Quote:
Originally Posted by August
I also wonder why the WP would want to take West Berlin when putting it under siege would be far less costly in terms of military assets.
A leveled west Berlin is nothing but a rallying point for the Western resistance. A hostage west Berlin becomes a political bargaining chip.
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Ideologic reasons. There is no doubt that the west of Berlin was a thorn in their side, a piece of foreign territory inside theirs, which was seen as their terriotiry indeed by the GDR, just temporarily under foreign administration. Also, they wanted to get the thing with the airlift straight, which they considered to have been a humiliation - this had not to repeat,. under no costs.So, no siege, no rememerance of the airlift.
Also, there was the US ELINT base on the Berlin Teufelsberg. That at least needed to be wiped out.
The GDR was obsessed with taking westBerlin, and this obessession was maintained with German precison... even when Moscow wanted them to stop it, they still continued to prepare for it. Was it irrational? Maybe. The whole idea of WWIII was irrational.