Berlin Airlift

Berlin Airlift U.S. starts June 26, 1948
U.S. and British pilots start delivering food and supplies by airplane to Berlin on June 26, 1948, after the city has been isolated by a blockade of the Soviet Union.
Defeated Germany was divided into soviet, American, British and French occupation zones when World War II ended in 1945.The city of Berlin, though situated within the Soviet occupation zone, was also divided into four sectors, with the Allies taking the western part of the city and the eastern Soviets. In June 1948, the government of Josef Stalin sought to consolidate control of the city by cutting off all land and sea routes to West Berlin to pressure the Allies to evacuate. As a result, the western section of Berlin and its 2 million people have been deprived of food, heating fuel and other crucial supplies from starting on June 24.

Yet some in the U.S. The administration of President Harry S. Truman called for a direct military response to this aggressive Soviet move, and Truman was concerned that such a response would trigger yet another world war. Instead, he authorized large-scale air operations under the control of the German military governor appointed by the United States, General Lucius D. Clay. The first plane took off from England and western Germany on June 26, carrying food, clothing, water, medicine and fuel.

The aircraft delivered about 5,000 tons of supplies to West Berlin every day at the beginning of the operation; by the end, those supplies had increased to about 8,000 tons per day. All along the airlift, the Allies carried about 2.3 million tons of cargo.
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The airlift's massive scale made it a huge logistical challenge, and a great risk at times. With aircraft landing at Tempelhof Airport every four minutes, pilots were asked to fly two or more round-trip flights every day, in planes sometimes in need of repair during World War II.

In May 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade, earning international community scorn for subjecting innocent men , women and children to hardship and famine. The airlift — known in German as Die Luftbrucke or "the air bridge"—continued at a total cost of over $224 million until September 1949.When it came to an end, the eastern part of Berlin was absorbed into Soviet East Germany, while West Berlin remained a separate territory with its own government and close ties to West Germany.

The Berlin Wall, built in 1961, was the dividing line between East and West Berlin. Its destruction in 1989 preceded the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and marked the end of the era and the re-emergence of Berlin as the capital of a new, unified German nation.