To Save A City

Following World War II, the Soviet Union drew an "Iron Curtain" across Europe, crowning its efforts with a blockade of West Berlin in a desperate effort to prevent the creation of an independent, democratic West Germany. The United States and Great Britain, aided by France, responded with a daring air logistical operation that delivered almost three million tons of necessities to the people of Berlin.  Drawing on rare U.S. documents from both sides of the curtain and the memories of airlift veterans themselves, Roger G. Miller provides an original study of the Berlin Airlift. What began as a hastily organized operation by a small number of war-weary cargo airplanes evolved into an intricate bridge of aircraft that flowed in and out of Berlin through narrow air corridors. Day after day, week after week, a stream of airplanes delivered everything from food and medicine to coal and candy in defiance of breakdowns, inclement weather, and Soviet hostility.