Armageddon (62 page)

Igor went into great detail showing that the Hump deposited as much as sixty-five thousand tons of material a month in China which called for brilliant operational and logistical support, skillful and courageous flying.

“However,” he concluded, “this operation does not parallel the problems of supplying a city the size of Western Berlin and its two million civilians.”

The main cargo, Igor rationalized, would have to be coal and no one knows how to fly coal. In the Hump they had nine fields to land on and innumerable choices of routes. Flying the corridor would call for a precision never achieved in aviation history and there was only Tempelhof in Berlin to land on.

A member of the Moscow group spoke. “Comrade Colonel. Is it your opinion it cannot be done?”

“On a purely mathematical basis one would have to say the Americans and British have sufficient equipment, crews, economic reserve, and skills. In theory, mathematical theory, it is possible.”

“Then, Comrade Colonel, it is your opinion they can succeed?”

“Only in theory. There are too many imponderables. I can present you with the mathematical figures and then those things which detract from the figures.”

“Such as?”

“A calculation must be made of American public reaction and determination to go through with such an operation.”

“Determinations of this sort will be made by our political experts,” V. V. Azov said testily, trying to return Igor to the statistical end of the business.

Igor would not be stampeded by the commissar. “You must calculate if the Americans are willing to commit their global air transport power, MATS, into a single operation.”

Marshal Popov, from earlier meetings, knew this was a key question. Would the Americans dare make themselves vulnerable elsewhere?

“The entire strength of the United States,” Igor continued, “must be put behind this effort. As for the British, they may be able to deliver a quarter of the tonnage. They are short of crews, craft, and in a weak economic position. France? They will give speeches about French national honor, but can make no contribution.”

Trepovitch laughed. He had received his fill of lectures on the glory of France from Colonel Jacques Belfort.

Igor got down to bare facts. The minimum requirements for food, coal for industry, and power sustaining the barest level of existence would make this an undertaking unknown in history. It was not merely a question of the number of craft committed, but the number of engines in reserve, the number of trucks on the ground, and the number of crews. He estimated the supply of aviation fuel alone would demand a fleet of oil tankers.

In theory a craft carrying ten tons must land, unload at Tempelhof, and be on the way back to the Western Zones every eleven minutes, twenty-four hours a day, day and night.

“In the winter months the weather should defeat this operation. Beginning with autumn fogs, the weather can be below flying minimums sixty to eighty per cent of the time.”

This calculation warmed their hearts. Igor threw the statistical bomb at them. “If we were to chart the cities in America with the worst weather record, Pittsburgh would be at the top of the list. If we were to list Pittsburgh with all airports in Germany, Pittsburgh would be the best. In other words the best German weather is worse than the worst American weather in the winter months. You can depend on Berlin to be shut down fifty per cent of the time.”

From his own studies at Air Safety with the Americans, Igor knew their rigid standards. In bad weather the stacks of planes would pile up over Berlin, unable to land. It would have to result in chaos.

“And I must say, comrades, no matter how good the attempt or how lucky, it can only succeed with the support of Berliners. It is impossible for me to believe that the people would not look to the Soviet Union for protection. And lastly, the cost would be staggering, even for the Americans. It would run millions every day.”

The meeting went on for hours. Every eventuality was discussed.

That night the Moscow group and Captain Brusilov departed with the opinion:
It is impossible for the West to supply Berlin by air.

On March 20, 1948, Marshal Popov staged a final walkout of the Supreme German Council.

Chapter Thirty-five

A
ROLL CALL OF THE DEAD
by Nelson Goodfellow Bradbury. For three years, since the end of World War II, reports have flowed in from American Embassies, military attachés, Counter-Intelligence, and journalists on what is happening in Eastern Europe. Americans did not seem to care. Now that the Truman Doctrine has been declared and a Soviet walkout has ended the function of the Supreme German Council it is well to review the past so that we understand the future.

Here is the roll call of the dead:

In the beginning Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were gobbled up and annexed into the Soviet Union as “People’s Republics.”

Poland fell through a textbook take-over by the Moscow-trained Lublin Committee. Except for a faint gasp by the Church and some traditional alliances with the West, Poland has become another odious “People’s Republic.”

Albania:
The most brutally administrated and backward country in the Western world was in Communist hands at the war’s end. Hoxha is an absolute dictator ruling this domain which has little political or economic value. Yet, it is geographically located for guerrilla action against Greece and as a base for a possible move against Italy. There has been the pretense of an election; the usual single slate of candidates. The constitution is modeled on that of the Soviet Union.

Bulgaria:
At the war’s end there were almost no Communists, but they quickly infiltrated under the protection of the occupying Red Army and forced the other political parties to form a “Fatherland Front” which they could dominate through naked terror. The “Fatherland Front” won the election, to be sure. In 1946 bloody purges wiped out an estimated 20,000 major and minor figures of the prewar government. After the purges, a “People’s Republic” was declared. New general elections supervised by the Red Army announced a majority to the Communists. Who knows? Georgi Dimitrov, exiled before the war to Moscow, was dusted off and returned to be named Premier.

Petkov, leader of the harassed opposition Agrarian Party was arrested and put to death, his party outlawed. Opposition to the Communists is thoroughly crushed.

Hungary:
The first free election in late 1945 was swept by the anti-Communist Smallholder’s Party under the leadership of Zoltan Tildy.

Using the Red Army to support them, the Communists then forced the Smallholder’s Party to form a “unity” front. Bela Kovaks, Smallholder’s Secretary, was arrested for “crimes against the occupation” and a purge of the Smallholder’s followed. The Communists forced the Democrats to merge into the “unity” front, followed by a purge of the Democrats.

Deputy Premier Makoki, the Communist, became the true ruler of Hungary.

Cardinal Mindszenty, the last voice of opposition, was arrested before a new election presenting a single slate of candidates. A constitution along Soviet lines has been adopted, a five-year plan along Soviet lines adopted, and a final ousting of all non-Communists has taken place in the government.

Rumania:
Under Red Army occupation the Communists forced the other political parties to form a “National Front.” Because of King Michael’s presence, the Americans and British were able to exert some pressure to keep a balance in the first government, but a massive terror campaign preceded the election of November 1945. Under Red Army supervision, the Communists were declared the victors.

Julius Maniu, leader of the opposition Peasant Party, was arrested along with thousands of members. Treason and espionage trials broke the back of the Peasant Party.

Ana Pauker was named the Communist Premier, forcing King Michael to abdicate.

A new “People’s Front” was formed. The new election gives the Communists 90 per cent of the vote followed by adoption of a Soviet-type constitution.

Purge trials wiped out all existing political opposition, all Roman Catholic bishops were arrested and their congregations dissolved, agriculture was collectivized and industry nationalized.

The game today is called “Slavic Unity,” a name reeking of the memory of other unities now deceased.

This is the most repetitious column I have ever written, but the pattern is bare for us all to see. Only in Yugoslavia has Moscow made a gross miscalculation. One might refer to them as the Martin Luthers of communism. Yugoslavia in World War II has the distinction of being the only occupied country to liberate itself. Stalin has made what might prove to be a classical blunder in believing that because Yugoslavia is Communist it will subject itself to the dictates of Moscow. Yugoslavia alone in the Red Bloc has a good army and Stalin does not doubt that it will be used if pushed. Moscow has backed away. This is the first dim clue that there is vulnerability within the Communist world and someday great new rifts may develop.

This great red mass has poured West like a river of molten lava devouring everything in its path. Defeat is recognized as temporary, victory inevitable.

Here in Germany we have seen the Soviet Union slicing off the Eastern Zone and rebuilding it along the recognizable lines. I believe, however, that the event that finally touched Americans was the second fall of Czechoslovakia. Two times in a single decade this innocent people fell victim to a sellout. Once at Munich, now again by an apathetic American public, which did not lift a finger as the Red Army and the Communists chewed up the Czechs. The murder/suicide (?) of the hero, Jan Masaryk, stilled the last voice of freedom, but as it died in agony, perhaps it was the sound to awaken the sleeping America.

Will other nations join the Roll Call of the Dead? Finland was “invited” by Moscow to join a mutual defense pact. Turkey has been coveted as an entrance to the Mediterranean by Russia for centuries. Italy and France are staggering close to communism through collapse of their economies.

In Greece, the Truman Doctrine is meeting its first great test. Left in a shambles by one of the most terrible of the Nazi occupations, Greece saw nearly a third of her population starved, murdered, frozen, or diseased. These valiant people, often divided against themselves, were asked to fight a most horrible civil war.

Greek Communists using bases in Yugoslavia to hit and hide have kidnaped tens of thousands of Greek children, divorced them from their lives and parents, and are training them as future agents of this barbaric order.

As the Greek tragedy wore on, a tired Britain became unable to guarantee the freedom of the Mediterranean. As massive American aid pours in, the Communists are being driven deeper and deeper into the hills.

The Achilles heel of communism, Yugoslavia, first to stand up against Moscow, is closing its borders to the guerrilla bands and it appears that an end may be in sight.

The only ray of light in this bleak picture is the accommodation worked out to neutralize Austria.

In a few years the Soviet Union has swallowed up Eastern Europe and now stands on the brink of creating an empire from the Baltic to the Mediterranean to the English Channel. It is so vast that not even a Hitler dreamed of it. The Soviet Union has patented a method of results without the death of a single Red Army soldier. In Berlin we have been subjected to every harassment short of open warfare. We take our cue from the Greeks that when free men hang tough, they will prevail. If Berlin falls, then the take-over of Western Germany and Western Europe becomes academic.

All that stands between the Soviet Union and the English Channel is a thin line of American and British soldiers and the resolution of free men.

Chapter Thirty-six

T
HE TENSION IN
B
ERLIN
was like that brief lull between the time the air-raid siren stopped and the first bomb fell.

The rumor was planted and spread that the Americans were about to pull out, that food reserves were nearly gone in the Western Sectors, and that there was no room “for the adherents of partition.”

With the Supreme German Council no longer functioning, the only official contact was through the Berlin Kommandatura where the moves and countermoves increased the tempo toward the showdown.

On April 11,1948, the Berlin Assembly continued to defy the Soviet Union by once more voting down the anti-Fascist front.

Two days later General Trepovitch attempted to seize the police force by declaring it wholly under Soviet command. The Western commandants were able to block the take-over because Neal Hazzard had been farsighted enough to have Hans Kronbach appointed as deputy president months before. Kronbach had quietly built a strong pro-Western force which could splinter away from the main body.

On April 16 all Western papers in the Russian Sector were seized, all printing plants confiscated.

Along with this there began a harassment of German civilians traveling in and out of Berlin. The rail lines and highways were entirely within Russian-held territory. After getting away with the pressure on the Germans, Trepovitch ordered harassment on the daily American trains which ran personnel, mail, and supplies to and from the zone.

Each train leaving Berlin was now forced to submit to tedious inspections on the Russian contention that the Americans were supporting black-marketeering and smuggling.

On the autobahn, trucks were compelled to submit manifests and their cargo was inspected carefully. Soviet checkpoints made these inspections last for hours, lining up hundreds of vehicles waiting for clearance.

Then the canals were hit and barges waylaid.... The Soviet Union had succeeded in snarling traffic hopelessly.

At last Neal Hazzard warned that no Russian troops would be allowed to board any American train or convoy.

Trepovitch quickly adjusted to the tactic. Without prior warning the rail lines and highways would be shut for hours for “repairs” or due to “technical difficulties.”