How the Allies divided Berlin

The Second World War was a stark warning to humanity. As you know, the Allies managed to defeat Hitler's Germany by joint efforts. However, shortly after the war ended, the contradictions between them began to escalate rapidly. The Cold War was coming. The first incident of this long-lasting confrontation, the blockade of Berlin, will be discussed in the next Intent article.

Contradictions between the Allies escalate

Back in 1944, the United Kingdom, the USSR, and the United States signed the London Protocol, according to which Germany was to be divided into three occupation zones within the 1937 borders after the Allied victory. At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the previous agreement was revised: it was decided to include France in the occupation of Germany.

Map of the division of Germany after World War II. Map: https://wwii.space/

Given the importance of Berlin, it was also decided to divide it into four occupation zones. The technical difficulty was that Berlin was located in the occupation zone of the Soviet Union, i.e. it was cut off from the occupation zones of capitalist countries. The German capital could be reached by road, river, rail, and air, but in 1945 the Allies signed an agreement only on the free use of air corridors to connect with other occupation zones. At the time, it was not at all obvious that the agreement should be extended to other types of communications.

The postwar division of Berlin. Map: https://wwii.space/

Although Germany lost the war, the winners were supposed to help rebuild the country. In order for Germany to pay reparations, its economy and industry had to be quickly restored. However, Soviet troops began dismantling and removing factories and plant equipment from Berlin, which caused discontent among the capitalist countries. Despite the victors' agreement that each nation would have the freedom to choose its political system after the war, the USSR immediately began to demonstrate a desire to impose communism on the occupied territories. In the socialist camp, the Communist Party took control of the situation for several years after the war.

In March 1946, Winston Churchill delivered the Fulton speech, which effectively proclaimed the beginning of the Cold War. Two weeks earlier, George Kennan, an employee of the American Embassy in Moscow, had written a lengthy letter to Washington warning of the totalitarian nature of the USSR and the impossibility of cooperation with it. Washington took Kennan's letter very seriously. Based on the analysis in the letter, the Truman Doctrine, a plan to curb the USSR' s communist expansion around the world, was created. At the same time, tensions between the USSR and the West were growing so much that the US president was even considering the use of nuclear weapons.

U.S. President Harry Truman presents the new foreign policy doctrine to Congress. Photo: Wikipedia.

In 1947, the United States developed the Marshall Plan, which offered financial assistance to European countries affected by the war. Eventually, 18 Western European countries, including West Germany, received aid. At the same time, the socialist camp refused American money: The USSR rightly believed that the aid would be used as an instrument of influence.

Countries that received aid under the Marshall Plan. Map: Wikipedia.

In early 1947, the British and Americans decided to unite their occupation zones to form Bisonia. The purpose of the unification was to restore the vital activity of West Germany as soon as possible, which was to become a breakwater on the way to the spread of communism. However, this was a violation of the agreements according to which such radical decisions were to be made jointly by the four occupying powers. Moreover, in the spring of 1948, the French occupation zone joined Bisonia, thus forming the Trizone. Western countries actively promoted the formation of a democratic West Germany. In response, the USSR withdrew from the Control Council, through which the victorious countries jointly governed Germany.

Monetary reform as a pretext for conflict

The last straw in the disputes between the Allies was the idea of introducing monetary reform in the Trizone. Because of the war, Germany had a significant amount of devalued Reichsmark in circulation. The reform was progressive and is considered one of the foundations of the so-called German economic miracle. At the same time, the terms of the reform were quite harsh for the population. For example, Germans were allowed to exchange only 60 Reichmarks at a 1:1 exchange rate. Half of the savings were allowed to be exchanged at a rate of 1:10, and the rest at a rate of 1:20.

Exchange of old money in Hamburg in June 1948. Photo: https://wwii.space/

The reform was scheduled for June 1948, but already on April 1, the USSR made it difficult to enter the territory of West Berlin past the Soviet occupation zone. Document checks and restrictions on the movement of goods by rail were introduced. On June 12, the USSR completely suspended road communication with West Berlin, allegedly due to repair work. And in response to the launch of the reform on June 20, the next day, the annual communication was blocked, and on June 24, the railroad was completely blocked.

Obviously, the introduction of its own currency was another step toward the separation of West Germany into an independent country, which the USSR opposed. In Russian-language sources, one can find information that the USSR was forced to close its borders because of the panic in West Berlin caused by the introduction of the monetary reform. Allegedly, residents of the western part of the city were rushing to East Berlin, removing all goods from the shelves and threatening the city with an economic crisis. These sources do not point to the fact that a few days after the reform was introduced in the Trizone and West Berlin, a similar reform was carried out with the currency in the occupied zone of the USSR. That is, if there was any panic, it was in the months before the reform was introduced. But then the residents of West Berlin could buy goods on their own territory. In addition, the USSR did not lift the blockade after the monetary reform was implemented on the territory it controlled. From this we can conclude that the USSR simply used the pretext to seize the initiative. Stalin had wanted to take control of Berlin for several years. Now he had his chance.

Organization of the air bridge

So, on June 24, West Berlin found itself completely isolated from the world. The Soviets hoped that, seeing the suffering of the people of West Berlin, the capitalist countries would be forced to abandon their plans. The Soviet Union was confident that the West was not ready for a new war, so it would not resolve the situation by force. Indeed, residents of the western part of the city quickly began to feel the blockade. In particular, electricity consumption was reduced to two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.

However, according to the 1945 agreements, the air corridor over the Soviet occupation zone remained open. So on June 26, 32 American planes flew 80 tons of essential supplies to Berlin. The British began flights two days later. In the first days of the blockade, the Americans were ready to send 600-700 tons of cargo daily, but it quickly became clear that this amount would not be enough. Therefore, it was necessary to think of a perfect scheme for uninterrupted flights for a large number of aircraft that would guarantee safety in the air and on the ground. The need for such an approach became apparent after August 13, the so-called "Black Friday," when fog and rain caused two transport planes to crash on the ground, and the rest were forced to hover over Berlin in poor visibility.

Initially, only Tempelhof Airport was able to receive planes in Berlin, but by the end of the year, Gatow Airport was put into operation and a new Tegel Airport was built. In addition, British Sunderland seaplanes could land on the surface of Lake Wansee. The American Lieutenant General William Tanner, who was in charge of the operation, wanted to create an air and ground conveyor belt. According to the plan, the planes were to move at 3-minute intervals. In order to avoid congestion, each plane had only one landing attempt. If it failed, the pilot had to return to Tryzonia with the cargo and take another flight. On the ground, the plane had to be unloaded quickly to clear the runway. While the unloading was going on, the crew was fed. Gradually, the ground crews learned to service the planes in 10 minutes, although a record of 5 minutes and 45 seconds was later set.

Unloading bags of flour from an American transport plane at Gatow Airport. Photo: Getty Images.

"Raisin bombers"

One of the American pilots, Gale Halvorsen, decided to fly to Berlin on a day off in July 1948. He arrived at Tempelhof Airport and saw a crowd of children at the end of the runway who had come to see the airplanes. The pilot gave the children two packs of chewing gum and was pleasantly surprised that they shared the gift. As he said goodbye, he promised to bring more gifts and drop them from the plane next time.

The next time he came in for landing, he made a homemade parachute out of a handkerchief and dropped several chocolate bars on the children. The number of children near the runway began to increase, and Halvorsen made it a rule to drop gifts. Soon, the headquarters began to receive letters to "Chocolate Uncle" and "Chocolate Flyer". When William Tanner found out about it, he turned the pilot's initiative into Operation Little Treats. Other pilots took part in the "operation," and American children began sending their treats for children in Germany. Later, powerful candy manufacturers joined the campaign. In total, about twenty-three tons of sweets were dropped on Berlin. German children dubbed the planes that dropped the sweets "raisin bombers."

An American plane drops sweets over Berlin. Photo: Wikipedia.

The USSR begins the fight for Berlin

The USSR did not believe that the West would be able to maintain the air bridge for long. However, traffic only increased, forcing the Communists to become more active. Thus, on August 1, 1948, the Communists began offering free food to every resident of West Berlin who came to East Berlin and registered their ration card there. In this way, the USSR wanted to show how much it cared about ordinary Germans. About 22 thousand Germans registered in the next few days, but the rest refused. At that time, more than 2 million people lived in the western part of the capital.

During the blockade, the Soviets used various methods to interfere with Western pilots. These included flying Soviet planes at low altitudes, parachuting in air corridors, and using searchlights to blind pilots at night. Although none of these methods proved effective, 733 incidents were recorded during the blockade.

The Communists tried to bombard the population of Berlin with propaganda, which was distributed on the radio, in the press, in brochures and posters, and at street meetings. However, they did not achieve much success in a short period of time. However, the Berlin City Hall found it increasingly difficult to fulfill its functions. Communist-minded crowds broke into city hall meetings, disrupted sessions, and threatened members of pro-Western parties. On September 6, Moscow organized a coup in the Berlin City Hall. In response, a 500,000-strong crowd from the British sector crossed the border into the Soviet occupation zone and tore down the red flag over the Brandenburg Gate. The legitimate City Hall of Berlin began to meet in the British sector of the capital, which once again thwarted Soviet plans.

The West breaks records and wins

One of the most difficult periods for the air bridge was to be the winter of 1948-49. In the summer, the daily transportation of 4-5 thousand tons of cargo was considered a good result. In winter, the food supply had to remain at the same level, but the need for coal increased significantly, which required an increase in traffic by 6 thousand tons daily. The British had a powerful air fleet, so they added a large Handley Paige Hastings to support the bridge. Now the problem arose in keeping such a large fleet in good condition. General Tanner turned to former Luftwaffe mechanics who agreed to help.

Another problem was that the old runways would not be able to handle the powerful aircraft in winter. For this reason, new asphalt and concrete runways were built in Tempelhof and Gatow, and a new two-runway airport was built near Lake Tegel.

That year's winter was one of the worst on record, with fog, low cloud cover and poor visibility, so a strong team of forecasters was deployed to the operation. The number of air traffic controllers was also significantly increased.

Having survived the winter, the pilots continued to perform their duties with confidence. However, General Tanner decided that a record-breaking Easter cargo delivery could boost the pilots' spirits. To achieve the record, it was decided that only coal would be transported that day to speed up the unloading process. As a result, 1,383 flights were made and almost 13,000 tons of coal were shipped in one day. This record became a symbol of the West's victory: On April 25, TASS reported that the USSR was ready to lift the blockade.

Seventeen American and eight British planes crashed during the operation. 101 people died, but mostly as a result of non-flight accidents.

The blockade only intensified the processes that had been launched in the Trizonia. Thus, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was formed in May 1949 on the site of the occupation zone. At the same time, West Berlin became an autonomous city connected to Germany by a land transportation corridor. In response, the German Democratic Republic was established in October 1949 on the site of the Soviet occupation zone.

Conclusions.

The blockade of Berlin was the first direct clash between the USSR and the West during the Cold War. The West proved that it was ready for collective defense, which was symbolized by the creation of NATO. The USSR lost the first battle, but there would be many more victories and defeats during the Cold War.

The main beneficiary of the post-World War II Five-Year Plan was the United States. The Americans successfully took advantage of the fact that their territory was almost unaffected by the global conflict. The introduction of the Marshall Plan and the role of the United States during the blockade of Berlin significantly strengthened the authority of the United States in Europe and in the world.

Олег Пархітько