Berlin was the first East-West flash point of the
Cold War. For the first time a dispute between
Washington and Moscow became a high stakes
faceoff between their opposing militaries.
Life had yet to return to its normal, humdrum existence.
Three years following the end of one colossal war
and the world was suddenly threatened with another.
Once again, it was all about Germany.
Berlin became a pawn in superpower strategy
when the West combined their occupied zones
into a new German nation and created a new threat
for Stalin. The Kremlin responded by blockading
all land routes feeding West Berlin, a city of over
two million people. It was an island of western
democracy within a sea of the Soviet Army.
Here was a vulnerable outpost a hundred miles
on the inside of the communist Iron Curtain.
The ten thousand troop garrison assigned to defend the
city was but a pittance, a token force, for the Red Army
to quickly dispatch. Their mission was to demonstrate
their resolve in the face of certain defeat. There was
no other recourse. Imagine Europe's reaction if America
abandoned Berlin without a fight. Washington's promise
was mere talk.
Western Europe would be lost.
The Potsdam agreement gave the West occupied zones
in Berlin, much as it had with all of Germany. The contract
gave France, Britain and the U.S. a piece of Berlin
real estate, but that didn't guarantee these capitalists
access to their properties; all so isolated.
So terribly far out of reach.
Stalin posed Washington with the dilemma of either
surrendering the city or watching these Berliners starve.
A third option was to call Stalin's bluff. Uncle Sam
could run an armed convoy through the blockade,
daring Soviet forces to open fire.
Did the Kremlin really want to start a war with the U.S.?
Recently, a flight of sixty B-29 bombers from the States
landed in the U.K. They were all capable of carrying
atomic bombs.
General Clay was the highly regarded administrator
of American policy in Germany. He provided the solution
to Berlin's supply problem with an audacious plan to airlift
thousands of tons of food and coal daily to meet the city's
needs.
Clay also lobbied the President to call Stalin's bluff
and send an armed convoy to Berlin. Truman said no.
It was an unnecessary risk. Also, Truman was up for
reelection and voters were in no mood to take on war.
And Truman had his own bluff. Not one of the sixty
B-29 bombers contained an atomic bomb.
This was something Stalin also knew.
West Berlin relied on twelve thousand tons of food, coal and
the like to get through the day. They could get by, though,
on four thousand tons. There were about a hundred C-47s
available to transport necessities into the city. The planes
were worn leftovers from the Second World War, but
they could each transport up to three tons.
100 x 3 = 300 tons.
Even deliveries twice daily didn't begin to fill the need.
It was an all hands on deck moment. Where were
the resources necessary to save Berlin?
Failure was not an option.
Stalin created NATO.
The NATO treaty was signed in Washington as
this first Berlin crisis would come to a conclusion.
The U.S. had just agreed to come to the defense
of Western Europe. Clearly, Stalin's aggressive
behavior had spooked isolationist Americans
into fearing a threat beyond the water's edge.
About this time an American reconnaissance plane
discovered a dramatic leap in radiation levels while
flying the Pacific rim route along the coast of Russia.
America's atomic monopoly was over.
Stalin had the bomb.
* * * * *
OVER EASY
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