Following a fight with his wife on the evening of January 28, 1966, Manfred B. made the spontaneous decision to flee. He first climbed over the inner fence and then the border signal fence without triggering an alarm. But the border guards on Kremmener Strasse noticed him as he approached the border fence. They called out to him and fired 80 shots in his direction. They later arrested Manfred B. and handed him over to the police. People on the West Berlin side had seen him try to escape. The Berlin Senate responded by hanging a poster that read: “Soldier, you stand alone with your guilt.”