Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [208]
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