West Berlin Train Crew Prepare to Travel, Berlin, 1949

Photograph showing the crew of a West Berlin locomotive hoisting the banner Greetings to Western Germany onto the front of their train at the end of the Berlin Blockade, May 1949. This train was about to make its first journey out of West Berlin to Western Germany, via East Germany, for a year. Between April 1948 and May 1949 Josef Stalin, leader of the USSR, imposed a land blockade on supplies from Western Europe to West Berlin. In response the British and American governments organised an enormous airlift to supply food and other essentials to the 2.5 million inhabitants of West Berlin. After a year Stalin conceded defeat and lifted the land blockade

Airlift Blockade Conceded Enormous Essentials Governments Hoisting Imposed Inhabitants Lifted Organised Prepare Response

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