HEAVILY BATTERED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 November 1943, Page 3

HEAVILY BATTERED

BUT NOT YET BROKEN BERLIN STILL IMPORTANT WAR CENTRE. PEOPLE LIVING FROM HAND TO MOUTH. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, November 28. Berlin is not broken yet —that seems to be the lesson of all the weekend news which came into Stockholm, not only from the heavily censored Berlin correspondents but also from all responsible travellers and diplomats, says the “Daily Express” Stockholm correspondent. “With their city shattered and battered,” he says, "the Berliners are living from hand to mouth. Air Chief Marshal Harris’s ‘section by section' bombing was carried out with an accuracy which amazes everyone. But all the same the capital's life goes on. Berlin still remains a war centre- of strategic importance. “The plain fact seems to be that many observers who know Berlin well were wrong when they prophesied that the Berliners could never stand up to real air attacks on the ground that they were excessively nervy during the false alarms in the early part of the war. Now that the real thing has come and the period of waiting is over Berliners have not panicked after all, though thousands are still trying to get out of the city as quickly' as possible. “Moreover, the authorities have decided to let essential portions of the Government ' administration remain. The Berlin authorities are concentrating on getting some sort or order restored to the city, and after the first reeling shock from the raids they seem to be getting a certain grip on the situation.

“One sign of this is the increasingcare with which the correspondents are now being forced to write their dispatches, so that today no more news of the exact location of the bomb damage came out from the correspondents.” According to the “Afton Tidningen’s” Berlin correspondent, Berliners are lining up in long queues at fire hydrants to get a small ration of water. A million Berliners are estimated to be living in cellars. The lack of foodstuffs has become more apparent. The “Afton Tidningen” quotes reports that total evacuation of Berlin has been recommended because of the water shortage.