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Berlin Crisis
During the 1950s a steady outflow of refugees from the Soviet occupation
zone to the West consisted primarily of young people of working age. By 1950
some 1.6 million had migrated to the western zones. Between 1950 and 1961,
the refugee flow continued at a rate of 100,000 to 200,000 annually. Workers
were attracted by the economic opportunities open to them in West Germany,
and in the early 1950s, they and their families formed the majority of
emigrants. By the late 1950s, a growing proportion of those leaving were
professional people and students whose skills were sorely needed for internal
development. In 1959 about 144,000 persons fled; in 1960 the figure rose to
199,000; and in the first seven months of 1961, about 207,000 left the
country.
In November 1958, Soviet Premier Khrushchev issued an ultimatum giving
the Western powers six months to agree to withdraw from Berlin and make it
a free, demilitarized city. At the end of that period, Khrushchev declared, the
Soviet Union would turn over to East Germany complete control of all lines of
communication with West Berlin; the western powers then would have access
to West Berlin only by permission of the East German government. The
United States, Great Britain, and France replied to this ultimatum by firmly
asserting their determination to remain in West Berlin and to maintain their
legal right of free access to that city.
In 1959 the Soviet Union withdrew its deadline and instead met with the
Western powers in a Big Four foreign ministers' conference. Although the
three-month-long sessions failed to reach any important agreements, they did
open the door to further negotiations and led to Premier Khrushchev's visit to
the United States in September of 1959. At the end of this visit, Khrushchev
and President Eisenhower stated jointly that the most important issue in the
world was general disarmament and that the problem of Berlin and "all
outstanding international questions should be settled, not by the application of
force, but by peaceful means through negotiations."
During the early months of 1961, the government actively sought a means of
halting the emigration of its population to the West. By the early summer of
1961, East German President Walter Ulbricht apparently had persuaded the
Soviets that an immediate solution was necessary and that the only way to
stop the exodus was to use force. This presented a delicate problem for the
Soviet Union because the four-power status of Berlin specified free travel
between zones and specifically forbade the presence of German troops in
Berlin. Although it is not known who made the actual decision to erect the
Berlin Wall, it is generally accepted that overall operations were directed by
Marshal Ivan Konev, commander in chief of the GSFG. Apparently Konev
appointed Major General Martin Blek of the NVA as the operational
commander.
During the spring and early summer, the East German regime procured and
stockpiled building materials for the erection of the Berlin Wall. Although this
extensive activity was widely known, few outside the small circle of Soviet and
East German planners believed that East Germany would be sealed off.
Approximately 32,000 combat and engineer troops were used in building the
Wall. Once their efforts were completed, the Border Police assumed the
functions of manning and improving the barrier. The Soviet Army was present
to discourage interference by the West and presumably to assist in the event
of large-scale riots.
In June 1961 Premier Khrushchev created a new crisis over the status of
West Berlin when he again threatened to sign a separate peace treaty with
East Germany, which he said, would end existing four-power agreements
guaranteeing American, British, and French access rights to West Berlin. The
three powers replied that no unilateral treaty could abrogate their
responsibilities and rights in West Berlin, including the right of unobstructed
access to the city.
As the confrontation over Berlin escalated, on 25 July President Kennedy
requested an increase in the Army's total authorized strength from 875,000 to
approximately 1 million men, along with increasse of 29,000 and 63,000 men
in the active duty strength of the Navy and the Air Force. Additionaly, he
ordered that draft calls be doubled, and asked the Congress for authority to
order to active duty certain ready reserve units and individual reservists. He
also requested new funds to identify and mark space in existing structures
that could be used for fall-out shelters in case of attack, to stock those
shelters with food, water, first-aid kits and other minimum essentials for
survival, and to improve air-raid warning and fallout detection systems.
On 30 August 1961, President John F. Kennedy had ordered 148,000
Guardsmen and Reservists to active duty in response to Soviet moves to cut
off allied access to Berlin. The Air Guard's share of that mobilization was
21,067 individuals. ANG units mobilized in October included 18 tactical fighter
squadrons, 4 tactical reconnaissance squadrons, 6 air transport squadrons,
and a tactical control group. On 1 November; the Air Force mobilized three
more ANG fighter interceptor squadrons. In late October and early November,
eight of the tactical fighter units flew to Europe with their 216 aircraft in
operation "Stair Step," the largest jet deployment in the Air Guard's history.
Because of their short range, 60 Air Guard F-104 interceptors were airlifted to
Europe in late November. The United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE)
lacked spare parts needed for the ANG's aging F-84s and F-86s. Some units
had been trained to deliver tactical nuclear weapons, not conventional bombs
and bullets. They had to be retrained for conventional missions once they
arrived on the continent. The majority of mobilized Air Guardsmen remained
in the U.S.
East Germans, stirred by the crisis, fled to West Berlin in increasing numbers.
In July alone there were some 30,000. The construction of the Berlin Wall
started at 2:00 A.M. on August 13, 1961. The Wall effectively sealed off the
best escape route open to disenchanted East Germans, thus halting the mass
movement of people to the West. After its construction, the number of
refugees entering West Berlin and West Germany fell drastically.
The Soviets also tried to prevent Allied access to the eastern half of the city.
In response, the United States deployed men and planes to Europe.
Numerous USAF Reserve and Air National Guard units were mobilized to
increase Tactical Air Command [TAC] combat strength and in November,
TAC deployed more than 200 Federalized ANG airplanes and thousands of
personnel under "Operation Stair Step" to France, Germany, and Spain to
augment units already on duty in Europe. During "Operation Stair Step," the
largest overseas movement of a fighter force since WWII), not a single plane
was lost.
The Berlin Crisis saw US Army troops facing East German Army troops in a
stand-off, until the East German government backed down. The crisis ended
in the summer of 1962 and the personnel returned to the United States.
President Kennedy who visited the city in June 1963 and said:
"All free men,
wherever they may live,
are citizens of Berlin.
Therefore, as a free man,
I take pride in the words
'Ich bin ein Berliner'."
Though intending this final phrase to mean "I am a Berliner," in one of the
memorably humorous footnotes to Cold War history, Kennedy's words would
be more accurately translated as "I am a donut" since a "Berliner" is a popular
German pastry.