In 1948, as the Soviet blockade of Berlin was raging, France played a decisive, yet little-known, role. History has mainly remembered the American and British airlift, but it was a French initiative on the ground that changed the game. Faced with the congestion of the two existing Berlin airports, General Jean Ganeval proposed a bold solution: the construction of a third runway.

In a record time of 90 days, the French Army Engineering Corps, with the help of 19,000 Berlin civilians, built Tegel Airport, which then boasted the longest runway in Europe. This "stroke of genius" not only streamlined Allied air traffic and increased the number of flights, but above all, it rendered the Soviet blockade ineffective.

Tegel Airport thus became the symbol of the ingenuity and spirit of the French Forces in Berlin. This action demonstrated that strategic intelligence could prove more decisive than sheer material power. Through this initiative, France established itself as an indispensable partner in resolving this major Cold War crisis.