Evening star., 1949-05-12
Rail and Highway Traffic
Now Pouring Into Berlin
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lNOW POuTIng IN
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for assurances that 1t carried no
Germans. other than the train
crew, which 1t did not.
As the day wore on rail and
highway traf1ic was reported NOV
ing without incident" Included
was the first postblockade inter-
zonal passenger bus, garlanded
with evergreens and carrying AZ
passengers.
The whole program went Oh
with only two bitches. neither
considered very serious as Of now.
The Russians insisted that Soviet
owned locomotives pull the trains.
This the Allies agreed to. subject
to appeal to higher authority.
Soviet guards refused to allow
German trucks bound from Berlin
to Western Germany to 60 through
their lines without permits from
the Soviet-controlled East Ger
man administration or the Soviet
military government. 1t appeared,
however. that the Russians were
making 1t an easy formality to get
the permits.
The Russians did not insist on
prior Soviet approval for trucks
bound for Berlin.
Truck Driver Wins Prize.
A truck loaded with cucumbers
won the freight trucks race into
Berlin, the Russians clearing 1t in
so seconds at the barrier. The
driver won three bottles of wine
and O golden wreath as prizes.
Scores Of Berliners scheered his
arrival. r NJ.
The Helmstedt band turned out
at noon to serenade those aboard
the first civilian train leaving for
Berlin. It had come from Cologne.
lon the Rhine. during the night
The first Coburg- Weimar bus
had to wait three hours ct the
frontier because a Russian COM
mander oversight and nobody else
would clear 1t. When he arrived
he waved 1t through quickly. with
q smile.
ALI airlift bases reported "hy-
ing as usual" today. The Rus
slams, also as usual, were sending
fighter planes to maneuver in air.
lift corridors, a practice which
has been a sore spot with the
Allied authorities.
Travellers who have passed
through Russian control points
unanimously said they had been
treated courteously. and that the
Russian soldiers on duty seemed
In affable mood.
U. s. Train 3 Hours Late.
The first postblockade Amer
ican train to Berlin arrived at
9:40 am. (3:40 am, EST. three
hours late.
Train Commander 1t. William
r. Vanderpoel of Wichita. Kans..
refused immediate comment on
the reason for the delay.
Passengers said they had been
told by other train officials the
Russians held the nine-car train
for two hours contending the Al
lies scheduled only one train for
the initial trip.
They said, however, once the
train got under way the Russians
did not bother it and most Of the
passengers slept through the So-
Wet check.
Only a few spectators were on
hand at Berlin's Lichterfiede West
station to greet the train which
carried fewer than 20 passengers
most of them soldiers.
Like Oklahoma Land Rush.
The race to be first by highway
into Berlin from the west was
q hilarious. jostling 1949 version
| of an Oklahoma land rush. It
was every man for himself, in
jeeps. trucks and passenger cars.
The first of the pack crossed the
Soviet zone into Berlin at 1:46
m. Berlin time f9:46 pm. EDIT.
and the road blockage was thing
of the past.
An American newsman was at
the wheel, with other carloads Of
foreign correspondents in hot
pursuit. He said. Nothing hap
pened all the way. We came right
through" And that was the story
| OF the others-no red tape, no
grumbling. no discourtesy.
Exactly nine minutes after the
first automobile reached Berlin.
Soviet guards gave the go-ahead
to the first train from the West
Ia military train, loaded mostly
with newsmen and photograph
ers. 1t rolled on to Berlin.
Behind 1t were trains laden
with the food and coal supplies
releasing West Berlin's people
from the blockade pinch.
Barriers Down ON Schedule.
The barriers went down on
schedule all along the 1.000-mile
German cold war front. A Ger
man truck was cleared from the
British sector at Lubbock. near
the Baltic. at exactly midnight.
The first German truck from the
Soviet sector arrived at the British
barrier. headed west. just four
minutes later and was rs quickly
cleared. German police said stNol
3,