SOVIET ATTITUDE IN GERMANY A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 September 1947, Page 7

SOVIET ATTITUDE IN GERMANY A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT

(Recd. 9.50 a.m.) LONDON, September 24. The Soviet’s failure to honour its obligations to operate Germany as an economic unit had caused the whole Potsdam conception of governing Germany on quadripartite lines to founder, said Lord Pakenham, British Minister in Germany, at a press conference. 1

“The Soviet attitude has been a bitter disappointment, he added. “The whole world has been paying a terrible price for the way in which the Potsdam plan has been scuppered.

Lord Pakenham said that Britain had never accepted as final any breach between the East and the West, but had no intention of being permanently hamstrung in her efforts to enable Germany to become self-supporting. “We have no intention of quitting Germany,” he declared. “W e have to perform a special duty there to our own people, the Germans, and the world. We are inflexibly resolved toperform it* ■ “We mean, every word we say to the Germans. about offering them hope,” he concluded. “The rest of Europe cannot prosper without' them. They cannot prosper without the rest of Europe.” . “Russian troops, including tank formations, are being moved back into strategic positions along the Baltic coast and in other parts of the Soviet zone of Germany,” says the News

Chronicle’s” correspondent in Ber-

lin. “The movements are officially described as autumn manoeuvres, but observers regard them as a sign of Russian nervousness about the outcome of the November conference pf Foreign Ministers. “The movements are not regarded as having any aggressive intent, but as reflecting Russian determination to be prepared for any • eventualities. The Russians have been combing their zone for food with which to supply the incoming troops, and have already moved more than 500 German families from Schwerin to make room for army billets. “The implications of . these movements are not lost upon the Germans. Within the last three months more than 7000 young Germans have vanished in the Schwerin area. It is believed that they hav crossed into the British-American zone.”