The Berlin airlift - or Berliner Luft-Brücke - of 1948/49

[Zebra]

The Western Allies organised the Berlin Airlift (German: Berliner Luftbrücke, lit. '"Berlin Air Bridge"') from 26 June 1948 to 30 September 1949 to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin, a difficult feat given the size of the city and the population.[1][2] American and British air forces flew over Berlin more than 250,000 times, dropping necessities such as fuel and food, with the original plan being to lift 3,475 tons of supplies daily. By the spring of 1949, that number was often met twofold, with the peak daily delivery totalling 12,941 tons.[3] Among these, was the work of the later concurrent Operation Little Vittles in which candy-dropping aircraft dubbed "raisin bombers" generated much goodwill among German children.

Berlin Blockade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thanks to the USA and the UK!

They did a great job then!

 

[Bleipriester]

Good thing was since the buildings lacked roofs the supply could directly be delivered to the needy peeps.

 

[Zebra]

It was some great achievement!

 

[Bleipriester]

The Berlin Airlift

After WWII, Churchill declared that an “iron curtain” had descended across Europe, separating Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe from the free world. Berlin, which had been reduced to rubble, was an anomaly. Located deep inside East Germany, it was nevertheless not wholly under Soviet control...

www.usmessageboard.com

 

[DudleySmith]

The two post-war years suffered famines around the world, so by 1948 any aid would be very welcome.

 

[Bleipriester]

I am suffering famine right now but all they care about is child stabbing scum.

 

[whitehall]

Why was it necessary? What happened to Truman's foreign policy?

 

[odanny]

Why was it necessary? What happened to Truman's foreign policy?

You do realize that Berlin was in the Soviet zone of occupation, right?

 

[BothWings]

My Dad, born about an hour north of Nuremberg in 1940, said the Berlin Airlift introduced him and his peers to peanut butter. It was something which wasn't really part of German cuisine at the time. The Allies would drop parachute capsules with rations and goodies in them, and many young Germans tried peanut butter for the firat time as a result.

25 years later my Dad was a pork-and-beans-eating American citizen.

 

[whitehall]

You do realize that Berlin was in the Soviet zone of occupation, right?

Do you realize that the Soviets were allies during WW2? We are talking about a couple of years post WW2 and FDR is dead and Truman ain't got a freaking clue.

 

[odanny]

Do you realize that the Soviets were allies during WW2? We are talking about a couple of years post WW2 and FDR is dead and Truman ain't got a freaking clue.

You're clueless.

 

[whitehall]

You're clueless.

The FDR/Truman administration ordered Ike's Troops to wait until (allied) Soviet troops liberated Berlin. What happened three or four years later when our former allies turned on us?





helped liberate Berlin in 1945 and a couple of years later they have the city isolated

 

[odanny]

The FDR/Truman administration ordered Ike's Troops to wait until (allied) Soviet troops liberated Berlin. What happened three or four years later when our former allies turned on us?

Because.............................Stalin.

 

[whitehall]

Because.............................Stalin.

Stalin was FDR's BFF. He used to call him "Uncle Joe" in press conferences. WTF happened?

 

[odanny]

Stalin was FDR's BFF. He used to call him "Uncle Joe" in press conferences. WTF happened?

FDR died in April of 1945.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Do you realize that the Soviets were allies during WW2? We are talking about a couple of years post WW2 and FDR is dead and Truman ain't got a freaking clue.

If you look at the Soviet behavior during WWII, they were never our allies. At best they were co-belligerents. They took from the WAllies, but returned little to nothing. When they were forced to cooperate in a few operations like the handful of "shuttle bombing" missions, they treated WAllied troops like pariahs, keeping them isolated behind barbed wire and away from Soviet citizens.

 

[whitehall]

If you look at the Soviet behavior during WWII, they were never our allies. At best they were co-belligerents. They took from the WAllies, but returned little to nothing. When they were forced to cooperate in a few operations like the handful of "shuttle bombing" missions, they treated WAllied troops like pariahs, keeping them isolated behind barbed wire and away from Soviet citizens.

You make my point. Why did FDR cultivate Stalin's friendship when the USSR had nothing to offer the allies? COS Marshall seemed to be calling the shots but nobody ever asked him why Ike's Troops were held back to allow the Russian hoard to achieve the final victory in Berlin.

 

[odanny]

You make my point. Why did FDR cultivate Stalin's friendship when the USSR had nothing to offer the allies? COS Marshall seemed to be calling the shots but nobody ever asked him why Ike's Troops were held back to allow the Russian hoard to achieve the final victory in Berlin.

Because it was a deadly and brutal battle and the Soviets paid the price for it in blood. Stalin never trusted the Allies because he always believed a second front should have been opened earlier. Ike did the right thing stopping at the Elbe.

 

[AZrailwhale]

You make my point. Why did FDR cultivate Stalin's friendship when the USSR had nothing to offer the allies? COS Marshall seemed to be calling the shots but nobody ever asked him why Ike's Troops were held back to allow the Russian hoard to achieve the final victory in Berlin.

FDR surrounded himself with people who thought communism was the wave of the future. I have no use for FDR at all. He respected no law that got in the way of him achieving his goals which were to transform this country.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Because it was a deadly and brutal battle and the Soviets paid the price for it in blood. Stalin never trusted the Allies because he always believed a second front should have been opened earlier. Ike did the right thing stopping at the Elbe.

Berlin was a bloody and savage battle because the Red Army was fighting it. At the same time German cities were surrendering to the WAllies with only minor resistance by diehard Nazis. Germans were going out of their way to surrender to the WAllies. They knew the war was over.