The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's…

This is a work of non-fiction with a narrative primarily taking place several years AFTER the end of WWII - specifically during the time Germany was divided between the Allies, and the Soviet Union began its efforts to convert "their" sector to communism.

Admittedly, I knew little to nothing about this specific time frame. Born two generations AFTER the war (my parents were the Baby Boomers), my exposure was limited to the paltry coverage given it in High School history class where my entire conception of the event was that the war ended and then one day Russia built a wall. I was well into adulthood before I even realized that the Berlin wall did not separate West Germany from East Germany - I pictured it kind of like the Great Wall of China...there's public education for you.

So virtually everything this book covered was new to me. Someone with a knowledge of that history may find the first part of the book tedious - I found it tedious. You don't actually get to the Title Event (the candy "bombing") until about halfway through the book. For those who don't know, as the Soviet Union began flexing its muscle, since Berlin was wholly within "their" sector (even though Berlin itself was also divided into sectors again), they effectively blockaded the residents of the "western" sectors of Berlin, turning off electricity, gas, food, any resources which needed to pass through the eastern part of Germany in order to get to Berlin. In an attempt to support the residents of "West Berlin" as it was to become, and to prevent all of Berlin from converting to communism which was what the Soviets were trying to instigate, the western allies begain airlifts of supplies - as part of the treaty ending the war, there were allocated air rights for allied planes to fly through to get to Berlin, but there were no roads. So everything had to go by plane. At one point, one individual pilot started dropping candy for the children of Berlin. This individual act developed into a PR program supported by the US military to maintain support of the airlift.

Overall, the facts included in this book were fascinating. At times, some of the details became mundane - and the author spent a lot of time on sidetracks for the personal backgrounds of many of the players which seemed unnecessary - but it gives a great, non-academic overview of that time period and some insight (at least into the author's opinion) of the reasons why some of what happened actually happened. Long, but still a recommended read ( )

Cherny's Soviets are stereotypical baddies. Though the damage wrought by the Soviets on post-war Eastern Europe is undeniable, the opening of Soviet archives and the recent work of other historians would have provided the author with more information about the psychology behind Soviet actions before and during the blockade. Such information would have added depth to this engaging but lightweight take on the early days of the Cold War. ( )

this book is too long, and sometimes difficult to follow (at least in the first half.) The writing style while factual (taken from journals and diaries) is also very dry. I listened to the audio edition and the reader shows very little emotion and is very flat.
It did improve in the last half.

I learned many things from this book. Considering that this took place less than one year before I was born, I would have thought that I would have heard someone talk about it

I don't remember ever even hearing about the Berlin airlift,
I did not realize that the United States and their allies were very close to going to war with Russia in 1948.
That the United States military force was very small and after much debate and argument, the draft was reinstated in the spring of '48
That, according to Cherny, the Berlin Airlift was a huge factor in Truman's re-election.
That the Airlift , and the candy drops were one of the big reasons that Germany remained a democratic republic, rather than turning to Communism.

There are things that could be very emotional, the first time the airlift pilots say a bombed out Germany,
the pilots meeting the German people and their feelings about saving them, when just a few years earlier they were trying to destroy them.

The writing style while factual (taken from journals and diaries) is also very dry. I listened to the audio edition and the reader shows very little emotion and is very flat.
It did improve in the last half. Even a few moments that were a little humorous, for example:

* When General Lucius Clay, military governor of Germany was preparing to return to the United States after being fired, everything in his house was packed up and they had begun shipping things home. They day before he was scheduled to ship out he was told he would be needed to stay. He went home and told his wife they were not leaving and she said but you can't, you have no pants.

* Some of the interactions between the very shy "candy bomber" Gail "Hal" Halvorson and his fiance and wife.

The airlift almost failed, but after Liutenant General William Tunner was put in charge the Airforce carried billions of tons of food and coal to keep the people of West Berlin alive during the winter of 1948-49.

Lt. Gail Halvorson became a celebrity and made the rounds of the talk shows on the new Television media. because he started dropping candy on handkerchief parachutes to children who were watching the planes come in delivering the supplies to a blockaded West Berlin.
Children and parents wrote thank-you letters to Halvorson calling him Uncle Wiggly Wings because Halvorson would wiggle the plane wings as a signal just before he made the drops, Candy Bomber , Bonbon Bomber, Chocolate Uncle.

As I said I had neve heard about much of this. I knew that Gemany was divided, and that East Germany and East Berlin were ruled by Communists, but I had not heard of the Russian Blocade, the Berlin Airlift, or the Candy Bombers. Not from my father, who served in WWII, or my Uncles who were stationed in Germany in the 50's, or in any of my History classes in school.

I think someone could make a really good movie from this. If you like history in general and World War II in particular I would recommend this book, but read the text version so you can skim over the less interesting parts.

A moving, detailed and thought-provoking account. ( )