – was "to maintain Liaison between the Staff of the two Commanders-in-Chief and their Military Governments in the Zones". This liaison was undertaken by 31 members – 11 officers and no more than 20 others – appointed to each mission. These liaison staff were issued passes allowing freedom of travel and circulation, with the exception of certain restricted areas, within each other's zone. Such "tours", as they became known, were conducted in uniform and in clearly identifiable vehicles. Nevertheless, although never openly stated, this liaison role also presented an ideal opportunity for the gathering of military intelligence through reconnaissance and surveillance and the occasional 'borrowing' of military matériel. This opportunity was fully exploited by both sides. BRIXMIS was ideally placed to "test the temperature" of Soviet intentions from its privileged position behind the Iron Curtain. However, and perhaps more importantly, it offered a channel for communication between West and East via its secondary but significant role of liaison – the initial reason for its establishment. ==History== Following the establishment of the four Allied zones of control in Germany after the Second World War, it became clear that some mechanism was needed to facilitate liaison between the occupying military governments, particularly between those of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. The exchange of military liaison missions appeared to offer a convenient solution. The reciprocal agreement establishing the first of these, between the British and Soviet zones – the Robertson-Malinin Agreement – was reached on 16 September 1946 between the respective chiefs of staff. 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.〔The terms of the Noiret-Malinin Agreement allowed the French Mission to hold 18 passes, and the Huebner-Malinin Agreement restricted the US to just 14.〕 The British Mission comprised members of the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force who conducted uniformed liaison activities in marked cars and in two Chipmunk light aircraft – the latter ostensibly to allow aircrew to maintain crew currency while posted to the Mission. 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. These were located in London Block, a part of the Olympic Stadium complex which housed the military government of the British Sector of Berlin. The original Potsdam Mission House at Wildpark was in fact damaged during anti-British disturbances in 1958, and a new one (34 Seestrasse) was provided by the Soviet authorities, together with a sum of money in reparation. 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. The agreements therefore remained in place until 2 October 1990, when all three were suspended on the eve of Germany's reunification. 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. The rationale for this 'son-of-BRIXMIS' unit is as curious as the paradox of the liaison-spying roles of the previous 45 years. In 1990, the fact remained that the West could not be certain that the Soviet Union would fully withdraw from the now united Germany. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「BRIXMIS」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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