The Berlin blockade

The Berlin blockade. (24 June 1948 - 12 May 1949). , During the multinational occupation of post-World War Il Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies’ railway, road and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied control. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to start supplying Berlin with food and fuel, thereby giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city. , , In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin airlift to carry supplies to the people in West Berlin. The United States Air Force and the British Royal Air Force flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing up to 4700 tons of daily life necessities such as fuel and food to the Berliners. , , By the spring of 1949, the effort was clearly succeeding and, by April, the airlift was delivering more cargo than had previously been transported into the city by rail. The success of the Berlin Airlift brought embarrassment to the Soviets who had refused to believe it could make a difference. The blockade was lifted in May 1949 and resulted in the creation of two separate German states. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) split up Berlin. In remembrance of the airlift, three airports in the former western zones of the city served as the primary gateways to Germany for another fifty years. , , On 25 March 1948, the Soviets issued orders restricting Western military and passenger traffic between the American, British and French occupation zones and Berlin. These new measures began on1 April along with an announcement that no cargo could leave Berlin by rail without the permission of the Soviet commander, Each train and truck was to be searched by the Soviet authorities. On 2 April General Clay ordered a halt to all military trains and required that supplies to the military garrison be transported by air, in what was dubbed the "Little Lift" , , The Soviets eased their restrictions on Allied military trains on 10 April 1948, but continued periodically to interrupt rail and road traffic during the next 75 days, while the United States continued supplying its military forces by using cargo aircraft. At the same time, Soviet military aircraft began to violate West Berlin airspace and harass, or what the military called "buzz", flights in and out of West Berlin. , , On 5 April, a Soviet Air Force Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter collided with a British European Airways Vickers Viking 1B airliner near RAF Gatow airfield, killing all aboard both aircraft. The Gatow air disaster exacerbated tensions between the Soviets and the other allied powers. Internal Soviet reports in April stated that “Our control and restrictive measures have dealt a strong blow to the prestige of the Americans and British in Germany" and that the Americans have “admitted" that the idea of an airlift would be to expensive. , , The Soviet blockade of Berlin was lifted at one minute after midnight on 12 May 1949. A British convoy immediately drove through to Berlin, and the first train from West Germany reached Berlim at 5:32 A.M. Later that day an enormous crowd celebrated the end of the blockade. General Clay, whose retirement had been announced by U.S. President Truman on 3 May, was saluted by 11,000 US soldiers and dozens of aircraft. Once home, Clay received a ticker-tape parade in New York City and invited to address the US Congress, and was honored with a medal from President Truman.