On June 26, 1948, American and British pilots began airdropping food and supplies to Berlin. This is necessary because the city is caught in a blockade by the Soviet Union. It was ordered personally by Stalin and he wanted to show the power of the USSR and crush its until recently allies - Americans, British, French, but also the Germans from the western part of the country.
When World War II ended in 1945, defeated Germany was divided into Soviet, American, British, and French occupation zones. The city of Berlin, although located in the Soviet occupation zone, was also divided into four sectors, with the Allies taking the western part of the city and the Soviets the eastern. In June 1948, Joseph Stalin's government attempted to consolidate control of the city by cutting off all land and sea routes to West Berlin to pressure the Allies to evacuate. As a result, as of June 24, West Berlin and its 2 million people were deprived of food, heating fuel and other essential supplies.
Although some in the administration of US President Harry S. Truman called for a direct military response to this aggressive Soviet move, Truman worried that such a response would trigger another world war. Instead, he authorized a large-scale air operation under the control of General Lucius D. Clay, the American-appointed military governor of Germany. The first planes took off from England and West Germany on June 26, loaded with food, clothing, water, medicine and fuel.
At the beginning of the operation, the planes delivered about 5,000 tons of supplies to West Berlin each day, and later this was increased to about 8,000 tons of supplies per day. The Allies transported about 2.3 million tons of cargo during the existence of the airlift.
The Soviets lifted the blockade in May 1949 after earning the scorn of the international community for subjecting innocent men, women and children to deprivation and starvation. Air transport - called die Luftbrucke or “the air bridge” in German - continued until September 1949 at a total cost of over $224 million. East Berlin was thus absorbed into Soviet East Germany, while West Berlin remained a separate territory with its own government and close ties to West Germany.