Containment Truman Doctrine, Marshall Pan Berlin Blockade/Airlift

 Stalin - wanted to destroy Germany, was stripping East Germany of its wealth and machinery.  Britain, US and France - wanted to rebuild Germany, help their industry. - They joined the zones together in January 1947 to make Bizonia.

 Different views on Germany.Germany  Stalin taking over eastern Europe by salami tactics. - way to divide and conquer, process of threats and alliances used to overcome opposition. “slicing salami” getting rid of opposition bit- by-bit  The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

 There were three events that led Stalin to block the boarders 1) January 1947 Britain, US and France joined their zones to become Bizonia (two zones)Bizonia - Russians saw this as a way of creating a new, strong Germany 2) March 1948 Congress passed the Marshall Plan - Stalin saw this as a way to undermine Russian influence in eastern Europe. - He immediately started stopping and searching road and rail traffic into Berlin

 3) June 1 st US, Britain and France announced they wanted to create the new country of West Germany. - Also on June 23 rd they introduced a new currency into “Bizonia” and western Berlin - People in eastern Europe began to change all their money into the new currency, which they thought was worth more.  The following day the Russians stopped all road and rail traffic into Berlin

 The soviets stopped selling western literature in the soviet zone  Citizens of Berlin only had about one month of supplies  The west saw this as an attempt to starve Berlin into surrender, so they decided to supply west Berlin by air.  The Berlin Blockade lasted 318 days

 Several solutions were proposed to the problem of the blockade including muscling into Berlin by force.  However, it was feared that this could spark a war with Russia, and the idea of the Berlin Airlift came into being  The Berlin Airlift was proposed by Commander Sir Brian Robertson of Britain. Known as Operation Plainfare by the British and Operation Vittles by the Americans, the Berlin Airlift represented a huge cooperative effort between several nations.

 At first, the Berlin Airlift did not look like a success. None of the cooperating nations had enough aircraft to meet the supply needs of West Berlin.  They were also short on manpower. Flying into Berlin was severely dangerous, as there were limited flight paths available. Once pilots reached Berlin, they landed in one of three airports: Gatow, Tegel or Tempelhof  The Western nations thought that the blockade would last only a few weeks, but ultimately, West Berlin was served for 15 months by the Berlin Airlift.

 West Berlin required 1,534 tons of supplies a day so that citizens could cook, eat, and warm their homes.  At the height of the Berlin Airlift, British and American pilots were landing aircraft in Berlin every three minutes, around the clock.  While the first weeks of the Berlin Airlift were difficult, pilots and commanders grew accustomed to the pace and were able to make reliable deliveries to the people of West Berlin  275,000 planes transported 1.5 million tons of supplies and a plane landed every three minutes at Berlin's Templehof airport

 To demonstrate the airlift's potential to the Soviets and the world, the US put on a spectacular show over the 24-hour period ending at noon, Easter Sunday, April 16, 1949, dubbed the "Easter Parade."  During this period, 1,398 flights delivered almost 13,000 tons of coal to Berlin. This not only demonstrated the load capacity, but also the ability of the system to handle an unprecedented density of air traffic  Almost 2,800 incoming and outgoing flights at the three West Berlin airports located in less than a 20 mile radius of each other. The airbridge had, on a single day, handled the equivalent of 600 rail cars of coal without injury or accident

 The Berlin Airlift ended in 1949 when an agreement about open transportation lines was reached between the four occupying nations.  The Russian blockade had failed in the face of tremendous cooperation and creativity by the Western powers, but it served as a warning for other events yet to come.  A memorial at Tempelhof Airport commemorates the 54 Allied airmen who lost their lives during the Berlin Airlift.

 On 12th May, 1949 the Berlin Blockade was finally lifted.  This, however, did not mark the end of the airlift which continued on at the same rate into October so as to safeguard against any Soviet turnaround.  The last American plane flew to Berlin (with accompanying overhead formation) on 30th September, 1949 with the British not removing their flying goggles until the 6th October.

 The massive airlift was the largest humanitarian operation ever undertaken by the air force.  The more than 2.3 million tons of supplies flown into the city over approximately 10 months dwarf all future operations.  Even the airlift to war-torn Sarajevo between 1992 and 1997 brought in only 179,910 tons— less than the amount flown into Berlin in one month alone.