City Under Siege

the long version

"Focusing on the experiences of airmen, politicians, and ordinary citizens, Michael D. Haydock tells the human story of an aviation and logistical accomplishment that has had lasting geopolitical significance.". "At the close of World War II, the Soviet Union controlled all of eastern Germany except the Allied sectors of Berlin. In June 1948, Soviet authorities halted the West's land access to the city, apparently dooming the inhabitants of its Western sectors to starvation. Allied planes - mostly American but some British - immediately began a massive supply airlift that lasted fifteen months. Flying 276,926 dangerous missions, often in bad weather, and bringing in 2.3 million tons of food and coal, the Berlin Airlift cost the lives of 75 U.S. and British airmen but saved the besieged enclave." "Haydock's sources include recently declassified documents and previously unpublished diaries of participants. In City Under Siege, he has united the political, military, and personal aspects of the story."--BOOK JACKET.