Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [277]
In this battle of will power, they held their share of the fortress wall.
A short way from where Sean and Ernestine had their room, the third airfield raced to completion.
The engineers of the 350th Support Squadron in Berlin picked an area adjoining French Headquarters, near the Tegel Forest—a flat field an equal distance from Tempelhof and Gatow. They scoured Berlin for heavy construction equipment, but were able to come up with little more than steam rollers dated from the turn of the century.
At the Hanau Base in the American Zone the heavy equipment was assembled, cut up by torches, transported in the C-74 and C-82 transports, and put on special flying duty on the Lift. Ten thousand barrels of asphalt were brought to Berlin along with pierced steel planking.
The Airlifting of the thousands of tons of machinery and supplies for the new runway was the minor part of the story.
There was no steel or rock for foundation of a runway that had to measure from two to ten feet in thickness. Western Berlin was searched for unused rail lines which were pulled up and carted to Tegel. Rubble and paving stones were hauled in.
A volunteer labor force was assembled from the people. The pay was poor, but there would be a hot meal served on each shift to keep them going. Twenty thousand Berliners answered the call!
Nearly half this force were women and they reported to work wearing dresses, business suits, dilapidated army uniforms, wooden shoes, tennis shoes, barefooted, wearing bathing suits in the heat, rags in the rain.
Every facet of the social and professional life was represented in this labor army that in the aspects of its massiveness resembled the construction of an Egyptian pyramid. But, unlike Egyptian slaves, these people worked themselves into exhaustion with a tenacity beyond measure, for there is no way to measure human determination.
A small force of fifteen American officers and less than a hundred enlisted men governed them as they cleaned, salvaged, crushed, carted, shoveled, and spread by hand a million feet of rock and brick.
The airport which they said could not be built in a year under the circumstances was nearing completion in a mere ninety days!
Ernestine returned to bed as the lights of Reinickendorf went out and the neighboring borough of Wedding was given their two-hour quota. Sean had fallen back to sleep. She hoped there would be no early call from his Headquarters today.
Chapter Twenty-four
NELSON GOODFELLOW BRADBURY INHERITED the deal at a table of colleagues at the Dahlem Press Club.
“Low ball,” he announced.
“They landed another five thousand tons by GCA today,” Clarke of AP said.
“I’ll open,” said Whittsett from Hearst
“The next Russian move has got to be a corker,” Clarke mumbled.
“My next move is to call you.”
“Call.”
“Beats me.”
“Call.”
“What do you think, Nellie? Where do they hit next?” Bishop of CBS pondered.
“They’ve got a number of possibilities. Clamp down on smuggling, try a physical take-over of the City Hall and Magistrat ... number of possibilities.”
A waiter behind him bent forward to speak. “Telephone, sir.”
He passed the deal to Clarke and lumbered to the phone booth.
“Hello, Nelson Bradbury speaking.”
“You know who is here speaking?”
Nellie recognized the gauzed mouthpiece “disguise” of a Russian press officer named Sobotnik.
“Yes.”
“It would be in your interest to leave the club now and walk west on Argentinische Allee for further contact.”
Click.
Nellie shook his mop. The great Russian mania for secrecy and mystery had to be served. He cashed out of the game and left the club. The streets looked like London during the blackout days.
He walked a great enough distance to establish that he was alone and unfollowed. Sure enough, a black staff car from the Russian Embassy trolled past slowly from the other side of the street. Nellie stopped at the corner, yawned, waited for the car to make a second pass.
Two men emerged, unmistakably NKVD. They could be distinguished even in the poor light ... they played their parts like bad actors: large brim