TIERGARTEN BATTLE

Evening Star, Issue 25471, 30 April 1945, Page 5

TIERGARTEN BATTLE

RUSSIANS USE FLAMETHROWERS BLOODY UNDERGROUND FIGHTING WAVE OF SUICIDES SWEEPS DEFENDERS <Rec. 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, April 29. 'Correspondents give graphic 'ac- ! counts of the Berlin fighting, in which, according to the Germancontrolled Danish radio, "the Russians, with the aid of flamethrowers and dive-bombers incessantly attack the fortified area of the Tiergarten, the Government quarters, Potsdam station, and the headquarters of the High Com--mand." Troops under Marshal Zhukov and Marshal Koniev are attacking the Tiergarten from two sides against very stiff resistance, says one Moscow correspondent. Every strip of land and nearly every tree have been adapted for defence. Numerous snipers, - skilfully camouflaged, have been discovered at the tops of trees. The Germans "in Berlin are now penned into, an area roughly following the outlines of the oldest part of the capital, says another message. An epidemic of suicides has swept the German garrison. Reports trickling through to the Russian lines state that there are no fewer than 40.000 German troops hiding in cellars and ruins, while crowds of civilians are plundering food stores, in spite of every effbrt of the police and even S.S. troops to restrain them.

A black snowstorm of charred documents is falling on the heads of the Russians as the doomed garrison prepares for the inevitab.e end. Nazi leaders have issued orders that all documents of the State archives be burnt. The Russians are also finding the pavements littered with discarded insignia, swastika-adorned ribbons, and officers' shoulder straps, as more and more Germans try to destroy the evidence of their identity.

The bitterness of the street battles, with the continuous crash of artillery and the crackle of machine guns, is only equalled by the stealthy underground struggles as the [Russians and the Germans fight in Berlin's underground tunnels. LANDINGS ON FRISCHENEHRUNG.

Lauding operations on the Frischenehrung, the narrow land strip separating the Frisches from the Baltic, were carried out simultaneously from both sides, states Moscow radio, quoting a correspondent with the Third Wiite Russian front troops. Soviet troops, after artillery and air preparation, landed from Pillau, while other Soviet forces, including naval units of the Baltic fleet, arid Soviet marines landed after crossing the Frisches. By this operation Soviet troops cut off enemy forces on the northern tip of the Frische'nehrung. Fierce battles took place. The Germans launched desperate counter-attacks, but the attempts failed, and over 60,000 German troops were taken prisoner, among them two generals, two high German officers of the general staff, and one representative of the German High Command. * . L . The Germans are also using the underground system for' armament repair shops, which are working at full pressure. S.S. troops, supported by a group of officers and cadets, seem now to be the backbone of the German defence. They are fighting fanatically, shooting waverers in the ranks. The British United Press correspondent describes the Germans as now cracking. He says reports are coming from all parts of the city of, mass surrenders, of commanders taking drastic measures to prevent troops deserting, and when that fails shooting themselves. Germans are pouring from cellars in droves. Fanatics, becoming fewer hourly, are being blasted out by Soviet guards firing ever open Bights mid blanketed hy *"io'- psc-reens. "With German civilians and soldiers

milling around, the fanatics are fighting to the death, and hundreds of Germans are just round the corner showing white flags. Berlin is dying. The Exchange Delegraph correspondent reports a bloody battle at the western end of the Tiergarten., where the Germans are barricaded in the hippodrome, the technical high school, and the artillery-engineering school.

A ' Pravda' correspondent says artillery is pounding the centre of the city day and night. " The earth is shaking as if bv an earthquake. Night is like day. The moon and stars are hidden by a pall o!f smoke."