FRENCH BLOW UP TOWERS OF RUSSIAN RADIO STATION

Grey River Argus, 18 December 1948, Page 5

FRENCH BLOW UP TOWERS OF RUSSIAN RADIO STATION

PARIS, December 16. By order of the French Commandant in Berlin, Brigadier-General Jean Ganeval, two towers, 250 and 400 feet high, of the Russian-controlled Berlin radio station, in the French sector were blown up. The radio went off the air and officials Defused to comment. General Ganeval said the towers were, “a very great danger” to “air lift” planes coming in by radar. “I could no longer accept the responsibility for possible accidents,” he added. “Consequently, I executed to-day, a decision taken some time ago to demolish the towers. The demolition took place without incident.” The director of the Berlin radio was informed on November 26 that the towers would be demolished, but no attempt was made to take away the installations and erect them elsewhere. Six months ago the British military authorities served the Russians with notice to quit, but they refused. The radio did not come back on the air at its scheduled time after the towers were plasted. Agency correspondents say the maintenance problems confronting the Russian authorities involve more than just the towers. The amplifying installations connected with the towers were also blown up. The equipment involved is Germany. The programmes formerly broadcast over the Berlin radio are now being transmitted through the Deutschlandsender station, which is now nearly as powerful as the Berlin radio. SOVIET PROTEST The Soviet commandant in Berlin, Major-General Kotikov, drove to the French headquarters to make a ner'sonal protest to the French commandant, Brigadier-General Gameval, against the blowing up of the radio towers. General Kotikov told Brigadier-General Ganeval that he could not accept as satisfactory his (Ganeval’s explanation that the radio towers had been a danger to the “air lift.” Brigadier-General Ganeval, in a 15-minute interview, “took note” of General Kotikov’s protest and again assured him that the safety of the air lift had been the only consideration that had made him demolish the towers. German circles in close touch with the Russian Military Administration report that Moscow has sent a direct order to prepare for the carrying out of “severe counter-measures” but the report was not confirmed. COMMUNIST REACTION Communist Germans of the Russian sectoi’ of Berlin described the demolition of the towers as performed by “reactionary forces.” The Russian-licensed news agency said the German Communists in Berlin felt the action was “vandalism by the French Military Government.” The Communist-dominated Socialist Unity Farty described the act as “a criminal act of destruction to silence the voice of truth and democracy.’.’ There is speculation in Berlin as to what retaliatory action the Russians may take. The deputy-chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Herr Kurt Mattick, welcomed the shutting off of the Berlin radio, “because it is supporting the Berlin blockade.” The air lift in the meantime, landed 5432 tons of supplies in Berlin in the 24 hours to noon to-day. RADIO RESTORED (Rec. 10.40). LONDON, Dec. 17. The Berlin radio came back on the air late last night, about twelve hours after its amplifying system was destroyed by the French blowing up its radio towers. Staff members at the station refused to disclose how they had managed to get back on the air on the same wave length, and with apparently the same broadcasting power.