Thread: Berlin in 1996
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Old 08-21-2016, 09:17 AM
RN7 RN7 is offline
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Originally Posted by Raellus View Post
Yeah, Berlin Blockade Part 2. Also, it's quite possible that, due to the war in China, both Soviet and East German forces still inside East German could have been reorganized/reoriented somewhat, so that could play into the situation in and around Berlin after the Bundeswehr crosses the border.
Road and rail links to West Berlin would certainly have been closed as they pass through East German territory, but maybe not the three air corridors at least until December 1996.

West Berlin was under Allied administration and basically the occupation sectors were American, British and French territories. The Potsdam Agreement established three air corridors that allowed direct flights from West Germany to West Berlin that passed through East German airspace. Only American, British and French military and commercial aircraft were allowed to use these air corridors, although the Polish airline LOT was also allowed use these air corridors on two air routes from Warsaw to London and from East Berlin to Paris. German aircraft including Lufthansa were forbidden from flying to West Berlin or any destination in East Germany, and East German aircraft were also not allowed to travel to West Germany.

Once the Bundeswehr crosses the inter-German border it's likely that flights were severely curtailed due to the warfare in East Germany. However I doubt that America, Britain and France will simply abandon its troops or the civil population of West Berlin, and will insist that regulated air convoys be allowed to continue to fly to West Berlin over the established air corridors at dates and times well known to the Germans and Soviets until perhaps the end of November. The Germans will obviously be happy to allow this, and as the NVA Luftstreitkrafte was quickly absorbed into the Luftwaffe it would leave very few air defence units loyal to the East German regime. What few air defence assets that East Germany retained would be under Soviet command, and the Soviets for their part would have been highly conscious of provoking NATO by shooting down a transport aircraft over East Germany when it could lead to direct NATO military support for Germany and China.
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