SUPREME ALLIED HEADQUARTERS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24619, 16 July 1945, Page 5

SUPREME ALLIED HEADQUARTERS

END OF EUROPEAN COMMAND DECORATIONS PRESENTED TO ' PERSONNEL (8.0. W.) RUGBY, July 14, Supreme Headquarters. Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAFT) has ceased to exist. This winning combination of British and American effort, led by General Eisenhower, was officially dissolved on Friday, at one minute past midnight—l 7 months and one day-after its inception. One of General Eisenhower's final steps was to award the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star to 140 British officers and 11 enlisted personnel. The Deputy-Supreme Commander (Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder) reciprocated with British awards for 10G American officers. In an order of the day to the people of the United Nations in Europe, General Eisenhower said: “On this occasion. the termination of the combined command, I welcome an opportunity to express my gratitude and admiration to the people of the Allied nations in Europe whose fighting forces and nations have contributed so effectively to victory. United in a common cause, the men and women of Belgium. Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France. Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland joined with the British Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America to form a truly Allied team, which in conjunction with the mighty Red Army smashed and obliterated the Nazi rggressors. - . J . ~ , *‘l pay tribute to every individual who gave so freely and unselfishly to the limit of his cr her ability. Their achievements in the cause lor which they have fought will be indelibly inscribed in the pages of history and v. ill be cherished in the hearts of all free-dom-loving peoples. It is my fervent hope and prayer that the unparalleled unity which has been achieved among the Allied nations in the war will be a source of inspiration for. and will point a way to, permanent and lasting peace.” British Naval Chief On the dissolution of SHAEF. Admire! Sir Harold Burrpugh. formerly naval commandcr-in-chicf. Allied Expeditionary Force, has assumed the post of British naval commander-in-chicf in Germany, says a statement issued by the Admiralty. In this capacity. he will be naval adviser to FieldMarshal Montgomery, and will be responsible for naval disarmament and control in the British zone. He will also be chief British naval representative on the Allied Control Commission. NAVY’S “SCARLET PIMPERNEL” NAZI SEA BLOCKADE BEATEN WAR MATERIALS BROUGHT FROM SWEDEN (8.0. W.) RUGBY, July 15. Sir George Binney, “.the Scarlet Pimpernel of the British Merchant Navy,” has now told the story of ho— he organised the means of breaking through the German blockade of Kattegat, bringing precious cargoes from Sweden to England. From the moment the Germans realised he was the brains behind the blockade running, when 10 Norwegian ships set out from Gothenburg in 1942, they did their utmost to capture him, It was because of the siniste* threat voiced against him in the Nazi press that Sir George Binney was commissioned as a commander of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve so that, in the event of capture, he could not legally be handed over by the German naval authorities to the Gestapo. Through the winter of 1943-44 he sailed through the U -boat infested Skagerrrk eight times, defying the might of the German navy and air power, and risking the menace of mines. On every occasion he so planned his timing that he completely baffled the enemy’s defences, and he brought to England precious supplies which were vital to our war production. In all he landed about 35.000 tons of raw materials, which could not have been obtained from anywhere else in the world. There was special steel material for which we had been solely dependent on Sweden, :uc as ballbearings. in which the Swedish had specialised before the war. Sir George Binney also succeeded in getting out of Sweden some 20 machines, which enabled us to step up our output in aero engines to such an extent that a special air raid shelter was built to protect them. These supplies were of immense value and were shared by every part of the British Empire and the United States. Sir George Binney was leader of a gallant band of about 400 merchant seamen composed of Britons and Norwegians, and as officers he had as courageous a body of men as ever put to sea in small ships. His second in command was Commodore Brian Reynolds, who was killed only four days after V -E Day, when on his tenth voyage across the Nortel Sea. He was in a motor gunboat on an urgent mission to Gothenburg, end by a million to one chance struck a floating mine. He and all but two of the crew were lost. Another of Sir George Binney’s chief officers was Lord Fitzwilliam, who, for purely personal reasons, went under the name of Mr Lawrence, and became known as “Lawrence of the Little Ships.” When Norway and Denmark were invaded, Mr Binney (as Sir George was then) was acting as : iresentativc of the Ministry of Supply for iron and steel control in Scandinavia. He received instructions from London to secure transport of this special material to Britain at all costs, and as a result of his efforts, and in spite of the fact that the Gestapo was aware that, an attempt was to be made, he succeeded in getting a convoy through to England. From then on, through long Arctic nights, snowstorms, and fogs, he managed to get supplies of vital war material through, in spite of all attempts by Nazi sea and air power to stop him. MARSHAL RETAIN HOSTILE DEMONSTRATION ON BASTILLE DAY ‘(Rec. 8.30 p.m.) PARIS. July 15. An effigy of Marshal Petain was prominent in the huge procession, representing French resistance parties, which marched to the site ol the Bastil’e yesterday. The Petain effigy, outstanding among the horse-drawn cai'ts presenting tableaux vivants. stood under a rope on a gibbet alongside an effigy of Loins XVI under a guillotine. A slogan read; “Louis paid. Petain must. too. ’ RUSSO CHINESE TALKS TEMPORARY SUSPENSION ißec. 10 p.m.) LONDON. July 14. The Moscow radio says that Dr. T. V. Soong is returning to Chungking by air after the Chinese-Russian^con-versations. which have been temporarily interrupted by the imminent departure of Mr Stalin and Mr Mclotov for Potsdam. Dr. Soong will return to Moscow soon to resume the talks which are “conducted in a cordial atmosphere revealing the existence of broad mutual understanding.”