SOVIET WAR FEARS

Chronicle (Levin), 9 August 1947, Page 5

SOVIET WAR FEARS

Received Friday, 7 p.m. LONDON, August 8. Alraost all armament and mumtiou fat-tories taken from the Boviet occu palion zone of Oermany are being set up beyond the llrals in Asiatic Russia according to infonnation available to the Berlin correspondent of the N'evv York Herald-Tribune. The armament plants were the iirst and most rapid oi the dismaiUling jobs'done by the Rus sians. Aniong the factories dismantled were the Bergnian gunpowder and detonator plant in Berlin and the Heinkel airplane plant, in faet all tlu most im))ortant armament factories o heavy industrial eoncerns having t. do with war production. Boviet leaders are reported to fee! that in case of a heavy attack from the west any time in the tiext live years, they couhl not vet count on their secur ity system built up by bringing tmdei their ' control the Eastern Europeau

uations on tjie periphery. A relatively quick collapse of these countries ruus; be reckoned with as well as the possi bility of invaders once again foreing the defence are into llussian territory. As far as disnuuitlings in Germa,n\ are c.oncerued, the problem seeins to be that consumer goods plants are th only ones set up in Ihe European part; of Russia close to the western l'ron tiers. With few exceptions the heavy industries are farther east. The correspondent also says Soviet fears of an attack from the west ari apparently playing a larger share in motivating their present policy than had at lirst been realised by western Allied observers in Russia. The Russians in Eastern Germany and through out Eastern Europe give the impressioi: that they feel themselves in a terrible race against time. They do not wanf war and do not feel themselves suffi ciently prepared vet. They ar.e alanned that it might come soon. The terrible dilemma of the Soviet Union is this. The Soviet authorities feel they must take ste]>s to • makttheir country, as well as the periphery countries, self-sufficient and indepen dent from the west so that, in the event of war, they will not suffer from a break in the west. But in taking steL>s to niake this area self-sufficient, the Soviet L'nion increased thp strain on international relations, thus making ihe very peare they desired more un certain.