BREMEN CLEAR

Evening Star, Issue 25470, 28 April 1945, Page 8

BREMEN CLEAR

ALL RESISTANCE ENDED MANY SUBMARINES CAPTURED (ißec. 11.50/a.m.-) RUGBY, April 27. The whole of Bremen has now been cleared by the British Second Army. All was quiet in Bremen to-day. Apart from the sound of guns in the distance the war had gone completely from the city, says a correspondent. Patrolling the streets were British troops seeing that the people observed the temporary rule of remaining in their homes except in cases of emergency. At many points the population could be observed at work repairing their homes. Hy this morning the whole of the dock area had been cleared. The troops met very little opposition, and put into the bag a fair-sized-number of naval personnel who have been marched from the docks to the prison camps. Sixteen mines, a destroyer, several submarines, and parts of many midget submarines were a!so captured. The submarines were all resting on the stocks. The destroyer appeared to be intact. " All the submarines," says the correspondent, ' " bore numbers of more than 1,200, and it is_ quite obvious that the whole shipyard had been turned over to the output of submarines and small class of warships. Eight of the submarines were lying on the stocks of the slipway in which the.-famous liner Bremen was built. The destroyer was of the .Narvik class of 2,500 tons. At many parts of the shipyards could be seen parts of midget submarines which were built here in sections.

" The bridge of another destroyer sunk by Allied bombers could be seen sticking out of the water. In one basin alone seven were counted. Several had been toppled over by opr bombing, while'over wide 'areas, warehouses had been flattened. There is not a shed in the ship-building yards intact. "Two generals and a vice-admiral were among the prisoners taken in the capture ol the city. One of these is General Becker, commander of the garrison. After leaving the city he endeavoured to hold out in the Burgher Park, to the .north-east .of the city with a bunch of S.S. troops, but our troops cleared the park during the night and captured the general. More than 7.000 prisoners were taken in the fight for Bremen s'uee the morning of April 25. This brines the Second Army's total to 102.000 Fince the crossing of the Rhine which is the same total as the United States Armies took in the fighting from D-Day to the Rhine crossing."