UTTERLY BEATEN

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 138, 8 March 1945, Page 7

UTTERLY BEATEN

People Of Occupied Reich Towns

SEARCHING IN RUINS FOR FOOD

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received March 7, 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 7.

If you ever wanted to see the German people utterly beaten aud reduced to it state of herded animals, you see it in the big industrial places like Munclier Gladbach and Krefeld, states the “Daily Express” correspondent. The Germans in many tens of thousands huddle in cellars or scramble in the ruins looking for food. In most places they have no heating, no light, no running water, no organized medical attention, or the immediate hope of getting these things. Referring specially to Krefeld the correspondent says the German Government authorities left printed instructions to the workers at the electrical plant: “You will continue to keep the plant going and act under the orders of anyone who may arrive.” This means, if generally carried out, that the Germans are accepting our occupation and preparing to extend it. The Germans, ot course, destroy bridges and railways, but are trying to keep the. German industrial machine going. In Krefeld, or for that matter in any occupied town, you see bits of white sheeting tied on front-door knots, or on trams which have been blitzed in the streets. The people are well dressed and look healthy, even the children. People fled from many homes leaving their furniture, their washing on the line, their chickens and pigs roaming the yard aud unfinished meals on the tables. “I do not think they suffered much till last week, except for the absence of their menfolk,” adds the correspondent. Loneliness and Despair.

“There is the Todt camp in the suburbs for foreign workers. Over each group of huts today you see Russian, French, Belgian, Dutch and Polish flags. You notice the deadness of the dreary half-ruined streets, the dead shops, the shuttered houses and the overwhelming atmosphere of despair, loneliness and loss.” The correspondent visited an air-raid shelter at Krefeld capable of holding 15,000 people. Four thousand are at present living there, with more continually arriving.

‘The Germans shrank back aud ran to get out of our way. The men avoided one’s eyes or stood obsequiously with slouched shoulders. Children stopped playing. It was the German women who kept the most composure. There was something indescribable in their eyes-—hatred, fear, despair, avid curiosity, anger—perhaps a mixture of all these things. “The ‘Bunkermeister’ arrived, removed his hat, bowed and took us round, while the Lutheran pastor explained : ‘All the German police and military left several days ago. They took all their food and stores. From this shelter here, in the control room, we used to sit and trace the course of your bombers overhead, and were very glad when they passed.’ The pastor said he had many friends in London.”