Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of The German Airlift, June 1948- May 1949, by Richard Reeves (TPB, 2010, $2.50)
The Soviet Union wanted to control Germany, and it should have been easy. After all, what could anyone do? The allies had already demilitarized, with only a small number of untrained soldiers still in uniform. Russia, on the other hand, had lots of well trained soldiers. So Russia cut off communication and transportation to West Berlin. This meant Berlin was without food, coal, electric power, gasoline, medicine or mail.
West Berlin certainly couldn't do anything. Most of its citizens were women, children or old men, and they were all hungry. France didn't want to do anything. They liked the idea of a weak Germany. Britain refused to do anything as she was in the middle of her own reconstruction. West Germans blamed Berlin for the country's problems, so they wouldn't help. The American military was united. Our soldiers should come home, even if it meant Russia would take West Berlin. It would be embarrassing, but in the long run trying to prevent it wasn't worth it. Berlin wasn't militarily important, whereas interfering might bring war with Russia. Besides we had just spent all those years fighting Germans, why now help them? Even if we wanted to help, there were no places to land. We had destroyed all the runways. So everyone was agreed, Russia would be allowed to take over Berlin, just as she had Czechoslovakia and Finland.
There was just one problem. Harry Truman, who had a tendency of going his own way, refused to give up West Berlin, and what Harry wanted, Harry usually got. 17,000 civilians turned out to rebuild runways from of rubble. 60,000 members of the military were called back to active duty. General Lucius Clay, who had been the national czar of production and procurement during the war, was given the task of coordinating all this chaos.
Somehow it worked. For ten months allied planes brought supplies to the besieged city. Plane after plane arrived, one every 30 seconds, for ten months. Americans transported almost 2 million tons of material. Britain, who ended up helping, carried a half million. The airlift cost a massive $350 million, as well as 79 lives, but the people of Berlin survived.
They would never forget. After it was over, General Clay retired and went home. When he left, 500,000 Berliners lined his route to the airport to say thanks.
As you may know, Berlin's problems did not end there. By 1961 2000 East Germans were requesting political asylum in West Berlin each month. To the Soviet Union this was unacceptable. First they made a barrier out of barbed wire, then they added concrete, then even more concrete to make it taller. A moat in front of the wall was added to make it even harder for escaping civilians to cross over.
The Wall would effectively keep Berliners apart until 1989. What a day it was when the Wall came down! What a story this is! And it is true!
Look on this book on the new non-fiction table. Avail. 6/20. (L- Ger.)
