BEHIND THE HEADLINES

1948

AIRLIFT SAVES BERLIN

With road and rail links to Berlin cut by the Soviets, the West entered the first great battle of the Cold War in the Berlin Airlift of 1948.

At the end of the Second World War, Germany had been divided into British, US, French and Soviet regions of control. The country’s capital, Berlin, was 100 miles inside the Soviet zone of the divided Germany, and the other partners relied on Russian goodwill for right of access.

However, a Western decision to incorporate West Berlin into the West German economy infuriated the Soviets,