C-54 plane landing at Berlin Tempelhof 1948
USAF, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C-54_landing_at_Tempelhof_1948.jpg
After WWII, Berlin was divided between the four victorious powers (UK, US, Russia and France), but the city itself lay deep inside the Soviet zone. In June 1948, the Western allies introduced a new currency — the Deutsch Mark — in their Western zones to stabilise the collapsing economy.
When the currency reform reached West Berlin, the Soviets saw it as a challenge and sealed every road, rail line and canal. More than two million people in West Berlin were suddenly cut off from food, fuel, and medical supplies.
The Allies now faced a stark choice. Abandon Berlin or try the impossible by attempting to supply a whole city by air.
And so, the Berlin Airlift began.
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