60th Anniversary of Berlin Airlift

Pemberley Remembered takes place in 1947-48. Part of the story includes the start of the Berlin Airlift. Here is some background to that part of the story.

During WWII, the United States and Great Britain had been allies of the Soviet Union. It was never a comfortable alliance because it was known that Josef Stalin was a murderous dictator. But as Winston Churchill put it, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” and Stalin was the enemy of Nazi Germany. After the war, Stalin wanted to dismantle German industry and ship it back to the Soviet Union, and it believed its millions of casualties gave it that right. The Western Allies, however, did not want to repeat mistakes made at the end of WWI. The conditions of the armistice were so burdensome that they all but guaranteed that there would be another war. Great Britain and the U.S. wanted to see a democracy arise from the ashes of the Third Reich.

In mid June, 1948, the Soviet Union halted all traffic by water and land into or out of the Allied sectors of Berlin. The only remaining access routes into the city were three 20 mile wide air corridors across the Russian zone. The Soviets’ intention was to take over the three zones of Berlin not under their control. With no Allied traffic coming into Berlin to supply its inhabitants with basic necessities, the Soviet Union would be able to starve Berlin into submission.

On June 26, 1948, the Western Powers responded with the start of the Berlin Airlift. On that day, C-47 cargo planes flown by the United States Air Force carried 80 tons of food into Berlin, not nearly enough to provide the minimum daily requirements of Berlin’s population, but it would soon be joined by the U. S. Navy and the Royal Air Force. In short order, the United States responded to the Soviet’s blockade by making an open-ended commitment to the people of Berlin to supply them with calories and coal as long as they were willing to stand up to Soviet bullying.