They did try but the border was highly protected throughout. In areas with woodland there was a 'Death strip' - an area where no-one was allowed to enter except people that worked or lived there, they needed special access passes and couldn't even receive visitors from neighbouring villages. Even the water (whether it was the river Spree in Berlin or the Baltic Sea) was patrolled. But people did try to use the fact that this was more difficult to do and attempts to cross included using rowing boats, dingys and even swimming all the way. This Website of an old border watch tower (now historic remembrance site), states that over 5.600 attempted to escape via the Baltic Sea but just over 900 succeeded. There were also methods: hot air balloons, people adapting cars to hide away a person while crossing the border. Some dug tunnels