AMERICANS POST ARMED GUARD

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 April 1948, Page 5

AMERICANS POST ARMED GUARD

American troops aimed with tom-my-guns late on Friday night surrounded the German railway headquarters in the American sector of Berlin and refused to allow any Russians to enter the building, which, though in the American sector, is by Allied agreement under Russian control. The American Military Governor (Lieutenant-General Lucius Clay) this morning ordered the withdrawal of the military guard, when he learned that eight Russian armed guards, whose removal he had requested, had voluntarily left the building. It was learned authoritatively that the Russian officials in the building were told they could leave, but could not return until further notice. The American- troops halted all traffic within a radius of three streets of the building, which is the key control office for virtually all railway traffic in the Russian zone. Germans were allowed to enter and leave freely. • V Eight of the nine Russians who were in the railway . headquaiteis when the Americans surrounded it marched out early this morning. The ninth, General Petrov, who is the Russian railways commander, is believed to have stayed in the building. American Attitude General Clay said earlier that his troops would keep the building surrounded as long as the Russians kept the guards there. “We have never allowed armed soldiers of other Powers in our sector,” he said. The officer.in charge of the American guards said: “My exact orders are that- no Russian soldiers or civilians are to enter this building controlling the Russian railways headquarters, because the Russians recently sent guards there after dark.” The American soldiers would remain until the situation was clarified. The Russian commandant in Berlin (General Kotikov) told the Americans he had sent the Russian guards because criminals among the Germans in the Russian sector were planning to destroy valuable records in the building. On Saturday a Russian officer and two armed guards arrived at the iail—way headquarters in a lorry with food for the Russians inside the building. Six American military policemen with tommy guns at the ready stood to attention as they drew up. Lieutenant-Colonel F. W. Hilton, officer in charge of the American ouard, told the Russians they could put the food on the pavement. The Russians did so and drove off. Russian Refused Entry Soon afterwards a bus arrived with 21 Russians, comprising 15 soldiers, four men and women civilians, and-, two lieutenant-colonels, who told Lieutenant-Colonel Hilton that they were administrative officials and wished to enter. Lieutenant-Colonel Hilton suggested that they return to their headquarters and get in touch with Lieutenant-General Clay. The Russians drove off. . The next development was a visit

by two high-ranking Russian officers who marched briskly to the entrance, where they were blocked by the American police. The Russians glared, abruptly turned, and walked back to their car. Later five Russian, officers attempted to enter the building, but after a friendly argument .and an exchange of cigarettes with the American guards they left in cars. The Americans permitted Germans employed in the building to enter after a perfunctory examination of their papers. The Russians employ about 1100 Germans in the building. The Americans have established a temporary roadblock at Wannsee, close to the Russian boundary, .to check all persons and vehicles using the highway from the American sector of Berlin to Potsdam, where the Russian military governor (Marshal Sokolovsky) has his residence. They have also instituted supervision of vehicles on other roads from the Russian zone into the American sector of Berlin. This means that Russian vehicles bound for the Russian headquarters at Harlshorst, in eastern Berlin, will have to make a wide detour to avoid showing their papers. A.n American military supply train for Berlin passed through the Soviet check point at Marienborn on Friday night without inspection or incident. Russian Fighter Aircraft The Russians on Friday night notified the Americans that unusually large numbers of Russian fighter aircraft would be on operations that night, and possibly the next night. The warning was given after American transport aircraft had been flying the corridor route all day, delivering passengers and supplies to Berlin. The first American goods train from the west since the Russians established their controls arrived in Berlin with food for the 1,0,000 Americans in the city. In spite of this there was no indication, of any plans to abandon the air delivery of freight to Berlin. The first three buses to leave the British zone for Berlin since the Russians halted military trains carried a group of British men, women, and children returning from Easter holidays in England. Two armed British soldiers guarded each bus, with instructions to permit one Russian officer to board each one to inspect passes during the transit of the Russian zone. A United States Air Force spokesman said the American authorities did not regard the Russian notification of operations by fighter aircraft as a threat, but merely as a traffic warning. American aircraft had moved to Berlin more than 150 tons of food and 200 passengers during the last three days. Berlin City Council departments reported that the 1 Soviet traffic control measures had affected neither food supplies nor post and telegraph services. The distribution of food was being carried out smoothly, with supplies arriving in the city regularly.