BRITISH IN BERLIN

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 July 1945, Page 5

BRITISH IN BERLIN

CHURCHILL REVIEW SCENES OF ENTHUSIASM ' LONDON, July 22. On Saturday morning, Mr. Churchill took the salute from 10,000 men representing the three fighting services as they marched down the Charlottenburger Chaussee in a victory parade which lasted nearly three-quarters of an hour. Mr. Churchill raised his hand in salute as the men swung past in the wake of D Day tanks and armoured vehicles. At the saluting base behind Mr. Churchill stood his daughter, Mary, among the greatest number of prominent British statesmen and military leaders ever assembled on foreign soil in the last 20 years. Cheers floated across the Tiergarten as the band of the Royal Marines strode past the Prime Minister playing “Hearts of Oak.”

Immediately the parade was over the Prime Minister went to Berlin’s devastated Piccadilly, the Kurfurstendamm, where he christened the Naafii Club with the name of Winston Churchill Club. As Mr. Churchill was driving from the Winston Churchill Club, a crowd of Germans broke through the military police cordon and surged forward, cheering Mr. Churchill, who, according to Reuter’s Berlin correspondent, looked a bit flustered, but answered with the V sign. Mr. Churchill was met at the club by 3000 troops singing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” Mr. Churchill, who was wearing the light drill uniform of a colonel, said: “I am unable to speak withouf emotion. Dear Desert Rats, may your glory ever shine. May your laurels never fade and the memory of the glorious pilgrimage you made from El Alamein to the Baltic and Berlin never die. May fathers long tell their children the tale. May you all feel, through following your great ancestors, that you have accomplished something which has done good for the whole world, which has raised the honour of your country, and for which every man has a right to feel proud. Twice in our generation and in by-gone time the German fury has been unleashed on its neighbours. Now it is we who take our place in the occupation of this country.” Mr. Churchill asked Marshal Montgomery to make a happy event of the great victory parade by giving all The troops in Berlin a day’s holiday. ADMINISTRATION PROGRESS (Rec. 1.5 p.m.) BERLIN, July 22. A senior officer of Marshal Montgomery’s Military Government Administration told a correspondent that the Allied Control Commission for Gemany would be ready to meet and legislate from Berlin early in August. The Military Government had already solved or staved off most of the pressing problems which arose after the capitulation. The bigger problems affecting the future of Germany such as transport and signals communications could be solved satisfactorily only if Germany were regarded as a whole. There was an obvious need for inter-zonal coordination because the best use of the available economic resources, which at present were inadequate, could be made only by exchanges between the various zones of occupation. Much had already been accomplished as a result of meetings between the British, Americans, Russians and French and co-ordinating machinery was beginning to emerge. The Military Government Departments of Health, Finance. Justice and Internal Affairs, including Public Health, Post and Telegraphs. Public Safety and Local Government would first have to be transferred to responsible divisions of the Control Commission. Between 5000 and 6000 British civil servants and Army personnel were .already working with the Control Commission.

GERMAN SOLDIERS’ ZONES LONDON, July 22. “In British-occupied Germany there are two large zones which “are forbidden lands to all but a lew authorised British officers, where remnants of the German army who surrendered to the British are being sorted out. In the last month, at the rate of thousands daily, German soldiers have been leaving these areas under the ‘barleycorn’ scheme to bring in what looks like proving a bumper German harvest,” says a correspondent. “Hundreds of thousands of German soldiers are still left in the zones. The roads into them are sealed off and British soldiers keep guard at what are known as frontier posts—the frontier between the victorious and the defeated armies. Other natural barriers help to seal off the German forces. A string of lakes buttons up the landward side of one zone and the Baltic is the other barrier. “In their zones German soldiers live a routine military life under their own officers. From time to time British officers go into them on tours of inspection, , escorted by armed guards and fighting vehicles. They inspect German army camps much as they would inspect their own British establishments, investigating all matters which affect the well-being of the soldier. The German officers and men take great interest in these visits. “Life at the road barriers where British soldiers keep guard on this strangest of frontiers is fascinating. The British soldier has a wary attitude towards the German and is flrmIv resolved not to take any chances. Rumours from inside come trickling down to the British guards, and one was from a camp for German air force pilots who were saying with glee that they were to be allowed to join the .Royal Air Force to fight the Japanese.” The French Military Government has authorised the re-establishment of German trade unions at Wurtemburg, says the Luxemburg radio Reuter states that this brings the French zone into line with the Russian zone. A similar decision has not yet been made- in lhe Anglo-Ameri-can zones. FRATERNISATION EFFECTS. (Rec. 11.25 a.m.) LONDON, July 22. German youths have been going on traitor patrols during the -past lew days, the first since the fraternisation ban was lifted, says Reuter’s Westphalia correspondent. They took the names of all German girls they saw fraternising with Allied troops. Captain Pierre Belief, of the French War Crimes Commission, said: “I have seen gangs of young Germans with note-books along the banks of the Weser River spying on German girls. I saw one German girl kicked and slapped by Germans alter she left a British soldier friend.

The correspondent adds: It is common to see a Tommy with a rifle on one arm and a fraulein on the other walking ahead of the mother and father who obviously regard the prospect of a British son-in-law with great approval. Here are some British and German reactions to the lifting of the ban: — Eva Kaufman, aged 18: I love Private Bucher who comes from Pontvnool. W r e worked together for weeks but were not allowed to speak. We watched each other and formed a silent friendship. Driver Charles Bowers; a Londoner. said: German girls are not really interested in us. All they want is our chocolate. When we give' our chocolate or a cake of soap they suddenly before cold and aloof.

Hilda. Blaudat, of Oeyenhausen, said: Decent German girls were happier when there was a fraternisation ban. The soldiers did not-molest us in the streets; now we cannot walk five yards without a soldier whistling on us. GERMAN-RUN COURTS. LONDON, July 21. “The Germans in tne British-oc-cupied territory of Germany are operating their own courts, administered by German judges and with German lawyers practising,” says -a correspondent at 21st Army Group Headquarters. “The north Rhineland and Westphalia are to have 200 such courts, which will be under Military Government supervision, all the work being done by Germans. Only those German magistrates and lawyers whose records have survived close scrutiny are being allowed to practise. The German criminal code, minus most of the Nazi laws, will be used in these courts, which can impose two years’ penal servitude or five years’ imprisonment. The courts cannot exercise jurisdiction in cases involving Allied interests or Allied witnesses. It is expected that all the north Rhineland and Westphalia will be under German legal jurisdiction by August 8. The selection of new public prosecutors has been the chiej difficulty, as many of these officials have been ardent Nazis.” HITLER AND BRAUN . LONDON, July 20. A message from Kiel states that Admiral Godt, operations chief of the German Undersea Fleet, denied that U-boat 530, which surrendered to Argentina, had left Kiel on March 3 for Norway with Hitler and Eva Braun aboard. He described reports that the U-boat put the pair ashore at Argentina as wild rumours. WAR CRIMINALS LONDON, July 21. British, United States, and French representatives on the Crimes Commission left to-day by air for Nuremberg to examine courtroom and other facilities for the trials of major European Axis war prisoners, and to select a site for the first and main trial. It is expected that they will return tomorrow. The Rusasian delegations, at the last moment, reported that circumstances had arisen which- made it impossible for them to travel. Negotions have been going on in London for the adoption of an agreement which would establish an international military tribunal for the trial of major wsr prisoners, and these will be continued on the‘return of. the group to London. Oslo radio said that Norway had appointed Judge Terk Would, former Minister of Justice, as representative on the Commission. LIECHTENSTEIN GOVT. LONDON, July 21. The Government of the principality of Liechtenstein has resigned to enable the formation of the new Government enjoying the full confidence of the Prince and the people, and which has had no responsibility for political action of recent years.. A message from Zeduz, capital of the principality, stated Leichtenstein’s position had been delicate and precarious. Extremists frequently urged Hitler to incorporate Liechtenstein in the Greater Reich. The outgoing Premier, Dr, Hoop, and the VicePremier, Dr. Voigt, were forced since 1933 to appease Nazis and to play for time, but it is denied that they were Nazis. _ t AUSTRIAN ATTITUDE. LONDON, July 21. “Austrian and Bavarian civilians who originally welcomed American troops like liberators are now turning sullen and even defiant,” says Reuter's correspondent in Munich. “Many Germans are arriving from Berlin to take their families back to the capital, where they say life under the Red Army occupation is more agreeable than under the rule of the other Allies.” The Berlin radio says that a military court at Linz sentenced aq. Austrian doctor to two years’ imprisonment for removing tattoo identification marks from the bodies of four members of the S.S. SCHOOLS CLOSED. (Rec. 10.0 a.m.) , LONDON, July 22. The Vienna radio announced that undernourishment combined with the heat wave caused the Municipal Council to order all preparatory and secondary schools to be closed clown because it is felt under tne circumstances that profitable results could not be expected.