BERLIN ADMINISTRATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 July 1945, Page 5

BERLIN ADMINISTRATION

OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES BLACK MARKET DRIVE LONDON, July. 23. “Unofficial discussions are proceeding on the Allied Control Commission in Berlin,” says a correspondent. He adds that the machinery is being slowly put in gear and that the commission may function in August. He emphasises the word “may.” Marshal Montgomery will still retain his headquarters at Lubeck. but he will have representatives' in Berlin. It is the aim gradually to merge the military administration with the civil administration, and it is hoped that before long Germany will be controlled as one unit and not in three distinct zones. Trains are already running between the zones, and it is hoped that soon letters may be posted between one zone and another. A senior British officer said that the aim must be to control the German economy through German administration and not by direct military Government. The Provost Marshals of the British, United States, and Soviet occupation forces in .Berlin met on Sunday at American district headquarters to plan a drive against the city’s black market activities. It was agreed that a patrol of each Allied force would enter the zones of the other Powers to make arrests of personnel of their respective forces engaged in illegal trading with Germans. The patrols were also authorised to arrest German civilians caught trading with Allied soldiers. The powers of arrest of'the German city police have also been extended.

The correspondent • adds that on Sunday British troops enjoyed their first holiday since they entered Berlin. On Monday, at the express wish of Mr Churchill, all British troops except essential staffs and guards will also have a day off. A United States spokesman in Berlin said that the German capital was now one step above the shambles it was previously. Many electric power, water and sewerage stations were still out of action, and such amenities as chemists’ shops were non-existent. However, Russian engineers had done good work in providing bath houses. There was no coal, but, said the spokesman, even cold water would remove dirt. The British Commander in Berlin (Major-General Lyne) has placed out of bounds to British troops all restaurants and places of entertainment where food is provided. This action was taken in view of the prevalence of typhoid and dysentery among the German civilian population. All these places will be inspected by British medical officers and those given a clean bill of health will be placed in bounds again. Yesterday afternoon a freak storm tore through Berlin, uprooting trees and sending bomb-shattered walls crashing down.

For the first time for five years the church bells in Berlin were" rung on Sunday—that is, those that had not been melted down by the Nazis. BIG THREE CONFERENCE. ’ (Rec. 12.20 p.m.)~~ LONDON, July 23. After quoting an American spokesman saying the Big Three met to-day. and are driving ahead, Reuter’s Potsdam correspondent adds: There is feeling at Berlin that the conference is drawing to a close. Mr. Churchill is giving a State dinner to-night for Mr. Stalin and Mr. Truman, which is described as the last series of official banquets. Mr. Churchill’s intention to return to England for the poll declaration on Thursday is not confirmed.but it is not believed he could be away when the results were announced. Il' the conference business is not finished before Thursday, the Big Three may issue an interim announcement, and either hold a further meeting at a later date, or delegate the pressing matters affecting'Germany to the Allied Control Commission. AMERICAN MASS RAID. (Rec. 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, July 23. Half a million United States troops searched every house in the American- occupation zone for weapons and loot during the week-end, says the Associated Press correspondent in Frankfurt. More than 80,000 persons were taken into custody in what was perhaps the greatest mass raid in history. Most of those arrested were released after questioning. Many of those arrested were S.S. men who are wanted as war criminals. The 15,000,000 Germans in the area offered no resistance, but of the two who tried to escape one was shot dead. A considerable number of guns and ammunition and loot, such as American uniforms, rations, petrol, and vehicles were uncovered. There was no sign of organised German underground movements. Some Germans when arrested were wearing American uniforms. They said they had no other clothes to wear. INDUSTRIES AND HARVEST LONDON, July 23. A “News Chronicle” correspondent stated: There has been a sweeping disclosure by Albert Speer, a former Reich Minister of War Production, and by Doctor Osenberg, a head of the Reich Research Council, which has assured complete success for an Allied campaign to extract every possible war industrial secret from Germany. The correspondent says: Speer, through a willingness to pour out secret technical information and explain data in his files, has proved to be probably the most important single prisoner the Allies have taken. Osenberg’s documents include a list ol 15,000 leading German technicians, and complete files of the German patent office, consisting of a quarter of a million volumes, recovered from a salt mine near Gotha. “Whatever efforts Germans may make, their harvest prospects are doomed, unless far-reaching sympathetic help is given, by the, occupying forces.” said Doctor Andreas Hermes, head of Berlin’s food office, in a forecast of the city’s food prospects, published in the first issue of a Christian Democratic Union newspaper “Neus Zeit.” Dr. Hermes listed Allied help needed as the delivery of fats and meat to supplement the harvest produce; the supply of horses and harvesting machinery; and also permission for the Germans to use the railways and canals for transport. Russian Zone courts LONDON, July 23. The Moscow radio, quoting the Berlin newspaper “Das Volk,” said: “Courts have been established in every district of the Russian zone of occupation in Berlin. The law administered is German law as it was before 1933. A judge has to be a proved anti-‘Fascist.”