WAR’S DEVASTATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 August 1946, Page 5

WAR’S DEVASTATION

DESERT ZONE CREATED IN RUSSIA

MILLIONS LACK NECESSITIES

(Rec. 11.30 a.m.) GENEVA, Aug. 2.

The entire territory of 400 miles from Minsk to Moscow is a desert zone, says the first report of the UNRRA mission’s activities in Russia.

The report, which was issued on the eve of the UI)JRRA conference at Geneva on August 5, says that every town in that area was practically destroyed. Ten million White Russians lacked all'necessities, even the barest necessities such as clothing, footwear, shelter, medical supplies, and equipment. There is no food, except cereals.

UNRRA found similar conditions in the Ukraine, where the hospitals were without soap and the population was living on bread, macaroni, and cheese until UNRRA supplies arrived.

The mission found towns which, before the war, were populated by 100,000 persons, of whom only half survived, living mostly in cellars and sheds.

The report added: “There is not enough food to supply even a fraction of the rations. The average consumption of fats does not exceed lib per month per person.” UNRRA planned to ship into the Ukraine and Byelo-Russa 559,000 tons of supplies, costing £62,000,000, 15,000 tons of which would be machinery such as surplus army bulldozers, tractors, and generators. The mission had been free to travel wherever necessary to observe the distribution of supplies.