SLOGANS DISAPPEAR

Evening Star, Issue 25470, 28 April 1945, Page 7

SLOGANS DISAPPEAR

CIVILIANS HAVE HAD ENOUGH CHILDREN OBLIVIOUS OF BATTLE (Rec. 11.53 a.m.) LONDON, April 27. The defenders of Berlin are not fighting as fanatically as in the early stages of the battle, probably because large numbers of the real fanatics are dead. The capital is a charnel house, biit r the • remaining- < ragged -' army of regulars,Volkssturm, nolicemen, fire-' men, and Hitler Youth are fighting on while there is still* any hope. Members of: the Hitler Youth weep hysterically when captured, whereas a few minutes before they were sniping at the Russians. Civilians have had enough of it. They are wiping from the walls such slogans as: " Berlin will always be true to the Fuhrer," . which a few weeks ago they enthusiastically cheered. Moscow correspondents report extraordinary contrasts in the grim battle for Berlin. A bunch of hungry old women- in one street were trying to fight a way into a baker's shop while shells and bullets whistled just round the corner. Children in another street were having the time of their lives in a toy department of a wrecked department store. They seemed oblivious to the battle all around them. Waiters at the door of a beer hall in another part of the city,

dressed up like tailors' dummies, stand bowing and smiling, offering mugs of beer to thirsty Russians.

The waiters themselves occasionally take sips of the heer to convince the Russians that the drinks are not poisoned. German civilians in East Berlin are industriously handing out guide books of Berlin to the Russians.

Groups of German officers and men are changing into civilian clothes and attempting to escape by mingling with the huge crowds of Berliners moving out of the battle zone.

The Exchange Telegraph Moscow correspondent ._ reports that the chief Soviet air marshals have joined Marshal Zhukov in the Berlin area personally to direct the battle for the skies over Berlin. Russian planes are bombing street by street and house by house, Giving particular attention to the r nter den Linden. Hundreds of midget, bombers are flying throughout the night to prevent the German garrison troops from resting. _,.

The newspaper ' Red Star ' says the lied army is grinding a way through the streets,- each of which is defended by civilians as well as by regulars. All inhabitants capable of. bearing arms have been trained for street fighting. ■They are fighting savagely, but as soon as the regular troops retreat they discard their arms, hoist white flags, and shout curses against Hitler. The ' Red Star' correspondent reports that fighting has broken out afresh in the underground railway tunnels and stations.