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They are the front-line fighters in the Cold War: 62 American, British and French members of the Allied Military Missions in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). From their Mission bases in Potsdam they set off on espionage tours throughout the GDR, with the Stasi (State Security Police) in pursuit, grudgingly tolerated by the Soviets. Up to the present day the Mission members deny that they were spies - as they were unarmed, were officially accredited and everyone was able to recognise them as mission members by their uniforms. They recall with a smile the pretty East German women who they secretly photographed with their 1000mm lenses as long as there was no convoy with nuclear missiles of the type SS20 in sight, and they only admit reluctantly that their work could be very boring if they were waiting for days, hidden on a rail track waiting for troop movements. Mission cars being held up by road blocks to hinder the members in reconnoitering military objects is part of everyday life in the missions. On March 22nd 1984, however, everything is different. On this day the Stasi, in the form of Paul Schmidt, a member of the counterespionage service, sits at the steering-wheel of a lorry. When Schmidt suddenly comes tearing round the corner of a sidestreet, Mission member Phillip Mariotti tries to swerve out of his way, but Paul Schmidt drives straight towards him. The Mission car is almost totally wrecked and the lorry is a complete write-off. With relief Lieutenant General Gerhard Neiber from the Ministry of State Security reports the successful operation to Erich Mielke. ´´It was generally agreed that this was a tragic accident.´´