TODAY IN HISTORY…

Breaking the Berlin Blockade

On June 26, 1948 planes began flying over Soviet-controlled East Germany and dropping supplies into the city of West Berlin in what became known as the Berlin Airlift.

After the partition of Germany and its capital city after World War II, the allied controlled portion of Berlin was completely enveloped within Soviet controlled (and communist) East Germany.  The Soviets had blocked all access into the city by land and rail two days before in an effort to choke the Allied forces out, becoming one of the first conflicts in what would become the Cold War.  The blockade was lifted on May 12, 1949, but British and American planes continued to fly supplies into West Berlin until September 30 of that year.

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