FOUR POWER CRISIS MAY RECUR IN BERLIN

Grey River Argus, 4 October 1949, Page 5

FOUR POWER CRISIS MAY RECUR IN BERLIN

.(Rec. 11.5) LONDON, Oct. 3 Regarding the belief at Berlin of Allied officials that the Russians may set up an Eastern German Government following their protest against the formation of the West German Government, Reuter’s Paris correspondent quotes the French Left Wing newspaper “Franc Tireur” as saying that the Soviet Note was “a warning before proceeding to act —namely of the forniation of the Government in Eastern Germany. The “Franc Tireur” added: “A great campaign has begun in the Eastern zone of Germany for the formation of a Government for all of Germany. If, as Russian-approv-ed newspapers demand, a new Government sits in Berlin, we may expect a recurrence of the Four Power crisis.’ THIRTY-TWO RUSSIAN MILITARY TRAINS GO THROUGH BERLIN . LONDON, Oct. 2 The American-licensed Berlin newspaper, Tages Spiegel, claims that 32 Russian military trains passed through Berlin by night between September 1 and 30. The trains, totalling 1200 wagons, came from Poland. Grab At Berlin Railway BERLIN, Oct. 2 The city authorities of Western Berlin to-day asked' the Allies to take over the Soviet-controlled railway stations in the Western sectors of the city. The Lord Mayor (Professor Ernst Reuter) sent a petition to the American, British and French Commandants asking them to suspend the rights of the-. Russian authorities to control the stations. Berlin’s elevated railways are operated by a Soviet-controlled management, whose, authority extends by fourPower agreement into Western Berlin. X U.S. Police Stop Russians From Taking Equipment LONDON, Oct. 2 The United Press Berlin correspondent says that American military police were rushed to Anhalter railway yard in the American sector of Berlin to-day to prevent the seizure of equipment by the Russian controlled railway administration. Eastern Berlin railway police were trying to move railway equipment into the Russian sector, but the Americans intervened. Raids on the Western yards have increased sharply in the last two weeks. Germans Hungry In Russian Zone BERLIN, October 2. Allied military patrols and German border police to-day turned back thousands of Russian zone Germans who tried to “invade” Western Germany during the Communist-inspired ‘‘World Peace Day” celebrations. Thousands of others, however, managed to cross the border to take advantage of the economic plenty of the West zones. Merchants at Coburg were reported to be selling goods at the rate of six East marks for one West mark.

American Military Government officers at Coburg termed tne sian relaxation of the border resrictions as “another typical move to heckle.” They said that hungry East zone Germans jammed the stores and stripped the shelves of items, causing temporary shortages.