QOTD

Frederick Taylor writes about the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift in The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989 at 56 (2007):

Astonishingly, the Anglo-Americans pulled it off. The French were not actively involved, although they helped achieve the rapid construction of a new airfield, at Tegel. This was one of the few places in West Berlin where sufficient open space existed. However, an obstruction had to be removed: the radio tower used by the Soviets for 'Radio Berlin', their local broadcasting mouthpiece.

At first the French attempted to negotiate, but when the Soviets proved stubborn, the French commandant, General Jean Ganéval, had his men attach explosives to the tower's base and blow it up. [Soviet] General Kotikov stormed up to Ganéval and demanded to know how he could do such a thing. 'With the help of dynamite and French sappers, my friend!' Ganéval coolly replied.