The Berlin Airlift by Barry Turner

The Berlin Airlift by Barry Turner

Acclaimed historian Barry Turner presents a new history of the Cold War's defining episode. Berlin, 1948 - a divided city in a divided country in a divided Europe. The ruined German capital lay 120 miles inside Soviet-controlled eastern Germany. Stalin wanted the Allies out; the Allies were determined to stay, but had only three narrow air corridors linking the city to the West. Stalin was confident he could crush Berlin's resolve by cutting off food and fuel. In the USA, despite some voices still urging 'America first', it was believed that a rebuilt Germany was the best insurance against the spread of communism across Europe. And so over eleven months from June 1948 to May 1949, British and American aircraft carried out the most ambitious airborne relief operation ever mounted, flying over 2 million tons of supplies on almost 300,000 flights to save a beleaguered Berlin. With new material from American, British and German archives and original interviews with veterans, Turner paints a fresh, vivid picture the airlift, whose repercussions - the role of the USA as global leader, German ascendancy, Russian threat - we are still living with today.

In this fine piece of popular history, Barry Turner provides an engaging and vivid account of this first major episode of the Cold War* BBC History *
Crisply written, suitably dramatic and ultimately heartening book. * Daily Mail *
This new history of "Operation Vittles" based on hitherto unexplored archives and interviews with veterans paints a fresh, vivid picture of the Berlin airlift, whose repercussions - the role of the USA as a global leader, German ascendancy, Russian threat - are still being felt today. * The Bookseller *
Barry Turner offers a compelling view of the airlift, explains the context and explores its legacy. * CHOICE *

Barry Turner is a celebrated historian, the author most recently of Karl Doenitz and the Last Days of the Third Reich (Icon, 2015), described as 'page-turning' by the Daily Mail, and of Suez 1956 (Hodder, 2006) and, with Tony Rennell, of When Daddy Came Home (Arrow, 2014). He lives in London and south-west France.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781785782404
ISBN 10	1785782401
Title	The Berlin Airlift
Author	Barry Turner
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Icon Books
Year published	2017-10-05
Number of pages	320
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable