Evening star., 1941-07-16
Radio War Rages
AS Germans Charge
Atrocities 10 Russians
Soviet Officials Claim
Old Propaganda Stories
Applied to Soviet
BY ERSKINE CALDWELL.

BY ERSKINE CALDWELL.
MOSCOW, July 1s.-Dont forget
the radio when posting the Russo
German war ledger. Tank and avis-
ton battles may be supplying the
most pulse-sickening episodes along
the actual war front, but there is
also battle of broadcasts going on.
and the radio increases In impor-
tance as each day passes.
I have just read large number
Of transcriptions Of German radio
programs as heard in Moscow-pro-
grams designed primarily for con-
sumption in Germany and occupied
states and territories The tran
scrlptions were made here by gov
ernment listeners and were trans
lated into Russian and English from
the German.
The Soviet Union has officially
recognized the existence of these
programs from Germany and said
they were attempts to befuddle the
world by making misleading state
ments. A government spokesman
| said:
Germany charges the Red Army
with atrocities in order to cover I'D
their own misdeeds" He branded
as absolutely false a German radio
statement, sent 10 all parts of the
world, that Soviet soldiers were
numbering priests in the Baltic re-
publics and women and children in
Byelo-Russia. The statement had
gone out from the German air that
these alleged acts were carried out
when the Red Army fell back and
left portions of the civilian popula-
ton in those regions.
Sex Atrocities Charged.
The spokesman mentioned in par
ticular German statements, which
he called outright lies" that Rus
slams had gouged out the eyes of
women and dismembered the bodies
of babies. He declared also that
Germany was once more putting
into use selected items from its
storehouse of sex atrocity stories.
A few days ago. I read a tran
/ scrlption of radio program from
Germany which said that the Soviet
| Union took babies from their
mothers at the age OF l year and
placed them in nurseries. kinder
/ gartens and other institutions and
prevented their mothers from ever
seeing the children again. Person
| ally, I have had TOO many children
crawling over my lap in Soviet
homes to take any stock in this
story
One Of the most elaborate stories
to be transcribed from the German
radio has had many variations dur
! ing the past two years. I first
/ heard it in another form. told about
| French, Czech, Polish and Beleian
soldiers. The version heard here
the other day by government listen
ers is as follows:
The German radio said that Ger
man soldiers storming the Soviet
lines found Russian machine gun
ners buried in their trenches in a
standing position up to their arm
pits. The transcription said the
Russian soldiers thanked the Ger
man soldiers for reScuing them and
said that Soviet political commissars
had made them stand in trenches
while earth was filled in around
them. The object was to prevent
them from abandoning their ma
chine guns when the Germans ad-
vanced. The German radio claimed
that the Soviet political commissars
had stamped the earth down tightly
with their boots before running
away and leaving the Russians to
| their fate
Two Years Old.
/ It was said here by government
| listeners that this is the new version
OF German propaganda story first
heard two years ago, when the Ger
mans said that Czech soldiers were
chained to their machine guns, and
that 1t had been used in one of MANY
| forms each time Germany attacked
a new country. The obvious hitch
to the story, government radio
listeners state, IS that the position
of political commisssrs was abol-
iShed in the Red Army . year ago
and that duties previously assigned
to them were assumed by regular
Red Army officers.
| This particular German propa-
ganda story was perhaps broadcast
/ at this time in retaliation for q stats
ment made here last week that
! questioning Of captured German
prisoners revealed that the majority
Of them were politically retarded"
| (COpyright. 1881 by the NewspspsT PM,
Inc in the L. g. A, Canada and all The
| countries m the international Copyrisht
ITnlnn RRnrndnrtinn Hhnla nr u, "A