The Berlin Airlift

A Divided City
World War II nearly wiped out Berlin. About a third of the city was destroyed, and some 152,000 civilians lost their lives. The damage and deaths resulted mostly from Allied bombing raids throughout the war, and from an extended land battle for Berlin. At the conclusion of the war, the victorious allies took over Berlin in 1945 and divided the city into four sectors. Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States each occupied one sector. They also divided Germany into four zones. As stated in the World Book Millennium, "Although Berlin lay within the Soviet zone of occupation; the Western powers expected the Soviet Union to permit them free access to the city. However, in June 1948, the Soviet Union blocked all rail, water, and highway routes through the Soviet zone to the Western sectors of Berlin". The Soviets hoped the blockade would drive Western troops out of Berlin.
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