Berlin Airlift

On 23 June 1948, the Soviet occupation forces closed all rail, road and waterway supply routes from the Allied Western Zones of Occupation in Berlin. There was less than one month's supply of fuel and food available for the 2,500,000 Berliners living in the Western Zones. The Blockade of Germany had begun. A freezing winter was also on the side of the Russians who had the intention of starving and freezing Berlin into submission. The Allies responded immediately, and in eleven months Allied aircraft made thousands of flights into three airfields located in the cramped airspace of West Berlin, carrying food, clothing, coal, liquid fuel and raw materials.