RUSSIANS PROHIBIT GERMANS TRAVELLING ON BRITISH TRAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, 26 January 1948, Page 5

RUSSIANS PROHIBIT GERMANS TRAVELLING ON BRITISH TRAIN

(N.Z.P.A.—Reuter —Copyright) Recd. 5.30 p.m. Berlin, Jan. 24. The Russians seized a British military train from Berlin and prevented it passing through the Soviet zone into the British zone. The commander of the train had refused to allow Soviet guards to break the seals on

the train’s doors and inspect the papers of German passengers. The train' carried, in addition to troops, members of the British Control Commission staff. A special train from Berlin picked up the British and Allied passengers. The Russians detained the German passengers.

The British Control Commission has protested to the Russian military administration.

A British official statement said that two coaches containing German passengers were detached from a British military train detained at Marienborn, a Soviet frontier post near the British zone border, and had left Marienborn on their way back to Berlin. Although the British authorities did not permit Russians to enter the coaches, the Soviet border authorities, with British permission, inspected the Germans’ travel papers and questioned their validity.