In 1947, Britain and the US, followed by France, merged their occupation zones economically, preparing for a common monetary reform. All these actions were carried out without regard for the opinion of the USSR, further inflaming the situation. As a result, on March 20, 1948, the USSR left the Control Council, bringing an end to the four-power administration of Berlin.
After the Allies carried out a currency reform in their occupation zone on June 20, 1948 (replacing the old Reichsmark with the new Deutschmark), its circulation was extended to West Berlin, which the Soviet Union opposed. Germans, who were offered to exchange their savings at a rate of 1:10 and 1:20, began to try to spend them where they could buy significantly more. That is, in the Soviet occupation zone. Thus, in the “eastern zone,” everything was swept off the shelves; the main thing was to spend the money quickly.
On June 23, 1948, the Soviet authorities responded by also carrying out a currency reform in the Eastern zone. As a result, the economies of East and West Germany separated from each other. This naturally required the closure of the borders between them, which was done. The Soviet authorities stopped road traffic to West Berlin, then on June 21 they stopped river traffic, and on June 24 — rail traffic. In early June, German citizens were required to obtain special permission to enter the Soviet zone. It should be noted that at that time, Germany was experiencing a shortage of goods and a ration card system for food distribution was in effect.
The USSR demanded that all land and river transport traveling to Berlin from the western zones be inspected. The Allies proudly rejected this and limited themselves to air transport, for which agreed air corridors had existed since 1945, as stipulated in a separate agreement. This was in contrast to rail and road access to Berlin through the Soviet zone. In response to Soviet actions, the Allies blocked the departure of trains from West Germany carrying cargo destined for the USSR as reparations.
To supply food to the “blockaded” residents of West Berlin, the American and British Air Force transport aircraft established an “air bridge” on June 24, 1948. In total, Berlin required at least 1,500 tons of food daily. In addition, 3,500 tons of coal, diesel fuel, and gasoline were needed daily to produce heat and electricity. However, the transport aircraft available at the outset could barely carry 700-750 tons. By the second week of the blockade, the volume of shipments had reached 1,000 tons per day. By the end of August 1948, the logistics of the “air bridge” had been fine-tuned, with more than 1,500 flights per day and more than 4,500 tons of supplies being delivered.
In total, the “air bridge” delivered 2.3 million tons of cargo to the city, 80% of which was coal, gasoline, liquid fuel, and military supplies. Between June 1948 and May 1949, 488,088 tons of food were delivered, accounting for only 21% of the total cargo.
At the same time, 10 trains with civilian cargo continued to pass through to West Berlin every day without any problems, as had been agreed before the crisis began.
It was only in April 1949 that the volume of cargo delivered by air slightly exceeded the cargo transported by rail (10 trains per day) through the Soviet occupation sector. Thus, the term “blockade” was conditional and suitable only for propaganda hype.
During Operation Air Bridge, there were many emergencies: 17 American and 8 British aircraft crashed, killing 31 American and 39 British pilots, as well as 13 German citizens.
An additional propaganda stunt was the dropping of sweets for the children of besieged Berlin using homemade parachutes, which became known as the “raisin bombing.” The planes participating in the Berlin airlift used parachutes made from handkerchiefs to drop chocolate bars and chewing gum to the children of Berlin waiting at the edge of the airfield in Tempelhof before landing. A total of 3 tons of candy was dropped, and this “operation” did not so much feed the children as become yet another piece of banal propaganda.
Thanks to propaganda, a persistent modern opinion has developed that the rescue of West Berliners from starvation was only possible thanks to the “air bridge” established by the American and British air forces, which transported food to German citizens. However, only a third of the food consumed by Berliners was delivered by the “airlift.” The bulk of the cargo was still transported by rail through the Soviet occupation sector, a fact that the Allies do not mention.
The Soviet side did everything it could to ease the situation of the German population of the city, which had become an unwitting hostage to the confrontation. The transfer of civilians from the western sectors of the city to the eastern sector was organized within five days, and the population was able to buy everything they needed in the Soviet sector without any obstacles.
On July 20, the SVAG allocated 100,000 tons of grain from its state reserves for the population of the western sectors. Every resident of the western sectors could register at the card offices of the Soviet sector to receive food cards. With these cards, as well as with money circulating in the Soviet sector, West Germans could obtain food in Soviet sector stores according to the norms established in the Soviet zone, which, incidentally, were higher than those in the West. Only in the second half of August did residents of the western sectors receive 60,000 tons of coal briquettes and a large amount of firewood. On August 26, the SVA ordered that, starting September 1, 1948, milk be distributed to all children under the age of 14 from the western sectors who were registered in the eastern sector. A total of 55,000 liters of milk were allocated.
In contrast to the Soviet humanitarian policy, the command of the western sectors of the occupation prohibited residents of West Berlin from receiving food in the eastern sector of the city, while spreading reports in the media about the famine caused by the Soviets and the fight against it by means of an “air bridge.” As a result, by the beginning of 1949, only 100,000 people from West Berlin out of a total population of 2.6 million in the western sectors had registered with the card offices in the Soviet sector.
For domestic consumption, Western media outlets promoted the narrative that the Soviets wanted to use the blockade to force the Allied military contingent out of West Berlin. The civilian population became the unwitting victims of this aggressive policy. On August 20, 1948, British occupation forces blocked Potsdamer Platz with barbed wire to prevent citizens from accessing Soviet food distribution points. On March 30, 1949, the Americans organized a purge of the West Berlin police, dismissing anyone who received food in the Soviet occupation zone.
Via the SVA line, as well as from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, and through Brandenburg to West Berlin, in August–October (i.e., over three months) in 1948, approximately 383,000 tons of food supplies were delivered, accounting for 75% of the total volume of food transported via the “air bridge” over ten months. Every day, up to 900 tons of food, not counting coal, textiles, and other goods (clothing, shoes, etc.), arrived in West Berlin from the Soviet zone through official channels.
The British newspaper Daily Mail wrote at the time: “If Berliners learn the truth about the Soviet government's supplies, they will ridicule our efforts and our airlift, and our presence will become useless.” The blockade of West Berlin ended on May 12, 1949, as a result of negotiations between the four powers. According to the Allies, it was their terms that were accepted.
However, the raging Cold War would determine policy in Europe and the world for many decades to come. The main political outcome was the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the granting of autonomous status to West Berlin. In addition, under the shadow of the Berlin blockade and the “air bridge,” a decision was made on April 4, 1949, to create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
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