Berlin Blockade and Allied Airlift

Soviet authorities closed the railways, roads, and waterways into the Western sectors of Berlin on 24 June 1948, cutting the usual routes for food and fuel. American aircraft began carrying supplies two days later, and British aircraft joined the operation. [1]

Berlin lay inside the Soviet occupation zone, but the city itself was divided among four Allied powers whose wartime partnership had broken down over the future of Germany. Western plans for economic recovery and a separate German state, followed by competing currency reforms, brought the dispute to Berlin’s streets and supply lines. [2] [1]

The air corridors remained available. As diplomats tried to settle the confrontation, transport crews carried food and coal into the city through a growing system of flights and unloading. Airfields had to keep receiving aircraft through difficult weather, while West Berliners endured shortages and the Western powers demonstrated that they intended to remain. [2] [1]

The blockade ended in May 1949. The Western sectors had been supplied without a ground battle between the former allies, whose disagreements over Germany continued. The Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic emerged later that year. [1]

Related Diplomats

1. Aleksandr Panyushkin [4]
2. Henri Bonnet [5] [6]
3. Sir Oliver Franks [7]

Related Reading

• Germany and the United States