The Berlin Airlift (1948-1949)
The Soviet blockade of West Berlin and the Western Allied operation that supplied over two million civilians entirely by air for eleven months - the first major confrontation of the Cold War, which ended with the blockade lifted and Germany's division hardened into two states.
Timeline
Currency Reform Triggers the Crisis
The Western Allies introduced the Deutsche Mark in their occupation zones without Soviet agreement, introducing it into West Berlin days later. The Soviet military administration objected that the unilateral reform violated four-power agreements on Germany, and announced it would defend its occupation zone's economic integrity.
Location: Berlin, Germany
The Soviet Blockade Begins
Soviet forces cut all rail, road, and canal links between the western zones and West Berlin, leaving roughly 2.2 million residents with about a month of food and coal. The Soviets offered to lift the blockade if the Western powers withdrew the new currency; Western commanders estimated West Berlin's reserves would last 36 days.
Location: Berlin, Germany
The Airlift Launches
Rather than run an armed convoy, which risked direct combat, the United States and Britain began supplying West Berlin by air. General Lucius D. Clay argued the Allies could not abandon the city without surrendering it, and Operation Vittles (US) and Operation Plainfare (UK) began with C-47 transports hauling the first 80 tons of supplies on the opening day.
Location: Tempelhof Airport, Berlin, Germany
Tunner Industrializes the Air Bridge
Major General William Tunner took command of the operation and reorganized it into a conveyor-belt system of fixed flight corridors, 24-hour operations, and ground-time targets of half an hour per aircraft. The French built Tegel airfield in under three months, and crews from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa joined the flights.
Location: Wiesbaden, Germany
Operation Little Vittles
American pilot Gail Halvorsen began dropping chocolate and gum on handkerchief parachutes to children waiting at the Tempelhof fence. The gesture grew into a public campaign that delivered tons of candy across the airlift, and became a lasting symbol of the operation for West Berliners.
Location: Tempelhof Airport, Berlin, Germany
The Easter Parade Record
Tunner scheduled a maximum effort to demonstrate the airlift could sustain the city indefinitely: 1,398 flights delivered nearly 13,000 tons of coal, food, and medicine in 24 hours, with aircraft landing at 90-second intervals. By spring 1949 the operation stockpiled supplies faster than West Berlin consumed them.
Location: Berlin, Germany
The Blockade Is Lifted
After eleven months, the Soviet Union reopened land access to West Berlin, stating the blockade had achieved its purpose as a "protective measure." The airlift continued until September 30, 1949 to build reserves. In total Allied aircraft flew about 277,500 sorties carrying more than 2.3 million tons, with 101 airmen and ground personnel killed in accidents.
Location: Berlin, Germany
Two German States Emerge
The crisis ended hopes of four-power agreement on Germany. The Federal Republic of Germany was established in the western zones in May 1949 and the German Democratic Republic in the Soviet zone in October, formalizing the division of Berlin and of Europe into opposing blocs that would last four decades.
Location: Berlin, Germany