Detroit evening times., 1945-10-24


article by Charles Lon cho has been foreign CORE
spondet IN Europe the past II gears, he fereatS that me
BgaF81s t6otd toTaTd the tinted states dHd the Rus
SLAMS and Communists set ont tr undermine Amerco@
prestige.
PARTII
ONE direct result of this political recoi was that Bull
" earians looked toward the United States more than
ever before.
They had had a belyfu of Fascism; they dldn want
Communism; THEY THOUGHT THE UNITED STATES
WOULD HELP THEM BECOME A DEMOCRATIC
COUNTRY.
Russians and Communists were well aware of this
tendency and set out to UNDERMINE AMERICAN
PRESTIGE.
Their first opportunity came when four American
soldiers arrived Turkey to find and evacuate shot
down American armen imprisoned in Bulgaria. Heaoed
bv Lieut. Harry Harper the group did an excellent Joo
Within three days 335 officers and men were on
their wav to Turkey But there still other Amer-
cans the provinces 1t was-up to harper ana MS Grey"
to track them down.
Then one night Russian lieutenant tOenf to the
UnIa uDhere the Americans Were staying. ne fo'd
Harper that Americans Werent '0Hnted IN nusoria
Harper protested the Russian con'mdndanf ne
commandant S6Ue the Americans ID hours to cross the
frontier British mission, under Col Harold Gibson
received the same order
uARPER wanted to stay and be arrested, but Colonel
III Gibson was worried about international mel
dent" At about o'clock that night both missions with
about Is automobiles met in of the Hotel Bulgaria
THE SOVIETS HELD UP THE DEPARTURE FOR
TWO HOURS SO THAT SOFIA CITIZENS COULDN'T
POSSIBLY MISUNDERSTAND WHAT WAS. HAT
PENING.
Then under an armed Russian escort the missions
pulled off for the Turkish frontier.
Hundreds of Rulgarans witnessed the departure ana
were ustifiably bewildered.
Weren't the Russians. British and Americans
Allies? The next day the Dhoe story plus trimmings,
all oUer Bulgaria
A MEXICAN and British members of the Allied Control
- hnoo 9
culties in getting supplies and personnel into Bulgaria
Many officers and state department officials waited
for weeks the country once n they were per
mted freedom Of action. -, 80
WITHOUT SPECIAL PERMISSION AMERICANS
COULDN'T GO OUTSIDE A SIX-klLOMETER AREA
DRAWN AROUND SOFIA. EVEN THEN RUSSIAN
OFFICER ACCOMPANIED THEM.
ast winter members of the -Amerlcan- -m1-13EN-
mission had to have special written permits Tor SqndaE
PRISONERS OF WAR. When American officers went
deer hunting in January they had to provide ood ana
accommodations for Russian officers
If Mai Gen. John A. Crane, head of military
mission and Maynard B. Barnes our state department
aptsS I So Sf 6S9 sse IN 4S6
and take Russian officers along.
TN MARCH an American Interpreter Sergeant Boris
| ("Buckv'0 KlIvshnof was severely beaten by two
Soviet officers He told me how it happened from his
cot in the infrmary
Sofas main streets and arroganty demanded his iden-
thcation papers. - >,
II the Russians Sp0ilng Tor
said Kuvshnof "They c,Issed me out in Russian and
said Americans Fascist 5. o. BIS and two-faced
allies realized was in bad spot so suggested we
go to the Russian headquarters and would show my
papers. One of the officers pulled his and slapped
M across the chin.
"Tben they both went to work They knocked
me down. kicked and hanged my head against some
cement steps
General Crane made formal protest. Three weeks
later the commandan Colonel Smirdof, called Amerl-
can officer and interpreter to his office
I'VE have conducted thorough investigation, ne
stated quite bandly land find those not Red
army officers. They White Russians who stole
Soviet uniforms and attacked the sergeant in order to
discredt the brave Red army
The American interpreter said Colonel YOU may
think Americans damn fools, but we aren't dumb
enough to swallow that one.
Smirdoff merely smiled and signifed the incident
closed.
CTOOL pigeons and police spies abound in Sofia Three
- men sat with notebooks in a screened-of cubbvhoe
just inside the clerks counter at the Hotel Bulgaria, tabu
latng the gongs and comngs of every foreign guest
Russians excepted
a. ,Un