WEBVTT

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Yeah . This day in army history , June

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26 1948 the Berlin airlift

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begins in late June of 1948 . Soviet

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authorities began to blockade West

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Berlin to force the western allies out

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of the city . The army began a massive

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effort to supply the city by air using

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air force and navy cargo planes . By

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the end of July 1948 army led ground

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operations were so fine tuned that the

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loading time for AC 47 was just eight

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minutes . By spring of 1949 the US and

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its allies were delivering about 8000

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tons of needed supplies every day . The

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Soviets lifted the blockade on May 12

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th 1949 . The airlift delivered over

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2.3 million tons of vital supplies

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demonstrating the effectiveness of us

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joint operations and winning a critical

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early victory in the Cold War . For

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more information about the army's proud

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history , the history of that army .