RECORD AIRLIFT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 160, 19 April 1949, Page 3

RECORD AIRLIFT

Will Soviet Lift Blockade?

ACCENTUATED RUMOURS (N.Z.P. A.—Copyright) (Rec. 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, April IS The British and America:! record airlift into Berlin last Saturday has accentuated rumours that the blockade is about to .be lifted, says the correspondent of the British United. Press;

The latest report is that the former Russian Ambassador to Germany, Mr Vladimir Dekanosov, is in Berlin. Mr Dekanosov is said to be working out some method by which the blockade can be lifted without the Russians losing face. Practically the entire Upited States Military garrison in Germany—7o,ooo troops supported by air and naval units—-will to-day take part in the largest United States military operations since the. war, says the British United Press. Senior British, French, Dutch and Norwegian observers have been invited to watch the manoeuvres, which will go on throughout Southern Germany for a week. United States staff officers described the manoeuvres! as a test of the way the United States Army might have to fight should hostilities flare up in Europe. American officials in Berlin disclosed to-day that a'committee composed of representatives of Britain, France and the United States are now considering what part the Germans can play in civil aviation, reports the British United Press. They will,, be given only “housekeeping tasks” tor the Allies and will be allowed to master mechanics, pilots, planes or fields of their own. New evidence of disquiet among Germans in the Soviet Zone about their economic and political plight owing to the artificial isolation of their area from the rest of the country as -forthcoming, says the Berlin correspondent of the Daily Telegraph.” The German railway chiefs are' reported to have told Russians that the resumption of interzonal and transit traffic was essential if the disastrous financial situation of the East German railway organisation is to he remedied. Tlie ralway in the Russian zone has lost trade worth several millions sterling and the railway equipment has deteriorated through lack of Ruhrhard coal. ' . ~ • The spirits of the Germans m the Western Sectors of Berlin are rising while 'the people in the Russian Zone are steadily becoming more gloomy and dissatisfied, says the \ correspondent.

SOVIET OFFICIAL LEAVES FOR WASHINGTON

SPECULATION ON MISSION (Rec. 11.25 a.m.) LONDON, April 18. A Soviet oificial travelling in plain clothes quietly left Berlin for Washington yesterday on an important, mission to the Soviet Embassy there, says Reuter’s Berlin correspondent, quoting a source in touch with Soviet military headquarters.

This source stated that the purpose of the mission was to obtain firsthand information on the Atlantic Pact and on its - possible after-effects in Western Europe —< particularly in Western Germany. The name of the envoy who travelled by air was not disclosed, but it is believed that he is General Malinin, a leading finance expert of the Soviet Union, and a trusted friend of the Politburo. *■ , General Malinin is generally considered to have been Marshal Sokolovsky’s financial adviser on the Berlin blockade, and to have been entrusted with wide powers on questions of policy. . 1 . / Reuter says that the reports are interpreted by diplomatic observers m London as a string pointer to the existence of Soviet-American contacts on the possibility o$ ending the Berlin blockade. . No official comment is available from the Soviet Government.

approaches rejected NO NEGOTIATIONS UNTIL BLOCKADE LIFTED

(Rec. 11.5 a.m.) . BERLIN, April IS. Informed British-American quarters state that the Russian approaches to American diplomats in Washington suggesting fresh discussions of a Berlin settlement met with a definite refusal of negotiations on any aspect,ot the German question until the- blockade is lifted. _ ... The Americans told Russian diplomats that the British and shared thifr view. These sources discounted rumours that the Russians were jockeying for a suitable- position in which to lift the Berlin blockade.

“ONLY RUMOUR” SAYS SCHUMAN (Rec. 11.15 a.m.) PARIS, April 18 The French Foreign Minister, M. Schuman, on his return, from Washington, discounted rumours that the Kussans plan to lift the Berlin blockade.. M. Schuman told reporters: “It. is only a rumour, but it is already quite a lot that the rumour exists.”