Soviet Tactics In Germany—MILITARY POLICE REGIME PLANNED?

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 October 1948, Page 5

Soviet Tactics In Germany— MILITARY POLICE REGIME PLANNED?

(Recd. 10.35 a.m.) LONDON, October 15. An extensive purge is going on among the existing police force m the Soviet zone of Germany, coupled with the building up of what appears to be semi-militarised units composed of former war prisoners, says The Times correspondent in Berlin. Some reports put the police dismissals as high as 33 per cent. All the men in the semi-militarised units come from the Soviet Union prison camps and are stated to have their homes in the Soviet zone of Germany or the Soviet sector of Berlin. This is generally interpreted as a deterrent against desertions, because it lays the relatives open to reprisals.

‘At least 10,000 men are reported to have arrived at training canape where they remain in formations and live in k barracks, as did the pre-war German militarised police who later fought as police divisions in the Wehrmacht.

Both the formation of semi-mili-tarised units and the police purge are most generally associated with the Soviet proposal for the withdrawal of all occupation forces. . It is suggested that the Russians might make a gesture of unilateral withdrawal of their forces, leaving behind a strong police force to support the Sovietsponsored Central Administration of Eastern Germany.

The correspondent recalls a recent statement by Mr Kurt Fischer, president of the Central Administration of the Interior in the Eastern zone, that the police should be “highly organised, splendidly disciplined, well armed, well trained and include specialists in weapon training, whose

loyalty to democratic progress is beyond doubt.” Gunfire Near Berlin

The Associated Press Berlin correspondent says that fire from .Russian anti-aircraft batteries on the outskirts of the city shook Berlin today. The gunfire was apparently part of the Soviet Army manoeuvres, which have been going on for a numbei' of days. The Germans in the Western sectors of Berlin will get 2000 calories in November instead of 1730 as at present, says an announcement from the Western military commanders in Berlin.

The British authorities said the gunfire was ground artillery, not anti-aircraft.