THE BERLIN AIRLIFT

On February 1, 1948, Soviet authorities took a decisive step in the burgeoning Cold War by initiating efforts to jam the broadcasts of the Voice of America (VOA). At that time, VOA was a key instrument of U.S. public diplomacy, broadcasting news and perspectives that championed democratic ideals and free expression—messages that the Soviet regime viewed as ideologically subversive. Concerned that these Western narratives could inspire dissent and erode the tightly controlled flow of information within its borders, the Kremlin saw jamming as a necessary countermeasure. By disrupting the VOA signals, the Soviets aimed to limit the influence of American propaganda, thereby protecting their own narrative and consolidating control over public opinion in an era marked by intense political and cultural rivalry.

Because of constant Russian inspired turmoil in Berlin, plus no agreement
toward reunification, England and the United States meet in London and agree to consolidate their Berlin Sectors and call it West Berlin. They also agree to consolidate their Zones and establish a West German government with Bonn as the capital. France was initially reluctant to participate due to political changes in Paris, however, eventually France agrees in June of that year.

West Berlin and West Germany governments were to be established by Germans for Germans without allied military participation. Also, a new currency is issued to stimulate the economy. While this conference is going on the Communists take over the Czechoslovakia.

Soviet leaders in Germany are called back to Moscow for a meeting. At this meeting Soviet leader Joseph Stalin reportedly said, “Let’s see if we can force them out.” They returned on the 12th of March with instructions to regulate military access to and from Berlin.

Highway traffic on the Autobahn is interrupted, trains are stopped for searches and canal traffic is also harassed. These restrictions also increased on the one railroad line in to Berlin, the one road in, and all canals. The restrictions continued right up to the full blockade on June 26. The purpose of this effort was to eject the Western Allies from Berlin.

Jan Masaryk, born in 1886, was the son of Tomáš G. Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia. Following World War I, he became foreign minister in the newly established Czech government, later serving as ambassador to Great Britain. During World War II, he resumed his role as foreign minister, this time for the Czechoslovak government-in-exile based in London. After the war, Masaryk returned home to serve under President Eduard Beneš as foreign minister during a period of growing tension. With Soviet troops occupying Czechoslovakia and fears mounting that the USSR would enforce communist control—as it had in Poland and East Germany—Masaryk worked diplomatically to reassure the Soviets that a democratic Czechoslovakia did not threaten their security.

However, in 1947, Masaryk made a fateful move by expressing interest in joining the U.S.-backed Marshall Plan, aimed at rebuilding postwar Europe. The Soviets rejected the idea outright. Just months later, in February 1948, a communist coup forced President Beneš to accept a government dominated by communists. Masaryk remained one of the few non-communists in office. On March 10, 1948, the government announced that Masaryk had taken his own life by jumping from a third-story window of the Foreign Ministry.

The news was met with suspicion in the West. U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall described Czechoslovakia as being under a “reign of terror,” and saw Masaryk’s alleged suicide as a stark signal of communist oppression. While many have suspected that Masaryk was murdered by the new regime, no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced, and his death remains one of the Cold War’s enduring mysteries.

On March 20, 1948, the Soviet military governor, Marshal Vasily Sokolovsky (pictured 2nd from right), walked out of the Allied Control Council in Berlin. This action was a protest against the Western Allied powers’ plans for Germany, specifically their prospective moves towards creating a West German state. Sokolovsky accused the Western powers of undermining the quadripartite control established by the Potsdam Agreement. Their actions, such as holding a London Conference on Germany without Soviet involvement and introducing a new currency in the Western zones without Soviet consultation, were seen as violating the agreed-upon framework for post-war Germany. The walkout effectively immobilized the Allied Control Council, as all decisions required unanimous agreement. This breakdown in cooperation directly led to increased tensions and ultimately paved the way for the establishment of separate East and West German states. The subsequent Berlin Blockade, launched by the Soviets, was a direct consequence of this growing conflict and the Western Allies’ actions regarding a West German state.

NOTE: General Sokoloski  phoned General Clay the next day and told him the walkout was nothing personal.

THE ALLIED CONTROL COUNCIL

The Allied Control Council was a governing body formed after World War II to administer Germany, which was split into four occupation zones controlled by the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France. Based in Berlin, it was responsible for decisions concerning Germany’s reconstruction, war crimes, and the shift from military to civilian rule. While it influenced the political future of post-war Germany and the eventual division into East and West Germany, the Council’s structure, which required unanimous agreement among the four powers, often resulted in stagnation and hindered its effectiveness, particularly as Cold War tensions rose.

Russians ask the British and Americans to evacuate their two emergency aid stations on the Berlin to Helmstedt autobahn by the end of April.

First, the Soviets demanded the closure of the American transport first-aid station on the Berlin-Helmstedt highway. Then they ordered the withdrawal of the U.S. Army Signal Corps teams responsible for maintaining the long-distance cables running through the Soviet Zone to the U.S. Zone. These were the initial steps in what French President Vincent Auriol termed a “small war of pinpricks.”

In 1948, Soviet General Mikhail Ivanovich Dratvin was the Deputy Chief of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany, playing a key role in implementing new restrictions during the early stages of the Berlin Blockade. He notably sent a letter on March 30, 1948, to the American, British, and French military governments, outlining new, stricter regulations for travel and freight between the zones, which went into effect on April 1, 1948. These measures were a significant part of the Soviet Union’s actions against the Western Allies in the tense post-war period.

Under the new order, no cargo could leave Berlin by rail without the Soviet commander’s permission, and each train and truck was to be searched by Soviet authorities. In response, on April 2, Gen. Lucius Clay, the U.S. commander in Germany, halted all military trains to Berlin, requiring that supplies to the military garrison there would henceforth be transported by air.

This was reported by an unknown source in an article:

“A visit to the new Russian control post a few miles outside the perimeter of Berlin was rewarding. It is situated opposite the village of Nowawes on the autobahn and it is a scene of intense activity. My car was stopped by a group of five Russian officers, with a colonel in charge. On the road there are double barriers, and arc-lamps are being installed ten feet above. Two sentry boxes have been built so far and German workmen were busy on fresh constructions. In five minutes I counted eight Russian officers and about thirty Russian soldiers at and around the control post. English-speaking Russian officer there is examining all vehicles. He stated that Allied civilians and military could continue on their way if they carried Russian translations of their official documents. Allied cars might carry “personal luggage,” but the carriage of all freight must be authorised by the British authorities and countersigned by the Russian commandant in Berlin. A Russian colonel maintained that no new regulations were being put into force but that the agreement for the control of the international highway dated from the end of 1945.”

Russians set up a new checkpoint near Berlin and detain Allied freight consignments. Nine British licensed canal barges are held at Bockhorst, Germany.  

Soviets assert a right to board any and all trains heading for Berlin to inspect freight and check identity papers and also close all roads to Berlin. General Clay of the United States and British General Sir Brian H. Robertson sent 5 trains toward Berlin to test the Soviet resolve. Four of the trains were stopped and subsequently sent back to their zone by Soviet engines. One American trainmaster allows the search of his train and proceeds to Berlin. General Clay orders all trains stopped.

From April onwards Western licensed barge skippers on the German-wide network are detained, “because their papers are not in order.” All barge traffic is brought to a standstill.

Headquarters USAFE creates Berlin Airlift Task Force. General Joseph Smith at Wiesbaden is assigned commander and names it “Operation Vittles”. British Operation “Knicker” begins with a C-47 “Dakota” arriving at Gatow from Wunsdorf  at 0600 Hrs. In the next 24 hours 13 Dakotas fly 44 short tons of food to Berlin.

Two squadrons of (RAF) Sunderland flying boats begin operating from RAF Finkenwerder on the Elbe River. These corrosion resistant aircraft resist their cargo of salt.