BERLIN
THE SIEGE
7/5-7/12/48

The incessant roar of the planes-that typical and terrible 20th century sound, a voice of cold mechanized anger-filled every ear in the city. It reverberated in the bizarre stone ears of the hollow, broken houses; it throbbed in the weary ears of Berlin's people, who were bitter, afraid, but far from broken; it echoed in the intently listening ear of history. The sound meant one thing: the West was standing its ground and fighting back.

The crucial battle for Berlin was being fought in the hearts and minds of Berliners-but first and foremost in their bellies. The Russians were attempting to starve into submission 2.5 million people in the city's Western sectors. They had stopped all food trains from the Western zones on which Berlin depends for survival; cut the Western sectors' electricity in half; blocked all coal shipments