CHAOTIC CONDITIONS

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4572, 2 July 1942, Page 3

CHAOTIC CONDITIONS

‘Nine years of Nazism and war have tied the State-owned German Rcichsbahn into a tangled knot. The Rei hsbahn was one of Europe’s model railway systems. To-day railway conditions in Germany are as chaotic as they ever were in Russia or Italy. Running on haphazard schedules, the trains are crammed with jostling and surly passengers fighting for every seat and every inch of rack space. Wrecks are frequent and casualties high, although details are suppressed. All along the 73,000-mile rail network of Greater Germany merchandise piles up at stations and in warehouses through lack of transport.

‘Every new success of Germany only complicates the problem. There are huge troop movements in all directions and it is necessary to feed, clothe, and fuel a continent formerly supplied largely by sea, and stress is plaaed on an already overtaxed Reichsbahn. The seizure of a dozen countries has augmented the rolling stock, but repairs and replacement needs have grown with it. British bombardments made matters worse. Freight cars are loaded to one ton beyond their normal capacity. Whenever possible, shipments arc diverted to inland waterways. Goods ordinarily freighted by rail are trucked by parcel post. Sacks of flour and potatoes arc squeezed into passenger trains. All this had not been enough. By a drastic decree of March 22 the rail dictator has banned all cilivian travel unless specially authorised. Germans who joy-ride face the prospect of a trip to a concentration camp. ’