Battle Continued

The U.S. and Britain last week began to close out the Berlin airlift. But Mayor Ernst Reuter had urgently warned the Western commandants that the battle for the city, won by perseverance during the bleak winter, might be lost by neglect in the pleasant summer. Berlin faced a serious economic crisis.

After the Russians lifted the blockade last May, Operation Vittles continued to fly about 8,000 tons of food and fuel a day into the city. Last week daily shipments were reduced to 4,000 tons. After October, when shipments will cease, only two U.S. Air Force transport groups will be left in Germany. By then the city's food & fuel stockpile should be an impressive 1,000,000 tons. But that did not change the fact that last week 200,000 of West Berlin's 2,500,000 people were out of jobs, or that the list of business bankruptcies was lengthening. The U.S. Military Government, demanding a "return to business normalcy," had canceled aid to Berlin from EGA counterpart funds.

"You switched from subsidies to credits and business as usual," Reuter explained to U.S. officials, "but we are getting neither credits nor business ... If you do not give us credit or orders, you must give us up. And if you give up Berlin, you give up more than us."

In the streets of Berlin, hope grew thinner, as did the long-familiar, reassuring roar of the airlift planes. The three Western commandants asked their Military Governments to make Berlin a long-term loan of $136 million. Before flying to Washington last week, where he is seeking new recruits for the fast-dwindling U.S. occupation staff, High Commissioner John McCloy promised Mayor Reuter that he would try to get direct Marshall Aid for Berlin. The U.S. expected the city's defense to continue costing money.

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