The Plans to Serve Berlin

Hogan was about to salute General Clay when the American Military Governor interrupted.

"Hogan, you are a Medal of Honor winner. By courtesy, I am to salute you first." With that, General Lucius Clay saluted Hogan and shook his hand afterwards.

"Hogan, Lieutenant LeBeau please be seated. Frank, have your orderly bring in a fresh pot of coffee."

"Sir, the last time a superior officer saluted me, it was Patton. That was a memorable experience to say the least. He wanted me to join him as Assistant Military Governor of Bavaria."

Louis LeBeau was seconded to the United States Army as a commissioned officer and Hogan's aide now, even though he was still a French national.

LeBeau was the only one still serving our General. Although Robert Hogan was fond of the little Frenchman who was now an American First Lieutenant, he did wish that Louis could find his own way in life. For the rest of our Heroes found success in their own endeavors.

Captain James Kinchloe was now commanding an integrated unit of the United States Constabulary in West Germany based out of Bad Tölz. Soon to be Major Kinchloe.

Peter Newkirk accepted a regular commission in the Royal Air Force as a Flying Officer and underwent flight training. He was currently based out of Wunstorf Airfield as a fighter pilot in a squadron flying Tempests.

And as subsequent events ran their course, he would soon be flying a Dakota as second pilot into Gatow.

Richard Baker resigned from the Army in 1947 and enrolled at the University of Chicago. His plan was to attend law school and become an advocate for those who had no voice of their own.

Andrew Carter was working on his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Heidelberg while his wife Mady was studying History and Philosophy at Heidelberg as un undergraduate student.

"General Clay, Colonel Howley, let's get to business. I believe you need my help since there is an angry bear looking for a fight."

"Hogan, you know about the currency reforms coming shortly. The 3 Western Zones will be introducing a common currency in a couple of weeks."

The currency situation in occupied Germany was confusing. Each military zone had its version of occupation Marks and old Reichsmarks were still in circulation. The French had a special version of the Mark for use in the Saarland.

"Sir, the Russians won't be pleased of course. They still use Reichsmarks in their zone and they will feel we're undercutting them. Not that they ever cooperate with us."

"I was doing some research on the current situation. Colonel Howley, I know that your patrols are having problems dealing with our Russian friends."

"General Hogan, we are within our sectors when we conduct our patrols. Even if we are 2 clicks from their sector, they try to provoke us by shouting insults and drawing their weapons."

''We are not allowed in their sector of course, but they have their war memorial in the Tiergarten. The British military commandant says that the Russians soldiers visiting the memorial harass the local women afterwards."

"And they have a presence in the Kommmandatura of course. Even though it's in Dahlem. Those meetings are a mess. They try to disrupt things by haggling over procedures and points. There's another meeting next week and I'm not looking forward to it."

"How much food, fuel and essentials do the Western sectors have to survive a potential situation with the Soviets?" Hogan asked.

"Sir, right now it's a stockpile of 45 days in our sector. That's for both civilians and military personnel. It would be the same for the British and French sectors as well."

"The bare minimum we need is 30 days. And that is based on strict rationing."

The main supply route is the one railroad line and the west-east highway as I understand. Completely surrounded by the Soviet Zone."

"And if West Berlin is cut off, how long can you hold out, Colonel?"

"Maybe 10 days if we're lucky. We'll starve and the Red Army marches into western Berlin. And this time they will be even more merciless than in 1945."

Hogan thought about the refugees from the Eastern Zone in his district.

The Hammelburg orphanage was overcrowded these days. And not just from orphans left behind from Hogan's sabotage activities back in the day.

Babies that were from the Ostzone. The children conceived out of a cruel act that their German mothers did not wish to remember.

Dr. Steiner of course couldn't perform the surgery of course as he was a Catholic. Although the young women pleaded with him to do so.

His wife, the chief nurse of the Hammelburg hospital was Catholic as well, but she concocted an herbal drink that induced miscarriages for those women who were in the early stages of pregnancy.

Gerhard and Marilies Steiner couldn't do anything for the ones who were about to give birth and the numbers of orphans increased in Hammelburg.

No local German family was willing to adopt them, so they became wards of the Catholic Church.

The kind priest in Hammelburg who ran the orphanage treated the children as well as he could, but some of the locals were not pleased by his actions. For the memories of 1945 in the East were still fresh even though the residents of Hammelburg were for the most part anti-Nazi and with Hogan.

There were incidents of vandalism against the orphanage. Hogan had to resort to having his special police force from the former Royal Yugoslav Army to provide security.

''We don't have enough tanks to do anything. My men are just doing their regular rotation until they get shipped back stateside.''

''I don't think that Truman will have the 82nd Airborne jump over Berlin if the Russians cut us off. But things may get pretty hot.''

"General Clay, Colonel Howley, I have heard some rumors that LeMay is planning to forward deploy some B-29s in England."

Berlin would be a flashpoint. A very hot one if the situation deteriorated.

"I have a proposal for you. I was running this by General Tunner when I was in Frankfurt."

Hogan continued with his plan.

"Sieges have a way of being broken. Leningrad during the war of course. And my gut feeling says that our friends from the East will try something."

"Tempelhof is too small to handle a large number of planes taking off and landing. We can make it work though. The British have their airfield at Gatow that can accommodate aircraft. Even flying boats if possible since it's next to Lake Havel."

"The French have some wide open space near Tegel that the Trümmerfrauen have cleaned up. That might make an ideal airfield."

"Hogan, you're suggesting an airlift? That hasn't been done ever on a large scale." General Clay was skeptical.

"Yes sir, I know. But there is the air corridor that can be used to resupply Berlin."

"The Soviets gave into that during the negotiations. Since they don't think a city under siege can be supplied by aircraft and aren't going to be stupid enough to shoot down one of our planes. That would be the beginning of World War 3."

"Here is my preliminary report. You and Colonel Howley can look at it."

Notes

There is no military regulation that states that a Medal of Honor winner of a lower rank is saluted fist by a senior officer, but it is done as a courtesy.

The United States Constabulary was a military police force set up to patrol the western occupation zones of Germany and also served as a border guard against possible Soviet actions.

The introduction of the Deutsche Mark as the currency in the Western occupation zones in June 1948 was a main factor in the Soviets blockading Berlin and denying land access into the city.

All 4 zones had their own version of occupation Marks and Reichsmarks were still in circulation.

The French introduced their own version of the Mark for the Protectorate of the Saarland. The French separated the Saar region from their occupation zone and formed an autonomous state with the goal of possibly integrating the Saarland into Metropolitan France.

Some of my descriptions of Berlin districts are based off what I have read in histories and should be correct.

Gatow was the main RAF airbase in Berlin and its vicinity to the Havelsee allowed RAF flying boats from Coastal Command to participate in the Berlin Airlift. Tegel was built in the French sector and eventually became the main airport in Berlin.

The Kommmandatura was the military government/governing body set up by the 4 Allied powers to run Berlin. The Russians made a big deal of arguing every point with the Commandants of the western sectors. There was an infamous meeting prior to the blockade and airlift where Frank Howley asked to be dismissed during a meeting in frustration and left. The Russians were 'offended' and left as well. Subsequently they never attended any more meetings with the other Allied Commandants.

The actions of the Red Army in eastern Germany and Berlin in particular are the subject of countless books. Not very pleasant reading.

General Tunner in this story is William Tunner. He was responsible for the success of the Berlin Airlift. Although in this story, it's Hogan who makes the suggestion that an airlift is feasible