THE OCCUPATION

Grey River Argus, 16 May 1945, Page 6

THE OCCUPATION

MORE SURRENDERS Stringent Allied Attitude LONDON, May 14 Danish patriots in Durmeister and the main shipyards captured, five German armed auxiliary cruisers. Patriots disarmed 250 German naval men who refused to surrender. The German Army Corps known as the Ems Corps, consisting of 150,000 men who surrendered at Bremerhaven, having maintained organisation and discipline to the last, are being put to work instead of idleness in prisoner of war cages, says the “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent at Bremerhaven. The German Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Raspe, and his staff, will be responsible, under British military orders, for organising the repair of railways, roads and bridges, and also farm work. The troops will work under their own officers under strict military discipline. /'hey will have German food, huge stocks of which have been disovered in. warehouses at Bremerhaven. Raspe has been told that if any man deserts or tries to sneak home his unit will instantly be clapped into prisoner of war cages. S.S. and Gestapo units will not be used. A Soviet communique says: The number 'of prisoners increased during the day by 170,000, including ten generals. The total number of prisoners who surrendered on all fronts from May 9 to 14 has thus reached 1,230.000, excluding 101 generals. General Eisenhower, in a statement issued at S.H.A.E.F., said he regretted any instances in which senior American officers had treated a captured Nazi or high official on a “friendly enemy” basis, which was a direct violation of his orders. “Drastic measures are being taken to assure forthwith the termination of such errors. Moreover, any past instances of this nature are by no means indicative of the attitude of the Army, but the result of faulty judgment of individuals concerned, who will be personally acquainted of my definite disapproval.” One of Germany’s largest submarines arrived at Dundee to-day, bringing the total of U-boats now in the United Kingdom ports up to 16. The commander said he did not know of Germany’s capitulation until yesterday, as the submarine’s wireless was out of order.

Sweden’s sea lanes to the world reopened to-day after five years of the German blockade, says a Stockholm message. Four Swedish ships carrying paper, this morning, left Gothenburg for American and Spanish ports. British forces have occupied Heligoland, where the White Ensign of the Royal Navy now flies, according to an agency report. Heligoland, a tiny island in the North Sea, 30 miles from the German coast, became an important German fortress and naval base until temporarilv demilitarised by the Treaty of Versailles. It was a British base during the Napoleonic war.

A German minesweeper, on her maiden voyage, arrived in the Firth of Forth, carrying four German naval captains and three pilots, who are handing over to the British authorities details of the naval disposition of minefields in the Skagerrak and Kattegat. Clearing of mines in the waters around the coasts of Europe will require about 18 months, which will be quicker than after the last war, despite the variety of mines. Work has begun in the North Sea. and English Channel areas after information received from Germans, and work has been progressing in the Mediterranean. The worst areas in Northern Europe will be the southern part of the North Sea, Baltic, Skagerrak and The Belt. The safe passage of British warships through the Skagerrak to Copenhagen was a notable mine-sweeping feat. Sweepers working ahead of the cruiser Birmingham and the escort, clearing more than 50 miles. New medical methods for • shell-shocked and wounded men have meant that less than one per cent, of 900,000 patients died in the Mediterranean army hospitals between November, 1942, and March, 1945. The death rate from malignant malaria tell from one in 700 to one in 14,000 in 1944.

Great air activity continues over Germany, many of the planes which formerly bombed strategic targets there now being in the air on errands of mercy and also for the purpose of showing the ground personnel some of the results of their work. In the past six days 27,000 members of the United States Eighth Air Force ground staff have inspected many of Germany’s bombed cities from the air, and at the same time other United tSates bombers have flown thousand of released Allied prisoners of war to Britain. Approximately 18,850 Allied prisoners have been transported this way in the last five days, those rescued including Americans, Britons, Frenchmen, Poles, Belgians, New Zealanders and Australians. Landing grounds were prepared by prisoners to enable heavy bombers to land, and on Sunday 200 Fortresses flew to Barth (on the Baltic, north of Berlin), landing 20 an hour for 10 hours. Eaeh bomber picked up 30 men, without cutting out motors, before it took off on the last leg of the 1,000-mile flight. Over >6,500 enemy aircraft were destroyed by R.A.F. fighters throughout the war in Europe.

The entire area of the concentration camp at Belsen is to be erased by fire on May 21. Medical authorities sav this is the only way to deal with the danger of infection. British military authorities plan to remove the inmates within the next few days. French forces after occupying St. Nazaire have taken over intact more than 50 German U-boats, besides 12 submarine chasers.

King Leopold, who is suffering from heart trouble, has aged considerably during his long internment. General Karoly Beregfly, Com-mander-in-Chief of the Hungarian Army, was captured while hiding at Tann, close to the Austrian border, by the American Third Army. Beregfly said: “The Germans betrayed Hungary and treated my people lil<e second-class citizens.” Doctor Emil Hacha, puppet President of Czechoslovakia has been arrested, says the Prague radio. After Benes had.left, Hacha was summoned to Berchtesgaden on March 15, 1939, and signed the document surrendering the whole of Czechoslovakia to the Germans Next day, German troops marched into Prague. Hacha handed over the keys and the Bohemian Crown jewels to “Butcher” Heydrich in 1941. A number of former Ministers of the Quisling Cabinet, and high Army officers were also arrested. They inclulde Doctor Jaroslav Krejci, the former Czech Quisling Premier, Richard Bienert, who took over the Premiership from Krejci last January, Kamenicky, Minister of Communications; Kalfus, Finance Minister, Druby, Agriculture and Forestry Minister; General Rudolf Gajda, the Czech Fascist Party leader, and six other Czech Generals. Paris radio stated that Laval will be brought to France under British protection. He will be fetched from Mont Juich Prison (Spain) by a British guard and handed over to the French authorities. The free Dutch radio stated that Willy Lagers, Chief of the Gestapo in Holland, who was responsible for

the deportation of over 100,000 Dutch Jews, is among the 10,000 war criminals locked in the Amsterdam Gestapo prison.