Evening star., 1945-08-11
Room in EiffeI Tower
Still Is Allied Center
OF Communications
BY OTTO ZAUSMER,

North American Newspaper Alliance)
PARASITIC nerve center of the
tremendous war machine that
knocked out the Nazi colossus is
hidden in little room 900 feet up,
under the top of the Eiffel Tower
here.
I was the first war correspondent
permitted to enter this eyrie, one of
Uncle Sans most precious war
secrets.
The crowded street level and
second floor of the tower-where
more than 10000 GI's have Joined
the sightseers in recent months
contrasts strikingly with the Sc
cluded, carefully guarded third floor
where MP'S want to know your
business.
ANY one going there has to pro-
duce special pass from the chief of
the Signal Corps and report to the
sergeant in the ground-floo Office.
The pass must be produced three
times; on entering the elevator,
again at the first changing station,
and again at the second one, from
which you ride up in a large ele-
vator all by yourself.
Face Iron Door.
Next you face an iron-barred door
with phone attached to it, and you
call the MOO in charge of the con-
troll tower. He comes down per-
sonally. He is Sergt. James P.
Vaughn, Parkersburg, w. Va, a
former tobacco salesman and Army
made radio expert, who intends to
remain in the radio trade after
the war.
The tower control room, with its
odd shape, is one of the most i'm
portant radio operations Of our
Army. Before We day, it was the
central point for transmission of
messages between front and rear
Had the Germans know it, and
been able to bomb or shell the place,
it might have had devastating ef-
feet on Allied military operations.
Carries Heavy Load.
Even today the control room is
the exclusive feeding station for
long distance calls to and from the
Paris central switchboard 1t car
ries even now the heavy load of
messages concerning the tremen-
dous task of redeployment and sup
plies on the continent.
1t also picks up and relays all
radio messages to and from the
MP ''prowl jeeps.''
And over one chapter of the tower
rooms logbook is an especially
heavy veil, for certain very impor-
tant messages from high-ranking
United States Government leaders
now or recently on the continent
have come through the room.
Only FIN sets are used, their
number cannot be revealed, but each
can carry four telephone conversa-
tions at once. Messages go out in
all directions to relay stations on
the road. to Frankfurt. the north
and the west.
Six men are on duty here and
they work around the clock in three
shifts. Their life isn't always fun.
They cook their own meals and
sleep here, high over the city-a
magnificent spot to be for a while,
with as pretty view as one can
find anywhere in the world. Pa
rades and demonstrations can be
watched from here, and the first
thing anybody, whether private or
general, does on being shown the
place is to take out his camera and
snap a picture.
View Is Overwhelming.
The view is overwhelming. But
you forget all the beauty, Sergt.
Vaughan assured me, if, when win
ter comes and the elevators don't
run. you have to walk up the 1,75O
steps from street level, over a dig
lilly winding staircase covered with
ice and snow, and carrying a good
load on your back.
Looking around. you can still see
Jerrys imprints: the names of the
Muellers and Schmidts are pen
ciled all over the place but have
been mostly struck out with red
paint by angry Frenchmen. There
is still printed sign on the door of
the control room, with the warning
in German: Halt! Officers, en-
listed men and civilians are forbid
den to enter this room and the
platform"
The Nazis had placed several
layers of armor plate, which are still
there, on top of the room, with
heavy cables running down from
them. The huge 4-foot in n-diameter
searcblights are also still on top.
The Germans laid new cables in
the room only "a hours before the
chased them out. Uncle
Sam took formal possession of the
tower September /. 1914, after max
ing sure the Nazis had not mined
the huge steel structure.
There has been no explosion and
the only noise heard up here has
been that of a friendly airplane
zooming by, and the deafening
whistle of the loudspeakers, inter-
rupted by voice or teleprinter broad
casts. The nerve center never rests.