<P> Western Allies conducted meetings in Italy in March 1945 with German representatives to forestall a takeover by Italian communist resistance forces in northern Italy and to hinder the potential there for post-war influence of the civilian communist party . The affair caused a major rift between Stalin and Churchill, and in a letter to Roosevelt on 3 April Stalin complained that the secret negotiations did not serve to "preserve and promote trust between our countries ." </P> <P> Relations further deteriorated when, in January 1948, the U.S. State Department also published a collection of documents titled Nazi--Soviet Relations, 1939--1941: Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office, which contained documents recovered from the Foreign Office of Nazi Germany revealing Soviet conversations with Germany regarding the Molotov--Ribbentrop Pact, including its secret protocol dividing eastern Europe, the 1939 German--Soviet Commercial Agreement, and discussions of the Soviet Union potentially becoming the fourth Axis Power . In response, one month later, the Soviet Union published Falsifiers of History, this book, edited and partially re-written by Stalin, attacked the West . </P> <P> The first major crisis in the emerging Cold War was the Berlin Blockade of 1948--49 . Historian Carol K. Fink argues that this crisis, "occupies a special place in Cold War historiography, as an emblem of Soviet aggressiveness and Anglo - American resistance ." After setbacks to Soviet plans through the Marshall Plan, the successful introduction of a new currency to West Germany, and massive electoral losses for Communist parties, Moscow decided to cut off land access to West Berlin by rail and highway, thereby initiating the Berlin Blockade. Because Berlin was located within the Soviet - occupied zone of Germany, the only available methods of supplying the city were three limited air corridors . </P> <P> By February 1948, because of massive post-war military cuts, the entire United States army had been reduced to 552,000 men . Military forces in non-Soviet Berlin sectors totaled only 8,973 Americans, 7,606 British and 6,100 French . Soviet military forces in the Soviet sector that surrounded Berlin totaled one and a half million men . The two United States regiments in Berlin would have provided little resistance against a Soviet attack . Therefore, a massive aerial supply campaign was initiated by the United States, Britain, France and other countries, the success of which caused Stalin to lift their blockade in May 1949 . At no time did the Soviet military or the Politburo contemplate a military escalation of the Berlin crisis . </P>

Where was the first battle ground for the cold war who did what
find me the text answering this question