FACING STARVATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 14 April 1945, Page 5

FACING STARVATION

GERMANS NEXT YEAR CATTLE BEING RETURNED TO HOLLAND London, April 12. Many Germans face starvation next year. It is estimated that next year’s harvest will be about half Germany’s pre-war crop which even then had to be supplemented by heavy imports. A Supreme Headquarters spokesman said: “It is obvious Germany is not going to receive food from any nation producing a surplus.” No Allied food is at present going into Germany. Actually food is being taken from German stocks for the purpose of feeding dispossessed persons and for * example 3,600 head of cattle have been returned to liberate areas in Holland in partial atonement for the German theft of Dutch livestock. Most captured German towns had sufficient food stocks for two months but it was not known what would happen when these were exhausted. The present German ration was a thousand calories daily, compared with the French 1600 (2500 daily is a safe minimum). Very young German children were already showing signs of malnutrition but most adults appeared wellfed and sleek. The Al- - Military Government is urging the Germans to cultivate every possible square loot of ground but the problem is complicated because most of Germany’s food is grown in eastern areas which the Russians have overrun, while about' 10,000,000 refugees have fled westward.