HISTORY This Week The Berlin Airlift and the Birth of the New World Order (Part 2)
May 11, 2026
Giles Milton, historian and author of Checkmate in Berlin, brings vivid first-hand narrative detail to the Berlin Airlift. He recounts Howley’s defiant command, the desperate daily shortages, and the massive logistics that made nonstop supply flights possible. The story covers Soviet harassment, record-breaking lift efforts, the jubilant May 12 celebrations, and how the crisis helped shape NATO and the postwar order.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Howlin Mad's Dramatic Arrival In Berlin
- Frank Howley arrived in postwar Berlin in a captured Nazi Horch roadster and immediately clashed with Soviet checkpoints over access to the city.
- Giles Milton recounts Howley's bouffant hair, Wild West style, and refusal to accept Soviet denials as he asserted American command in his sector.
Berlin's Geography Made It A Fortress And A Trap
- Berlin's geography made it uniquely vulnerable: a Western enclave deep inside Soviet-controlled East Germany that could be sealed off like a medieval castle.
- That isolation forced commanders like Frank Howley to treat the Soviets as hostile and prepared Berlin for siege scenarios.
Operation Bird Dog Stabilized West Berlin's Currency
- The Western allies secretly printed and airlifted 250 million new Deutschmark bills into Berlin in Operation Bird Dog to stabilize the economy.
- The surprise currency swap on June 24, 1948 split the city economically and provoked the Soviet break with Western sectors.
