Russians Hold up Trains Carrying British Ex-servicemen

Grey River Argus, 13 April 1948, Page 5

Russians Hold up Trains Carrying British Ex-servicemen

MEN REFUSE TO PRODUCE IDENTITY CARDS (Rec. 11.35). LONDON, April 12.

The British United Press correspondent at Vienna says: Russian guards stopped two trains, carrying British ex-servicemen, at Semmering, on Monday morning. The Russians held one train at the control point for four hours, and the other train for an hour.

The passengers refused to produce a special identity card as well as the normal four-Power travel pass.

Another Barrier Raised by Soviet in Berlin Area LONDON, April 11. The Soviet authorities to-dav demanded the closing of the British automobile aid stations placed 40 miles apart on the 100-mile autobahn crossing the Soviet zone from Berlin to Helmztedt. A Russian letter demanding the closing of the stations said the Russians would establish two Russianmanned stations to “service' cars against cash payment”. The Russian authorities said they would object to the stations reopening next winter. The Coblenz radio, reporting the Soviet decision, said that the Americans maintained two intermediate telephone stations at Leipzig and Weimar which “are the only links in the Soviet zone at American disposal linking Berlin with the entire world and in particular with Washington”.

An official British statement confirmed that the agreement with the Russians in 1946 provided for British aid stations as a winter measure. The stations in the nast. two years provided rest points and a repair’ service to Allied vehicles. BRITISH TO COMPLY

The chief of the British Combined Services Division. Major-General V. J. Westropp, and the Deputy United States Military Governor. Major-Gen-eral Hays, said they would comply with the Russian request. THE VIKING VICTIMS ‘ The British and United States commanders, General Sir Brian Robertson and Lucius Clay, to-day attended a memorial service in the crypt of the ' Control Commission's parish church in Berlin for the victims of the collision on April 5 between a British Viking and a Russian fighter. High-ranking officers of the British armed forces and representatives of the military missions, and also 50 German civilians were among those present. The sole Russian representative was Captain Smourov. of the liaison and nrotocal section of the Allied Secretariat.

France Expects to Retain Force at Berlin

(Rec. 10.55). LONDON, April 12. The Associated Press correspondent at Paris says: M. Schuman, Prime Minister of France, told a meeting of the Republican Party that France would seek a three-Power solution of the German problem if co-operation on the part of Russia proved to be impossible to obtain. He added that France sought, the maintenance of the presence of the French occupation force in Berlin, and also sought reparations and security.