This Day in Cold War History (Berlin Airlift Begins)

June 26, 1948—In the first confrontation between Western and Eastern powers in postwar Europe, Western planes begin to airlift food and other supplies to citizens of West Berlin, who have had surface traffic cut off by the Soviet Union. Eighty tons of supplies—at this point, mainly powdered milk, flour and medicine—were delivered on 32 American C047 flights.

Readers of this blog have gotten used to a mix of posts on both momentous (e.g., the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) and the trivial (the premiere of the comic strip “Garfield”). The latter often make people smile, and they’re certainly fun to write and an occasional much-needed respite from an unending diet of serious posts.

But sometimes it’s important to cover the first type, particularly in those instances, as with the Berlin Airlift, when a major event tilted the balance in 20th century history but is now largely forgotten, or at least overlooked.

Why, for instance, does the Airlift receive so little attention? For one thing, tension in the divided German capital never degenerated into outright war (thank God). But several other factors contributed to the lack of fanfare for this major event, I believe:

1) Television—especially television news—was in its infancy. In our age, if you can’t see it, it’s not even on our radar screen.

2) Baby boomers are too young to remember it. From the Sixties to today, my generation has had one mantra: It’s all about us. Our rage (in the Sixties). Our compromises with the necessity of making a living (the “Yuppies” of the Eighties). Our worries about the viability of Social Security (today). In short, our self-absorption.

3) We didn’t learn history in school. If we know anything about the Berlin Airlift at all, it’s that it was part of the Cold War, and we know what that means: McCarthyism. Blackouts. Nuclear fallout drills in which you hid under the desk. Vietnam.

The Berlin Airlift, in short, was contrary to our ethos and experience. It demanded self-sacrifice, a can-do spirit, and a sense of resolution even when the odds ran against us.

To understand the Berlin Airlift, not just read cold, hard facts on a page about it, imagine the following in the first half of 1948. 

Better yet, put yourself in the shoes of President Harry S. Truman—the little man from Missouri who assumed his nation’s highest office because of the untimely death of his larger-than-life predecessor—as all of this was occurring one swift day after another:

* You’re in an uphill election race against a unified Republican Party all the hungrier for being out of power for 16 years. You, on the other hand, are facing challenges from your liberal and conservative wings. (And Al Gore thought he had it bad with Ralph Nader in 2000!)

* Soviet puppet governments have seized power in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria. (And a Soviet-friendly regime is thisclose to gaining power in China.) You haven’t been able to do much about it—and the Republicans have been reminding the country about it at every turn. Guess what? Your poll numbers are tanking.

* The Soviets refuse to cooperate with Britain, France and the U.S. in administering their respective military zones and in creating a new national government in de-Nazified Germany.

* General Lucius Clay, the military governor of Germany, tells you the western zones in Berlin are “more tense than at any time since surrender.” No surprise—nobody’s eating. Daily rations in Germany are down to 900 calories a day—way below the recommended allowance for adequate nutrition. Winter will only make things worse.

* Berlin has not bounced back on its feet yet. In fact, the Western powers’ attempt to achieve stability via a common currency is spoiled by Soviet intransigence. The Soviets want civil disorder—that’s how they’ve usually come into power.

* The Soviets don’t take the Western powers’ declaration of a common currency—meant to promote stability in the city—well at all. In fact, they insist on searching all cargo traveling through its portion of Germany. The West refuses. Consequently, the U.S.S.R. shuts off all ground and water traffic to West Berlin on June 24.

* The U.S. military creates plans for another invasion of Germany, only three years after the last one. General Clay is thinking about an armed convoy to break the blockade by rumbling through Soviet-controlled territory. Either alternative could spell WWIII.

* In short, are you really sure you want this job, Mr. Truman?

As Truman huddled with advisors and communicated with foreign officials about the crisis, a possibility loomed as a chance to circumvent the blockade without directly confronting the Soviets—an airlift. But it was a gamble—nobody knew how many resources it would take, or for how long.

Major players in the airlift included:

* Sir Brian Robertson, the British commander who first proposed the idea.

* General Lucius Clay, who ordered the initial airlift on his own initiative.

* General Curtis LeMay, who became far better known in later years for saying the U.S. could win the war in Vietnam by bombing North Vietnam “back to the Stone Age,” but who in this instance gave his swift, enthusiastic assent to Clay’s inquiry about the feasibility of the airlift;

* Lt. General William Tunner, who went after his pet peeves—cargo planes and crews sitting idly, planes stacked up over Berlin’s Templehof Airport—with such a vengeance that he was able eventually to move aircraft in and out of Berlin at two-minute intervals, day and night, in any kind of weather.

* President Truman, who, two days after the first airlift flights, stated that abandoning the city was out of the question—and stuck to his resolve over the 13 months of the operation.

* Germany volunteers, who not only manned the maintenance crews servicing the cargo planes but also became so efficient at their job that they could unload 10 tons of coal in 10 minutes. (It helped that they had powerful incentives to assist in the effort: a positive inducement—productive volunteers were given extra rations—and a negative inducement—the very real fear that the Russian Army would pick up where it left off three years before when it conducted a mass rape campaign as it overran the Third Reich in the closing days of the war.)

On May 12, 1949, Soviet troops began dismantling barricades and restored access to the city. In September, the last of more than 278,000 flights landed in the city, by which time some 2.3 million tons of food, coal, medicine and other supplies had been delivered.

Let it be remembered that the flights were not without cost: Seventy-three Allied airmen and at least five Germans died in accidents during the operation. 

Seldom have military personnel—including Americans—been involved in such a massive, daring, profoundly unselfish undertaking—one that kept the possibility of freedom alive in a fragile democracy and, in the new cooperation between Americans and their former WWII foes, helped ease resentments left over from that earlier conflict.

Precedents Set

The Berlin Airlift became the first international humanitarian effort primarily conducted through aircraft. Moreover, it was the first that did not rely principally on international aid relief organizations such as the Red Cross.

It did not, unfortunately, ease tensions between East and West. Divided Berlin became the preeminent symbol of divisions between the superpowers—and, as President Kennedy correctly noted (see the “Quote of the Day”), a symbol of their attitudes toward freedom.

Someone should do a study of just how much media outlets covered the anniversary of this event. From what I can see, it hasn’t been much. It’s as if the media are bringing to fruition the “memory hole” predicted by George Orwell in 1984.