1972 June 1, Frankfurt am Main

Acting on a tip, police begin staking out a garage near Frankfurt. Peering inside, the police notice it is empty of people, but full of explosives. They empty the garage of bombs (replacing the explosives with empty containers), and install a listening device. City workers place hundreds of bags of peat and grass outside, as if preparing to plant grass. But the bags are filled with sand; the police are expecting a firefight.

Frankfurt am Main - Andreas Baader, with a police bullet in his leg, is captured.

1 June 1972, Frankfurt am Main – Andreas Baader, with a police bullet in his leg, is captured.

5:50 AM: a lilac-colored Porsche pulls up outside of the garage. Three men get out. One of the men notices that the surrounding roofs, windows and street corners are covered with dozens–no, hundreds–of men, milling about. Clearly they are cops. The man pulls out a gun and gets off several shots, but is tackled before hitting anyone. Jan-Carl Raspe is finally captured. The other two men–Andreas Baader and Holger Meins–make it into the garage, locking the double doors behind them.

A television crew shows up and begins filming the siege. The police drill a hole into the garage and push in tear gas canisters, but the gas mostly wafts into the apartments upstairs. After about three hours, Baader appears in the doorway, loading a magazine into his weapon. A police sniper shoots him, injuring his leg. He screams and retreats back into the garage. A few minutes later Meins gives himself up. The cops force him to strip to his undershorts to ensure that he isn’t carrying any weapons. After Meins’ capture the cops storm the garage, nabbing Baader.