Posted on 06/13/2008 10:16:15 PM PDT by neverdem
good job
Absolutely.
What part of his opinion led you to think otherwise?
Thanks.
You left out another key benefit of the airlift - it fundamentally changed the relationship between the Allies and the former German military and destroyed the anti-fraternization standards.
The US and other allies had to recruit former Luftwaffe personnel to provide ground service for the aircraft. Although the German mechanics and the Americans were supposed to communicate only to the limited amount needed to actually get the job done, as a practical matter, legal barriers as well as social barriers were overcome.
Odd that the supposed historian didn't catch that... but that concept probably didn't correspond with his politics.
He probably misses the good old "German Democratic Republic".
And how does that contradict his thesis?
Paul Steege>Rejecting the standard account of a total blockade does not deny the incredible technical accomplishments of the airlift or the sacrifice of the American and British personnel killed while flying supplies to the former German capital. Nor does it deny the ruthlessness of the Soviet and German Communists who showed no qualms about defending their hold on power with brutal violence
Not exactly terms one would use for being upset at the outcome.
But I suppose some people insist on hagiography, myths, etc., and can't accept that the typical beliefs might be wrong--yet it was still a great victory.
From what he has written since he started Grad School, the West didn't do anything - the Germans did it all by themselves.
Not hardly. The airlift was not only necessary, it was indespensible.
Berlin would have been Soviet if the West hadn't move decisively. The only question left is why he is pushing alternate history so aggressively.
I give up. Why?
And why do you ask?
btt
“Maybe he’s hawking his new book? “
Might I suggest a more accurate/palatable view of history?
(See amazon link below)
I’ve not read the book yet (mostly due to time constraints).
BUT, I was impressed when the border-line socialist and English immigrant
talk-radio host on one of our major stations interviewed the author
of this book.
For once, the fairly hard-bitten, cynical fellow actually melted a
bit and applauded the story of “The Chocolate Bombers” that saved West
Berlin from Stalin and his hordes.
N.B.: I’m suprised the book has a FIVE-STAR rating from eleven reviewers
(10 five-stars and one four-star).
Usually, by that number of reviewers, you get some liberal/crank
revisionist coming along to say such a book is just a whorish exercise
in Christian Fundamentalist NeoCon revisionism.
The Candy Bombers:
The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America’s Finest Hour
by Andrei Cherny
http://www.amazon.com/Candy-Bombers-Untold-Airlift-Americas/dp/0399154965/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213503390&sr=1-1
Did you read the article?
It was about how ineffective the airlift was and one point was that not enough coal was delivered.
But it was summer and coal was not a priority.
Missed that one didn’t you?
When Steege put that word in quotes, do you think he did that by accident?
The Western victory in this first Cold War battle came in spite of the fact that the airlift never achieved its ostensible purpose: to fully supply West Berlin.
No airlift can ever fully supply anything. Even today, 94% of all cargo going into the War on Terror goes by sea lift. The Berlin Airlift achieved a miracle, and Steege's premise that the airlift failed because it did not supply everything that every society needs 24/7 was flawed and filled with a hidden agenda.
He ends his diatribe with this:
In the face of a "war on terror" that makes similar universal claims, those issuing nostalgic appeals for total foreign policy solutions - even humanitarian ones - should heed the cautionary lessons of the Berlin Blockade.
Yup - no agenda here either.
I like how "war on terror" is in quotes too.
If you cannot see ascertain his motives, I am sorry for you.
Yep. That confirms the point that there was no possible way to meet the needs via airlift, especially as winter approached.
You need to change whatever you're adding to your Wheaties.
Bottom line: the Berlin Airlift was a remarkable achievement and is well worth commemorating. Paul Steege seems to be a typical revisionist "historian" that wants to recast the whole effort into whatever his particular political mindset will accept.
So who the heck are you, and what is your dog in this fight?
Of course not. But also of course, the quotation marks can mean more than one thing.
As the author points out later: "The international settlement that resolved the blockade crisis guaranteed West Berlin's independence, but it also marked the West's acceptance of a Stalinist state in half of Germany." I suppose you feel that the Stalinist state acceptance was a win. Some of us don't...and would put it in quotes.
Sorta like how Napoleon "won" at Borodino. Or the Germans "won" at the Battle of Crete.
Steege's premise that the airlift failed because it did not supply everything that every society needs 24/7 was flawed and filled with a hidden agenda.
Read the whole article again. That's not his premise.
His premise is that it's a myth that needs were supplied entirely by airlift; he points out that we should also credit the Berliners for their own willingness to suffer and endure, employ free-market means, and remain steadfast despite Communist enticement.
If you cannot see ascertain his motives, I am sorry for you.
So, we are to ignore the truth, if the messenger has motives we dislike?
Sorry, but I tend to agree with him thus:
Rejecting the standard account of a total blockade does not deny the incredible technical accomplishments of the airlift or the sacrifice of the American and British personnel killed while flying supplies to the former German capital. Nor does it deny the ruthlessness of the Soviet and German Communists who showed no qualms about defending their hold on power with brutal violence.
Glad you agree with Paul Steege.
So who the heck are you, and what is your dog in this fight?
A scientist, and my dog in this fight is truth. I don't believe that conservatives should base their reality on what they want to believe.
The Berliners endured great hardship and used great ingenuity and capitalism to help thwart the Communists. Personnel and pilots from the US, the UK/Commonwealth, France, etc., all did a superb job in accomplishing a tremendous task. What's wrong with pointing that out? Must we lie and imply that it was entirely the airlift alone?
Steege implies that the Berliners did it all with slight help from the airlift -
Right. If defending Berlin against the Soviets didn't work with what was left of the Wehrmacht in town, what chance did they have without the full force of West this time?
LOL
Only in America.
It's sad, my wife a German teacher and teaching again has to teach high school seniors what the Berlin Wall was, and while these kids have no clue they can regurgitate a revisionist interpretation of what Malcolm X was about without hesitation....... With sheep that ignorant, highly educated fools like this author peddling in pseudo intellectual trash have an easy time.
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