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The blockade begins -

The war had been over for two years but most of Berlin was still in ruins, with the city divided into four sectors and administered jointly by the occupying powers: the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. Conflicts over currency reform, among other issues, triggered a Soviet Union blockade of the western sectors from June 1948 to May 1949. 

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Response -

The Western Allies responded with the Berlin Airlift, an unprecedented and dangerous operation supplying the entire city with essential food and goods by air. 

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Operation Vittles -

The airlift, code-named Operation Vittles, began on June 25, 1948. Supply planes landing at Tempelhof provided irresistible distraction for German citizens watching from the airport perimeter. 

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Airlift -

American airlift planes fly over the broken heart of Berlin bringing food and coal cargo to Tempelhof Airport as the blockade takes hold. 

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Freedom and rights -

Banners hang over a road block at the Russian-American sector boundary during the Berlin airlift. It reads: "The sector of freedom welcomes the fighters for freedom and rights of the Western Sectors."

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Labor -

The western sector of Berlin was served by two airports, Tempelhof and Tegel. Tempelhof was not much more than an airfield. To facilitate the airlift, a decision was made to build an additional runway. Here, German women laborers shovel dirt into a rail dump car in a clearing as work progresses. The US Army hired 1,300 German laborers to construct the extra facilities, 75% of them women. 

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Construction -

A night view taken on November 8, 1948, showing the construction of the additional runway at Tempelhof in the Berlin French-controlled zone. 

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Unloading cargo -

C-47 Skytrains unloading at Tempelhof during the early stages of the airlift. Cargo included milk, flour, and medicine. 

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Candy man -

Pictured is US Air Force pilot Gail Halvorsen, who pioneered the idea of dropping candy bars and bubble gum using handmade miniature parachutes, which later became known as "Operation Little Vittles."

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Candy drop -

A Douglas C-54 Skymaster dropping candy over Berlin. This particular cargo was always welcomed by Berlin youngsters. 

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Harsh winter -

C-54s stand out against the snow at Wiesbaden Air Base during the airlift in the harsh winter of 1948. Wiesbaden was one of the starting points of the US Air Force for the flights to Berlin.

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Air corridor -

The crew of a Douglas C-47 Skytrain load up a cargo of milk in Frankfurt Rhine-Main, another German city base air corridor, to be delivered in Berlin. 

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Anxious times -

Anxious crowds in a Berlin street gaze up at the planes bringing airlift supplies. 

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Deliveries day and night -

A line of US Air Force C-47 transport planes unload milk to waiting trucks. Cargo deliveries were made to both Tegel and Tempelhof airports throughout the blockade, with both needing additional runways built to cope with the traffic.  

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Unloading -

The unloading at Tegel of one of the first air cargo planes used by the US Army. 

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Blocked at the border -

Truck drivers waiting at the blocked border in Helmstedt for the continuation of their journey. All were turned back. 

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Market economy -

As the Soviets constricted the supply routes into Berlin, some ingenious inhabitants reacted by growing their own vegetables and tobacco in allotments on Berliner Straße. 

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Fuel supply -

Sacks of coal in Germany waiting to be flown to Berlin as part of the Allied airlift. Fuel was always in short supply. 

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Radio broadcasts -

Crowds gather round an RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) sound truck broadcasting news during a power cut.   

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Power cut -

There was power for only two hours per day and two hours per night during the blockade. But this hairdresser took her customer outside of the salon to work under bright sunshine. 

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Face off -

German police and American soldiers face Soviet troops at the border between Allied-controlled and Soviet-controlled Berlin. The situation was tense and fraught with danger. 

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Field trip -

Schoolchildren visiting Tempelhof airport during the airlifts. For youngsters, the whole event was one big adventure. 

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Canned goods -

Canned meat stored in a warehouse in Coburg, Bavaria. Supplies were flown in from three air corridors in western-held Germany.

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Grim death toll -

Passers-by observe a commemorative plaque erected in a Berlin street for pilots lost during the airlift. Airmen killed in the operation numbered 77, of them 31 were American.

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Listening to the airwaves -

A radio operator on board a Handley Page HP.67 Hastings, a British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft. 

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Demonstrations -

A huge crowd of about 250,000 people gathered in front of the remains of the Reichstag building on August 26, 1948, to demonstrate against the blockade.

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Street protest -

The Soviet Union had blocked off the city to protest at what they called intransigence by the Western Allies on the future of the city and Germany.

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Keeping the wheels turning -

A British mechanic at work on the wheel of an aircraft. Many of the servicemen involved in the airlift were veterans of World War II.

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Children at risk -

Living in rubble-strewn Berlin in mid-winter proved fatal for many elderly and infirm citizens. But children too suffered in the conditions. Doctors were frequently called out to attend to sick youngsters. 

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High command -

Field Marshall Bernard L. Montgomery visiting the headquarters of the RASO (Rear Airfield Supply Organization) at Wunstorf near Hanover, the base of the supply planes for Berlin. 

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Looks can be deceiving -

Approaching Berlin from the air meant flying over verdant forests and tranquil lakes, scenes that belied the squalid condition of the ravaged city beyond. 

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Water drop -

Berlin's numerous lakes and rivers proved useful. Here, a British Royal Air force flying boat is being unloaded on the River Havel. 

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Off the rails -

A closed metro station in the Western sector of Berlin. Subway networks were often rendered useless due to frequent power cuts.

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Kindness and appreciation -

Youngsters bearing flowers and small gifts line the gangplank of an American plane at Tempelhof Airport on the 100th day of the airlift. Gestures of kindness like this towards pilots and aircrew were commonplace as the besieged population found ways of thanking the Allies. 

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Soup and smiles -

Smiling Berlin children enjoying a bowl of hot soup. Many people would have starved to death had the airlift not taken place.  

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Bread delivery -

Deliveries of food dropped by Allied planes helped sustain the population, and children in particular were grateful for the supplies.

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Heating solution -

During the fuel shortage caused by the Soviet blockade of the city, wood was removed from public benches and used to heat houses.

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Host family -

A girl from Berlin with her host parents in Hamburg. Some of the more fortunate children were evacuated from Berlin to stay with friends and family elsewhere in Germany. 

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Queuing becomes a way of life -

Berliners queue to buy bread and pastries— scarce and expensive items during the blockade—in a Berlin bakery. 

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Playing for real -

A group of Berlin youngsters playing airlift games. Nearly every child could name the type of aircraft flying into the city during the blockade. 

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Time for rebuilding -

A woman works in her ruined city to help Western Allies rebuild West Berlin during the Soviet blockade. 

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Group effort -

As the blockade wore on, Berliners helped repair city infrastructure and facilitate communications, tasks that were overseen by the Allied military.  

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Supply and demand -

With even basic foodstuffs hard to come by, street markets were a welcome sight amid the ruins. Here, a woman selling vegetables concludes a transaction.  

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Devastation -

Berlin was totally destroyed during World War II, and by 1948 much of the city was still in ruins. Here, a woman walks her baby past a bombed out store. 

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Black humor -

Despite the hardship, humor often prevailed. Here a "waiter" appears under a sign indicating the way to the well-known French restaurant Eremitage.  

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Everyday life -

Everyday life during the blockade was basic and often harsh. Berliners had to make do with very little, and the winter weather was cold and uncompromising. 

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Home visits -

Home visits by medics were rare. Here, a doctor makes a house run to see a patient during a power cut. 

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Community spirit -

German women working on the Tegel aerodrome runway pause for respite and a quick chat. The blockade nurtured a community spirit and a renewed sense of purpose.   

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Red Cross parcels -

A German airlift worker's wife feeds children sitting on a makeshift bed during the blockade. Each child's ration was a slice of dark bread and margarine. A box from the US Red Cross is in the foreground.

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Lifting of the blockade -

Members of the new German government speak to Berliners in May 1949 following the lifting of the blockade. Nearly half a million people gathered in front of the Rathaus Schöneberg (city hall) in the US Sector to wave the red, black, and gold flags of the new West German republic.

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Official announcement -

Jubilant Berlin citizens gather around a mobile loudspeaker of the American Radio Station Berlin to cheer the official announcement that the blockade had been lifted. 

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Back on the road -

Trucks laden with supplies leaving Lübeck en route to Berlin on May 14, 1949, immediately after the blockade was lifted.   

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Arrival of convoys -

The first road convoy to arrive in Berlin after the lifting of the blockade at the end of airlift. 

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Rationing is lifted -

With the lifting of the 11-month blockade, trains and vehicles loaded with food and coal began pouring into the city. Here, West Berlin housewives crowd in front of a shop in the American sector to buy un-rationed fish. 

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Back in business -

Post-blockade Berlin saw masses of people in the streets as shops were once again able to open for business.

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The last run -

General E. H. Alexander gives a speech at Frankfurt airport before the start of the last "Candy Bomber" run to Berlin on September 30, 1949. 

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Keeping stocked up -

Boxes of pineapple and sacks of flour stacked up in a West Berlin warehouse in 1949, stored in case of another blockade by the Soviets. 

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Top honors -

President Harry S. Truman awarding American general Lucius Clay with the Distinguished Service Medal for his role in the airlift. By the end of the operation, American and British pilots had flown  277,000 missions and delivered nearly 2.3 million tons of supplies.  

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The Luftbrückendenkmal -

West Berlin's Tempelhof district in 1951 after the inauguration of the Luftbrückendenkmal, the city's official monument to the Berlin Blockade set near the airport.   

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A fitting monument -

The monument as it looks today. The curved concrete structure, designed by Eduard Ludwig, has three prongs facing westwards to symbolize the three air corridors and the three Allied occupying forces.

See also: Heartwarming photos that will restore your faith in humanity

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