“WAR OF NERVES”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26747, 16 April 1948, Page 5

“WAR OF NERVES”

Russian Troops Concentrate Around Berlin

ALLIED WITHDRAWAL AWAITED

New Zealand Press Association—Copyright Rec. 10 p.m LONDON, Apl. 15. Reports of Russian troop movements around Berlin, which were published on Monday in the French-licensed newspaper Kurier, were confirmed yesterday by independent inquiries and by Germans arriving from the Eastern zone, says the Berlin correspondent of The Times. Messages from the zone tell of villages crowded with new troops and of many tanks parked in far-stretching woods. Reports last night said that about 100 tanks had been moved into the Muggelsee district, which is in the Russian sector of Berlin. Such military movements, the correspondent says, arc clearly part of the war of nerves which the Russians are now developing on an increasing scale and which are synchronised with the transfer of British and American staffs and equipment from Berlin to Frankfurt. This is a normal movement in conformity with the establishment of a new administration in Western Germany, but it is being widely interpreted as confirming Communist assertions that the British and Americans are in fact preparing for a withdrawal. The correspondent siays the Russian moves are undoubtedly causing certain apprehensiveness in some districts, but this should not be exaggerated. The bearing of Berliners in all sectors is exemplary. They remain calm and confident and this spirit is based on the trust which the great majority continue to have in the. Western Allies’ pledge to remain in the city.

The Western Allies are not going to be driven out of Berlin, said General Clay, speaking in Frankfurt yesterday. He said it was expected that Russian pressure would continue, but he denied reports that American Military Government headquarters would be moved from Berlin. Reuter's Berlin correspondent fays it is reliably learned that Britain, France and America have abandoned as inexpedient proposals for a formal proclamation of a provisional trizonal West German Government before the election for the Constituent Assembly. The Western Powers instead are examining the proposal for extending the powers of the Bizonal Economic Council to the political field. Railway Wagons Released

The British United Press Berlin correspondent reports that Majorgeneral Kotikov, Russian commander in Berlin, ordered the release of over 100 railway wagons loaded with parcels for Western Germany, which had piled up in Berlin because of the Russian restrictions. The Russians until now allowed only two wagons to leave Berlin daily, although about 15 are needed daily to carry parcels. In Austria to-day Soviet guards allowed two British military convoys to pass through the Semmering Pass road control points after only a 10minute hold-up. The drivers produced the grey four-language pass which the Russians previously claimed was insufficient. Military trains passed through the Soviet barrier at Semmering after a slight delay, although military personnel refused the Soviet demands for identity cards with photographs. Showing of Identity Cards The British authorities have apparently won a victory in their verbal battle with the Russians as to whether military personnel would have to show identity cards with photographs when passing through the Russianoccupied zone of Austria, says the Associated Press Vienna correspondent. British sources say rail and road traffic is now normal. Reuter's Berlin correspondent quotes a British spokesman as saying that the Russians, since April 10, approved of 3200 bills of loading for German freight, which means . that German freight traffic out of Berlin, which the new Soviet traffic regulations delayed, is beginning to flow normally again. Currency Reform Reuter’s Berlin correspondent says the Soviet Information Department has published a declaration in the Soviet-German language newspaper, Taegliche Runbschau, that reports that the Russians declined the Western Powers’ invitation to discuss German currency reform were “ provocative lies.” The declaration continued that in reality the Control Council on February 11 accepted the Soviet proposals to discuss currency reform on a quadripartite basis and gave the financial directorate 60 days to submit an agreed report. The Soviet statement, after referring to General Clay's failure to call the Control Council meeting for April 10, said recent events showed that the British, French and Americans had not abandoned plans for a separate currency reform in their own zones. The Soviet-licensed German News Agency said a new currency for Western Germany printed in America would be issued soon. British Inquiry Proceeds Soviet representatives failed to attend the meeting of the AngloSoviet Commission which is inquiring into the causes of the Viking-Yak collision over Berlin on April 5. The British representatives delayed tne meeting 15 minutes, and then proceeded without the Russians.