MOSCOW CELEBRATES

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 July 1944, Page 6

MOSCOW CELEBRATES

SCENE TN SOVIET CAPITAL. This description of the scene in Moscow on the occasion of a victory celebration was written by W. 11. L. a w~ rence, a Moscow correspondent, of the “New York Times.” The Moscow radio is silent except for a steady hum from a multitude of loudspeakers located at many corners throughout the vast city. On the streets you see people whose costumes reflect their origin in every corner oi the U.5.5.R... which in territory covers one-sixth of the earth’s surface, and whose -copulation totals 19,000,000, ranging from the slant-eyed, dark-haired, yellow-skinned people of Asia to blond huskies of the Nortn, with nearly every variation m between. ~ . Suddenly from the radios emanate a chimed few bars of the Soviet hymn, the signal that in a few minutes' there will be an important announcement. People stop and cluster in. smal. groups at the corners. They talk, trying to guess the content of the announcement. There is good-natured wagering. , Then a man’s voice blares lortn: “Radio Moskva.” He begins: “Prikaz,” meaning “Special Order.” The people are silent. They know another victory has been achieved by their own Red* Army, for which- they have sacrificed so much in sons, daughters, husbands and wives, as well as gold. ! DRAMATIC ANNOUNCEMENT The radio announcer’s voice and manner are dramatic. When he comes to the name of the city for which the celebration is being held he emphasises it strongly and continues rapidly listing the divisions and the army units which henceforth will bear the name of the city they have liberated from the German hordes. The 1 people are attentive, smiling. They don’t throw their hats in the air and cheer as Americans might do in similar circumstances, but they make plain in their own quiet way their great satisfaction with the newest honour won. As the announcer concludes he reads Marshal Stalin’s order that in commemoration of this victory Moscow’s massed guns, probably 224 in number, will fire twenty salvos in ten minutes’ time.