Introduction: The Berlin Crisis.
1
When World War II ended the former Nazi Germany was split into four zone. The Allies consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France held the western side of Germany divided into their own sectors. The Soviets held eastern Germany. The capital Berlin was also similarly divided into sectors with the US, UK, and France holding the western portion of the city and the Soviets holding the eastern side.This division led to controversy of the Allies access to Berlin since they would have to go through the Soviet sector to reach the city. On June 24, 1948 the Soviets decided to blockade Allied access to the city of Berlin. This decision came after the Western Allies decided to create a new currency to replace the former "Reichsmarks" currency from Nazi Germany.
The blockade of Berlin lead to the Western Allies starting an airlift to feed the city. The Berlin Airlift featuring over 25,000 flights to West Berlin, carried necessities such as food and fuel to West Berliners from June 26, 1948 to September 29, 1948. At first, it had been the intent of the Soviet Union not to disturb the airlift due to the fear of a potential war. Unfortunately on September 29 that intent abruptly ended causing the day long crisis, now called many "The Berlin Clash."
In the late hours of morning on September 29, 1948, a C-47 transport plane was accidentally shot down by a Soviet garrison stationed in Berlin. The exact reason for why the garrison shot down the plane is unknown as the Russian government refused to give any details. The main predictions as to why the plane was shot down are that the garrison was either manning equipment while drunk or tired from lack of sleep on over watch. Some people believed it was due to Soviet hatred of the West but this theory has been shunned and debunked.
The shot down C-47 crashed just while getting ready to land at the Tempelhof Airport, killing around forty people including the pilots. A group of children who were reported to be heading to the airport to witness the plane landings were thankfully not there.
The US and British troops stationed in Berlin at the time (8:00) observed the crash and reportedly the American commander believed this signaled the beginning of hostilities between the East and West while the British commander (reluctantly) agreed. Several groups of M24 Chaffee tanks were ordered to attack Soviet positions in the city. Within twenty minutes fighting commenced between the two sides.
One Soviet soldier was quoted as to have said "We were on our daily patrol of the city when we were ambushed. The sounds of tanks firing and the site of those tank shells rained down on us without warning. The site of seeing so many burnt corpses and wounded men screaming after an attack was horrifying. We were lucky our commander was there to lead us."
One of the Soviet patrol groups attacked fired back with their six remaining T-34s. They managed to destroy three US tanks and four British ones during the battle. This was considered the bloodiest part of the clash.
Outside of tank warfare there was relatively little direct soldier to soldier fights. However one incident in particular in the middle of the city was a shootout between US/British and Soviet soldiers. A group of about twenty seven US and British soldiers separated from their main brigade after the Soviet retaliation came across thirty Soviet troops that had assistance of two tanks.
The firefight lasted about an hour between 8:40 to 9:30 am. The Soviet troops were on the offensive and fighting building to building. Even thought they had the assistance of tanks, the fight was relatively equal. A joint grenade attack on the two T-34s by the Allied troops destroyed one of them and severely damaged the other.
About halfway throughout the battle both sides started running low on ammunition. Soldiers started to pick up the weapons and ammunitions from killed enemies. Eventually the lack of supplies ended the shootout. The US and Brits lost about seventeen troops (mostly due to tank fire) and the Soviets lost around fifteen.
2
On the diplomatic side of things, it didn't take long for the word to come to the West and Eastern governments about the incident in Berlin. President Harry Truman was sleeping when he first received word about the firefight that had broken out. Reportedly, Truman's first words to the situation were "Oh shit! What the hell were they thinking?" It is unknown who exactly Truman was referring to by "they."In Moscow, Stalin was also sleeping and his advisors were reluctant to wake him. They eventually decided to wake Stalin who was irritable about being awaken from his sleep. Reportedly, when Stalin was awakened before he could say anything an advisor said "Leader we know you don't like being wakened from your sleep but there is an urgent crisis at hand that needs your attention!"
Within the Oval Office, President Truman had summoned his Secretary of State George C. Marshall and Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson. He was briefed on everything they knew coming out of Berlin. He was told that the Soviets had shot down a US transport plane and (falsely) attacked US and British troops in West Berlin. He immediately asked for contact to the Soviet leader and for all troops on alert.
Truman also had his press secretary and PR to ask the media not to report on the crisis until the Truman administration gave the all clear to do so. There was some resistance, especially from the Dewey supporting media, but they reluctantly agreed not to report the situation in order to prevent a panic at home. The European press took a similar stance asked of by their governments. There were also steps taken to prevent the GOP controlled Congress from hearing about the situation as well.
Stalin was in the Kremlin surrounded by his foreign minister and military advisors. The Soviet leader was told that Allied forces had attacked Soviet troops (military leaders were not aware of the shot down plane at the time). He was outraged by this report and had told the military to have all troops across Eastern Europe to be put on alert and ready for war.
When the Truman administration finally managed to get in contact with Moscow through teletype, Stalin ignored Truman's attempt to speak with him the first time. After desperately being asked by the foreign minster to respond Stalin decided to answer Truman. These are translated faxes from both leaders.
President Truman:
I have received word from my advisors that your forces attacked Soviet troops in Berlin. This is an outrage! We demand an answer as is to why your troops attacked ours. We have done nothing to provoke the US and Western Allies!
When Truman received the fax, he was reported to be disgusted that the Soviet leader was directly "lying" to him . He sent the following message:
Premier Stalin:
Our forces have not attacked Soviet troops. The Soviet Union shot down one of our planes that was carrying supplies to West Berlin. Following that, your soldiers attacked our troops within West Berlin. We have made no provocation to the Soviet Union.
When Stalin received that message, he immediately went to his military advisors for an explanation to the American claim that the Soviet Union had shot down one of their transport planes. His advisors (who were also unaware of that) immediately said that the American leader was lying through his teeth. Stalin yelled at them to confirm if they shot down a US plane or they would be shot. The military advisors, terrified that they might be killed, radioed their forces in Berlin.
3
In Berlin, the battle had mostly quiet down. It was around 3:30 pm. Both sides were trying to resupply and had gone back to their respective side of the city. When the Soviet commander had received contact from Moscow, he was immediately asked what the situation was and how it started. The Soviet commander was vaguely aware that some of his troops had fired a anti aircraft gun while he wasn't keeping an eye on them and saw a plane crashing down while elsewhere.The commander put the pieces together and told Moscow that it appeared that some of his men while being unwatched fired a missile at an American plane coming in to land at the airport. He didn't directly know why his men shot it down but fearing imprisonment for incompetence, he said that they were tired from being on over watch. But he also noted that it was the Western forces who attacked first.
When the Kremlin got this answer, Stalin immediately faxed Truman this:
President Truman:
My men have contacted our forces in Berlin. The commander of our forces there reported that some of his troops accidentally fired at your transport plane. That was a mistake on our part, but he did also confirm that it was your forces that attacked our troops. It appears that miscommunication on both sides led to this terrible incident in Berlin. Let us negotiate to put an end to this crisis for good.
President Truman's advisors were skeptical of the message. The Secretary of Defense was especially
worried about the report that American troops attacked first. Truman was also skeptical but decided to take Stalin's message by it's word for several reasons. A) It was an election year. B) The US military budget was extremely low so the US couldn't risk getting into another war. And C) The Republicans in Congress wouldn't provide the funding and a war could help in their favor.
President Truman told the Secretary of Defense Johnson to get US and Allied forces in Berlin and Germany to stand down.
Harry sent this message to the Soviet leader:
Premier Stalin:
I will accept the message you sent me as fact. I am ordering my military and allies to stand down. In return for this, I ask the Soviet Union to 1) Stand down your forces as well. 2) Lift the blockade of Berlin in order to prevent this situation from happening again.
The Kremlin agreed to these terms.
4
The aftermath to The Berlin Clash was a mess but still better than most conflicts. Around 80 US troops had died and another 30 injured. About 56 UK soldiers were lost with another 23 wounded. All US troops that were wounded or killed received purple hearts. The troops wounded were mostly okay with a few lifelong injuries but they had to be sent back home.For the Soviet side, around 86 soldiers were lost. Another 55 injured. This is attributed to the Soviet Union's larger manpower base at the time.
Proper punishment and disciplinary measures were given to the Soviet troops that fired at the C-47 plane and the American commander of US forces in Berlin. They are presumed to have been either imprisoned or killed (especially for the Soviet troops).
Both sides were domestically and politically reeling in from the first actual battle between the two countries since the US expenditure forces sent to Siberia in WWI. When the story broke to the American public and to a larger extent the Western European public, they were shocked, surprised, terrified, and intrigued by the Berlin Clash. American soldiers who fought in the battle, when they got home were asked what it was like to fight the commies and in some cases were even celebrated.
Politically, opposition parties used the crisis against the current parties in power. Despite that, the opposition mostly lost due to the Berlin Clash being seen as victory against communism even though there was no real winner of the battle. Truman ironically, got more popular approval and won the 1948 presidential election with 345 of the electoral votes.
Even though as hypocritical as it was (and later came back to bite him), Truman stated in his inauguration speech, " We will never back down to communism. We will not seek negotiation. We will only seek victory!"
Notes.
1] Since there was no direct communication between the US and USSR, it took a long time for messages to reach the two leaders. What you see in this chapter is watered down. This also explains that even though the crisis started in the morning it ended in the afternoon. Also time zones.
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