SPECTRE BEHIND THE LINES

Evening Star, Issue 25396, 30 January 1945, Page 5

SPECTRE BEHIND THE LINES

RISIHG OF SLAVE WORKERS KREUZBURG CITED AS AN EXAMPLE (Eec. 12.40 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 29. The spectre of a general rising behind the .German lines among Hitler's army of slave workers faces -the German High Command as the . Red army threat to the Oder lifeline grows along its entire length, says Reuter's Moscow correspondent. ,' , He cites what happened to the tank and car works at Kreuzburg when Marshal Koniev's guns began to hammer the'outskirts of the town. Russian . slave workers then turned on the German guards, killing all the Germans in" the factory. Tbey seized the works, the office, and the telephone system. Some of the German management, however, were able to telephone the nearest Wehrmacht units for help, and then, as the battle for Kreuzburg raged outside, the Russian factory workers within the plant for five hours fought grimly against German troops with hot ingots, iron ore, spanners, and wrenches. . The workers also poured boiling water from the roof on to the attackers.

The Germans brought up tanks and replied with automatic weapons. All the workers except one were killed before the. Germans hastily withdrew as the Russians appeared, but when Koniev's spearheads reached the factory they found the plant intact' One worker had climbed the factory roof, where he planted a Red flag. He was shot dead, but Koniev's men fouud the flag still flying when they arrived.