Berlin Airlift: The Salvation of a City, Hardback Diane Canwell J Sutherland

Berlin Airlift: The Salvation of a CityAuthor(s): Jonathan Sutherland, Diane Canwell\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Pen & Sword Military\nISBN-13: 9781844154203, 978-1844154203\nSynopsis\nIn June 1948, Joseph Stalin halted all road and rail traffic in to and out of the Allied sector of Berlin and cut off all electricity to the city. The only route into Berlin was by means of three twenty-mile-wide air corridors across the Soviet zone of Germany. Thus the wartime allies of Britain, France and the USA realized that the only option open to them was to supply the beleaguered West Berlin by air transport and so started one of the most dramatic events of the twentieth century. The airlift started in June, 1948. At the beginning there were three loading airfields: Rhein Main and Wiesbaden in the American zone, and Weinstorf in the British zone. By September of 1948 the airlift was transporting a massive tonnage of supplies into Berli.