Rhein-Main Air Base and The Berlin Airlift Tribute (Germany) 3of3
During the Berlin Airlift, a U.S., and /or Allied supply plane, took off or landed in West Berlin every 30 seconds! The planes made nearly an incredible 300,000 flights in all, during one year, to save German lives!
The Russians were also concerned about a unified West Berlin: a capitalist city located right in the middle of their occupation zone that would likely be powerfully and aggressively anti-Soviet. They decided that something needed to be done to stop this creeping unificationism. They withdrew from the Kommandatura and began a blockade of West Berlin, a maneuver that they hoped would effectively starve the western powers out of Berlin. If West Germany was to become its own country, they argued, then Berlin, located more than 100 miles from its border, could no longer be its capital.
On June 15, 1948, the Soviet authorities announced that the Autobahn, the highway connecting western Germany to Berlin, would be closed indefinitely “for repairs.” Then, they halted all road traffic from west to east, and barred all barge and rail traffic from entering West Berlin. Thus began the blockade of Berlin.
As far as the western Allies were concerned, withdrawal from the city was not an option. “If we withdraw,” said the American military commander, “our position in Europe is threatened, and Communism will run rampant.” President Harry Truman echoed this sentiment: “We shall stay,” he declared, “period.” Using military force to strike back against the Soviet blockade seemed equally unwise: The risk of turning the Cold War into an actual war—even worse, a nuclear war—was just too great.
31 Americans lost their lives during the Berlin Airlift, paying the ultimate price for the freedom of others. Let that not be forgotten.
http://www.spiritoffreedom.org/airlif...
The Cold War Museum
http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/b...
Video produced by: Otis Cue Pate (scoring, mixing, frame editing, on-location capturing, narration)
Rhein-Main Air Base / Berlin Airlift Memorial Footage Recorded; October 2014, Frankfurt, Germany
V.R.T.: 12m.37sec.