Geograph - photograph every grid square

The Berlin Airlift Memorial outside the visitors' Centre at the National Memorial Arboretum.

The Berlin blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under allied control. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to start supplying Berlin with food, fuel, and aid, thereby giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city.

In response, the Western Allies organised the Berlin airlift to carry supplies to the people in West Berlin. Aircrews from the United States Air Force, the British Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the South African Air Force flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing up to 4700 tons of necessities daily, such as fuel and food, to the Berliners. The success of the Berlin Airlift resulted in the blockade being lifted in May 1949 leading to the creation of two separate German states, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and Berlin was split into East and West Berlin.

Link Berlin Airlift (The History Channel)
Link The Berlin Crisis (BBC GCSE Bitesize)