The Defection that Saved the Berlin Airlift

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 Although surprised by the willingness and ability of the West to supply Berlin by air during the long warm days of summer, the assumption in Moscow and the Soviet Military Administration in Germany was that winter would defeat the Airlift. Based on historical precedent such as the Napoleonic and Nazi invasions of Russia, the Russians had developed an unshakeable faith in the partisanship of "General Winter." 

They had miscalculated.

After the disastrous month of November, when fog had frequently closed down the Airlift resulting in a decline in deliveries and increasing shortfalls, the Russians expected the remainder of the winter to bring snow and ice that would ground aircraft while the freezing Berliners flooded to the East to register for coal rations. Instead, the winter of 1948-1949 proved astonishingly mild. There were fewer deaths from cold in Berlin despite the Blockade than there had been in the first post-war winter. In short, from the Soviet perspective, General Winter became an early, prominent defector in the winter of 1948-1949.

However, critical as this defection was, it does not alone explain the success of the Airlift. As the days got darker and colder and the reserves were run down, there was a very real chance – objectively speaking – that the morale of the city would break. Just as dangerous: the resolve of the Western Allies could have evaporated. In Washington and particularly in London bureaucrats and politicians alike would have been perfectly justified in re-assessing the situation, calculating the still escalating costs of the operation and the chances of success -- and concluding that a “policy change” was appropriate.

Such decisions have been made before in far less difficult situations. Examples from history are legion. Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo was militarily less devastating or costly than his defeat at Leipzig two years earlier, but after Waterloo the French political class was no longer willing to follow the Dictator/Emperor. The German Luftwaffe’s offensive against Fighter Command’s airfields in late summer 1940 was systematically beating down the RAF’s ability to defend Great Britain, but the political preference for “punishing” England by bombing London turned an immanent victory into a significant defeat. More recently, the United States soundly defeated the North Vietnamese during the “Tet” offensive of 1968 – but the Will of the American public to continue the war in Vietnam was broken and a military victory lead to a political defeat.

A different constellation of public perceptions and political responses could have produced completely different results for the Blockade of Berlin in 1949. The stumbling of the Airlift in November and December 1948 might have become the catalyst for cancelling the entire operation if the Will to continue had not been manifest on the part of both the Allies and the Berliners. 

It was less objective facts than subjective perceptions what saved the Airlift. Key to that psychological shift was a  fundamental change of attitude on the part of both Occupiers and Occupied. The change was so profound, in fact, that it has become a cliché to say that the Berlin Airlift turned Enemies into Allies. 

This assessment of the situation may have found its earliest expression in testimony by General Clay before a joint session of Congress on May 27, 1949, only days after the lifting of the Blockade. While the Airlift itself was still in progress, the senior American military commander reported to the highest representatives of the American people:

I saw in Berlin the spirit and soul of a people reborn. Two and a half million Germans had a second opportunity to choose freedom. They had forgone their first opportunity, they did not forgo their second opportunity.[i]

In Berlin the transformation was more subtle and gradual but with time the term for describing the Western Allies changed from “Occupiers” to “Protective Powers.” British commentators stressed that: “The… defeated enemy rapidly became our allies in the operation against the Soviet blockaders.”[ii] 

[i] Congressional Record, May 27, 1949

[ii] Wing Commander E.F. Kirby, letter to the author, Dec. 14, 2005.

NOTE: The content of this blog post is based on Helena P. Schrader. The Blockade Breakers. Pen & Sword, 2008.

The Berlin Airlift is the subject of Bridge to Tomorrow, a trilogy of novels starting with Cold Peace and followed by Cold War and Cold Victory.


Standing up to dictators isn’t easy — but sometimes it’s necessary.

Berlin 1948. The economy is broken, the currency worthless, and the Russian bear is hungry. Next on the menu is Berlin. Here war heroes and war’s victims are struggling to come to terms with a world where unemployment is widespread and the wartime Allies are at each other’s throats. When a Russian fighter brings down a British passenger plane, and the world teeters on the brink of World War Three. The defenders of freedom must work together to save Berlin from Soviet tyranny. The first battle of the Cold War is about to begin.

Based on historical events, award-winning novelist Helena P. Schrader brings to life the backstory of the West's bloodless victory against Russian aggression via the Berlin Airlift in Cold Peace, the first book in the Bridge to Tomorrow Series.

Cold Peace is the winner of WINNER of an Independent Press Award 2025 in the category: Political Thriller, Runner-Up for BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 from the Historical Fiction Company,  GOLD (1st Place) in the category Historical Fiction from the Feathered Quill Book Awards 2024, GOLD (1st Place) in the category Wartime Fiction from the Historical Fiction Company Book Awards 2023, SILVER (2nd Place) in the category Political Thriller from Readers' Favorites Book Awards 2023, a MAINCREST MEDIA Award and a BRAG Medallion. 

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Stopping Russian Aggression with milk, coal and candy bars….

Berlin is under siege. More than two million civilians must be supplied by air or surrender to Stalin’s oppression.

USAF Captain J.B. Baronowsky and RAF Flight Lieutenant Kit Moran once risked their lives to drop high explosives on Berlin. They are about to deliver milk, flour and children’s shoes instead. Meanwhile, two women pilots are flying an air ambulance that carries malnourished and abandoned children to freedom in the West. Until General Winter deploys on the side of Russia….

Based on historical events, award-winning novelist Helena P. Schrader delivers an insightful, exciting and moving tale about how former enemies became friends in the face of Russian aggression — and how close the Berlin Airlift came to failing. 

WINNER OF BRONZE for 20th Century Historical Fiction from the Global Book Awards 2024 

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You know you’re winning when the enemy turns to dirty tricks ….

With the Airlift gaining momentum, the Russians turn to more devious tactics to thwart the forces of democracy. Key players — or their loved ones — are targeted in unscrupulous attacks. Simultaneously, the policy of “collective guilt” has been replaced by “collective amnesty,” enabling former Nazis to worm their way back into positions of power. Yet throughout this dangerous dance with the henchmen of dictators, women are steadily rebuilding Berlin and Germany.

Award-winning novelist Helena P. Schrader takes the reader away from the limelight and into the shadow side of the Berlin Airlift to explore the social, psychological and long-term impact of this seminal event.

Based on historical events, Cold Victory reminds readers that standing up to tyrants isn’t easy — but sometimes it is necessary.

Buy Now!

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