Evening star., 1946-12-04

|nduCt Probe
secret hearings on the occupation
situation revealed that Senate
Brewster remarked to Assistan
Secretary of War Howard G. Peter
son that previous testimony was Il
the effect that 1t. Gen. Lucius {
Clay, deputy United States com
mander in Germany, must be cog
infant of the behavior Of certain
OF his high generals. who were con
Quoting themselves in a manner t
destroy the morale of the Who'll
troops"
Chairman Kilgore added:
II have recently talked to mum
Der of young officers out in the Pa
cific theater, and / have receives
stories from those officers IN tn
Philippines about the misconduct o
general officers. even to the ques
ton of hijacking cigarettes for sal
on the black market. ! PERSONAL
know from my conversation wit
those young men that that la'
ruined their morale"
Tells Source of Reports.
Senator Ferguson also brought VI
the reports of officers starting blacl
market operations while in the Arm
and then transferring to UNRRA t
continue them. He ascribed the re
ports to three returning officers
who came to him.
Mr.. Petersen told of Army effort
to locate and stamp out wrong
doing, but Chairman Kilgore de
clared.
"You will never convince the peo
pie that the Army inspecting itsel
is turning out all they know
On the other hand. Senator Xii
gore said, the committee has a goot
record of satisfying the public will
the completeness of its investigation
Gen. Clay appeared as commit
tee witness on November Is ant
was asked whether he has seen tn,
statement by Col. Miller. He re-
piled:
Il have not seen the full state.
ment, but many OF the matter!
which he talked about In his state.
ment. in that part which / had seen
had been under investigation II
Berlin for some time"
Clay Urges Inspection.
Gen. Clay testified that he coult
turn military government over to {
civilian agency Immediately" i
told to. He said two-thirds of hi!
executive personnel is now civilian
At one place, the general remarked
that 1--WE can't democratize any
country with men in uniform"
Gen. Clay said he preferred a con.
gressional inspection to an investi.
cation, explaining:
"An inspection may not i'm
ply possible lack of conidenc,
which an investigation manifest.
does imply" He added, I'VE vii
be very happy to show the opera
tions Of our Military Government
in Germany to any members of Con
gress at any time, and to any othel
group. That applies as far as
am concerned"
The Meader report dealt at length
with Negro troops In Germany. HI
cited numerous cases of alleget
adding: 1T is my belle.
that the War Department is awar.
of the situation, but is reluctant t.
take any action to correct it be.
cause they fear political repercus.
sions from Negro groups.
No Credit to Race.
Certainly the conduct Of thu
Negro troops, as provable from Wal
records, is no credit t<
the Negro race and proper actor
to solve the problem should not re.
suit in any unfavorable reaction
from intelligent Negro leaders"
In saying that "the quality oi
white troop requirements has beer
inferior" the committee investi.
gator reported that in one ship.
ment of 236 enlisted men. "about
one-tenth are not even high-gradt
morons." ,
Negro soldiers and German wo-
men have been consorting to a con.
extent, Mr.. Meader said
adding: ''In view of food shortages
some German women have been un.
receptive to the generosity
Of the Negro troops"
The report said the venerea
disease rate among Negro troop.
averages 897 cases per 1000 men
Mr.. Meader said that last March
the rate reached 1,049 per 1,00t
while in the same month, the ratt
for white troops was 158 per 1000
ct noted that some men may con.
tract disease more than once &
year,
Burgermeister Beaten.
Mr.. Meader relayed an officer.
report that in Wertinger, neal
Stuttgart, Negro troops beat up ths
burgermeister because they believed
he had instigated a raid by Mill
tary Government forces on home,
where they had biileted their girls
Attached to the report were ex.
cerpts from weekly intelligence re.
ports from United States forces ir
Germany. These cited:
"Senseless and unprovoked at.
tacks: Burgermeisters threatened
and beaten, civilian police disarmed
and dubbed with their own weapons
women being publicly molested, and
civilians being stopped at night by
soldiers who examine their passes
then calmly slug them senseless.
"Flagrant and public miscon-
duct.
"The continuation of incidents In
volving American troops Is bring
ing severe criticism from the Ger
mans who claim that the Americans
cannot control their own troops.
"Unprovoked assaults, excessive
public drunkenness, assistance In
the violation of German law, black
AnuEe5 uhTc