Unsung Heroes of the Berlin Airlift - Loading and Off-Loading Teams
One aspect of the Airlift was almost entirely in German hands: the on- and off-loading of cargoes. While Allied military personnel supervised loading the trailers and the aircraft and both provided and drove the motor transport, the actual work of loading cargoes was done by civilian work gangs. The bulk of those employed to do loading in the Western Zones were Germans (predominantly released POWs) and Displaced Persons (DPs). In Berlin, the workers were almost exclusively German. Preferred were former soldiers of the Wehrmacht, who had served in technical trades of one kind or another. These men tended to be better educated but still possessed a high-degree of military discipline, making them particularly easy to control. However, the recruiting was not done directly by the Allies, but rather by the Berlin Employment Office (Arbeitsamt) that sent able-bodied, unemployed men to report to the various airfields. A total of 20,000 Berliners, predominantly workers laid off...