Daring Young Men by Richard Reeves

This book tells the story of the Berlin Air Lift. I have heard of the Airlift but I did not have as much knowledge about this time as I should. The book tells the story of the Airlift but also the stories of many of the people involved, not just the generals and such, but also the soldiers and those flying the planes.

One of the things that struck me was getting a full picture of the geography of Germany as it relates to Berlin and the Berlin crisis. When at the end of World War II General Eisenhowser let Russia race to the city while America did not he unwittingly set up many of the issues that came about. By having Russian troops meet American troops many miles West of Berlin, Berlin remained comfortably in the Russian zone of control. This did not last, in final negotiations Berlin was divided into four quadrants of control, French, British, American and Russian. To get supplies into the Western areas of control the allies had to truck in supplies on the highway across the Russian controlled zone west of Berlin. For while Berlin was divided, the areas to the West of Berlin that were controlled by Russia remained so leaving the Westerners in Berlin isolated.

The situation was not good and got worse in 1948 when Stalin frustrated by constant refugees from East Germany to the Western sectors placed a blockade. The rail lines and roads leading into Berlin from the West were cut off. The only air travel in from the West to the West Berlin airports had to travel along a very thin corridor. This left the Germans in West Berlin to freeze and the soldiers from France, England and the United States not much better.

President Truman's insistence that America would stay and the subsequent airlift designed to last a week or two that extended to a over a year was truly one of the great logistical feats of modern times. The men and women who made it happen were heroes that most will never know.

Reeves is not an author that I love. The information was good, the presentation could have been much better. It is a book worth watching. Heroes are everywhere today but their are so few real heroes. Many of the men you read about here are real heroes. They deserve for us to know them.