CONTROL OF DEFEATED GERMANY

Southland Times, Issue 25668, 10 May 1945, Page 5

CONTROL OF DEFEATED GERMANY

Part To Be Played By Australia (Rec. 8 p.m.) CANBERRA, May 9. Australia would take a direct part in the control of defeated Germany, the acting Prime Minister, Mr J. B. Chifley, told the House of Representatives after the official announcement of Germany’s surrender. He added that the Australian Government had been consulted on the terms imposed on Germany.

Expressing the hope that in the war against Japan, the British people and the United States would soon have the help of Russia, Mr Chifley said that Australia’s rejoicing at the victory in Europe was tempered by the knowledge of the big tasks still ahead. Both Mr Chifley and the leaders of the Federal Opposition parties, Mr R. G. Menzies and Mr A. W. Fadden, expressed regret that because of his illness, the Prime Minister, Mr John Curtin, was unable to make the peace announcement.

After hearing the peace news, Mr Curtin left his bed for the first time since going to hospital with congestion of the lungs on April 29. At 11 o’clock last night, when Mr Churchill’s peace announcement was broadcast, thousands of servicemen, youths and girls danced and sang in Martin Place and at King’s Cross, Sydney. By midnight 15,000 people crammed King’s Cross, blocking the traffic. Some policemen, who attempted to prevent the revellers from jumping on to cars, were subjected to a barrage of kisses by girls in the crowd. Office workers, before leaving the city late in the afternoon for .today’s V Day holiday, flung a snowstorm of torn paper into the streets.