until the blockade is lifted.”
While the strength of the Western commitment, both material and moral, should not be doubted, the subsequent months turned out to be not quite the white-knuckle experience that everyone had feared. The primary reason is that old General Winter sided this time with Russia's antagonists. January 1949 was a meteorological miracle, with clear skies and no hard frost. During that month, the airlift managed an amazing 5,546 tons a day. With relatively mild conditions continuing through March, and daily deliveries sometimes exceeding 6,000 tons, many Berliners in the Western sector found themselves actually
gaining
weight; a few more months of this and they would begin to look like Bavarians.
At the peak of the Berlin Airlift, in spring 1949, planes were landing every ninety seconds and turning around within six minutes. Many of the planes did not return empty, but “backlifted” export goods or ferried out passengers, mainly sick children and politicians.
Many Berliners were not content simply to grab for this lifeline from the sky;they contributed their part to make the airlift a success. Residents of the Western zones helped unload planes, worked as ground mechanics, and drove the trucks that distributed food and coal. To supplement the powdered largesse from the West, they grew vegetables on every available scrap of soil. Perhaps most important, they maintained morale by regularly displaying their famous
schnauze
(irreverent wit). “Aren't we lucky,” they joked, “just think what it would be like if the Americans were running the blockade and the Russians the airlift.” A radio program called
Die Insulaner
(“The Islanders”), beamed from the American sector, featured easily identifiable Berlin types offering a running commentary on life in the beleaguered city. Older Berliners still remember the
Insulaner
theme song, which described the sound of four-motored aircraft as “music to the ear” and expressed longing for the day “when the lights are on and the trains are moving.”
All of which is not to say that there was no self-pity or resentment, even toward the Western Allies. Some claimed that Berlin would not be in such a fix if the West had not “given” a third of Germany to the Soviets. Others complained about having to pay high prices for dehydrated foods that they didn't like anyway. Yet on the whole, the Berliners were deeply appreciative of the effort being made on their behalf, and they relished the chance to work hand in glove with the Western Powers against the hated Russians. In the end, they were certainly more thankful and cooperative than their countrymen in the Western zones, who howled in protest over a “Berlin tax” imposed by the new German Economic Council in Frankfurt to help relieve the distress of the city.
By spring 1949 the airlift was so successful that it seemed capable of going on forever. The preparations for a West German state had also proceeded apace, with the drafting and passage of a Basic Law, or constitution, for the new entity. Another epochal creation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was formalized in April. Short of going to war, there was little that the Soviets could do to impede these developments. They had blockaded Berlin partly to strengthen their hand in dealing with their former allies on the German question; instead, they were being dealt out of the game.
The Western Powers, moreover, were putting pressure on the Russians through a small but painful counterblockade consisting of trade sanctions that prohibited shipments of crucial raw materials and manufactured goods from the Western zones to the East. The Soviet zone stopped receiving key items such as hard coal from the Ruhr, electrical motors, ball bearings, transmission systems, diamond drills, and optical equipment. The losses were all the moregrievous because the economy in the Russian zone was in terrible shape due to earlier industrial pillaging and
While the strength of the Western commitment, both material and moral, should not be doubted, the subsequent months turned out to be not quite the white-knuckle experience that everyone had feared. The primary reason is that old General Winter sided this time with Russia's antagonists. January 1949 was a meteorological miracle, with clear skies and no hard frost. During that month, the airlift managed an amazing 5,546 tons a day. With relatively mild conditions continuing through March, and daily deliveries sometimes exceeding 6,000 tons, many Berliners in the Western sector found themselves actually
gaining
weight; a few more months of this and they would begin to look like Bavarians.
At the peak of the Berlin Airlift, in spring 1949, planes were landing every ninety seconds and turning around within six minutes. Many of the planes did not return empty, but “backlifted” export goods or ferried out passengers, mainly sick children and politicians.
Many Berliners were not content simply to grab for this lifeline from the sky;they contributed their part to make the airlift a success. Residents of the Western zones helped unload planes, worked as ground mechanics, and drove the trucks that distributed food and coal. To supplement the powdered largesse from the West, they grew vegetables on every available scrap of soil. Perhaps most important, they maintained morale by regularly displaying their famous
schnauze
(irreverent wit). “Aren't we lucky,” they joked, “just think what it would be like if the Americans were running the blockade and the Russians the airlift.” A radio program called
Die Insulaner
(“The Islanders”), beamed from the American sector, featured easily identifiable Berlin types offering a running commentary on life in the beleaguered city. Older Berliners still remember the
Insulaner
theme song, which described the sound of four-motored aircraft as “music to the ear” and expressed longing for the day “when the lights are on and the trains are moving.”
All of which is not to say that there was no self-pity or resentment, even toward the Western Allies. Some claimed that Berlin would not be in such a fix if the West had not “given” a third of Germany to the Soviets. Others complained about having to pay high prices for dehydrated foods that they didn't like anyway. Yet on the whole, the Berliners were deeply appreciative of the effort being made on their behalf, and they relished the chance to work hand in glove with the Western Powers against the hated Russians. In the end, they were certainly more thankful and cooperative than their countrymen in the Western zones, who howled in protest over a “Berlin tax” imposed by the new German Economic Council in Frankfurt to help relieve the distress of the city.
By spring 1949 the airlift was so successful that it seemed capable of going on forever. The preparations for a West German state had also proceeded apace, with the drafting and passage of a Basic Law, or constitution, for the new entity. Another epochal creation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was formalized in April. Short of going to war, there was little that the Soviets could do to impede these developments. They had blockaded Berlin partly to strengthen their hand in dealing with their former allies on the German question; instead, they were being dealt out of the game.
The Western Powers, moreover, were putting pressure on the Russians through a small but painful counterblockade consisting of trade sanctions that prohibited shipments of crucial raw materials and manufactured goods from the Western zones to the East. The Soviet zone stopped receiving key items such as hard coal from the Ruhr, electrical motors, ball bearings, transmission systems, diamond drills, and optical equipment. The losses were all the moregrievous because the economy in the Russian zone was in terrible shape due to earlier industrial pillaging and
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