Evening star., 1953-07-12
Army Tanks, Troops
SwOOped on Beria,
U.S.. Officials Believe
By John N. HightOweF
A.annlaAnA Rnnaa SAs.G& W.iAaR

NSSOStOiNo TtSSS Sto't "sbOs
United States ofi1cials believe
Red army tanks and soldiers
took part in the arrest Of Law
renty P. Beria, RuSsia'S second
most powerful man and its secret
police chief.
Piecing bits Of evidence to-
gether, diplomats think Beria
was seized around 5 pm. Sat-
urday, June 81, with the guns
of tanks and rifles Of soldiers
arrayed for his destruction II
he resisted.
In fact 1t was the thunder
of tanks and truckloads Of troops
along Moscow's Sadovaya boule-
ward, about two miles from the
Kremlin in the general neigh
borhood of Beria's home, which
first gave the tipo1 to Western
diplomats that something big
was up.
Timing Important.
Aside from the drama Of the
affairs, the time Of June q is
important. If that in fact was
the day Of the arrest, it gives a
date for checking actions of the
Russian government to deter
mine whether policy changes
may flow from Beria's custer.
The big Three" Western For
eign Ministers, meeting here,
have tentatively agreed that Pre-
mier Georgi Malenkov may aban-
don the new, friendly look of
Soviet policy and go back to a
tougher line now that Beria is
out of the way.
But like almost everything else
about Russia, this is speculation.
Diplomatic informantS said to-
day that what has happened
since June q offers as much
evidence that the Russians are
going on with their peace Of
fensive" instead of changing.
The incident of the tanks
coupled with Beria's failure to
appear at an opera performance
in the Bolshoi Theatre that night
led United States Ambassador
Charles E. Bohlen and other
Western diplomats to warn their
governments that Beria might
be a purge victim.
Events Reconstructed.
What happened insofar as the
facts may now be reconstructed
Is this:
About 5 pm, Moscow time, on
June 81, tanks and truckloads of
soldiers roared into the capital
of the Red empire and along the
wide Sadovoya boulevard in the
direction of the Kremlin.
The United States Embassy
Office building has windows open
ing on this boulevard.
The military force was OBJ
served to be travelling in the di-
rection Of the Kremlin, head
quarters Of top Soviet leaders Of
whom Beria was then officially
still one. It did not necessarily
go to the Kremlin, however, for
Beria's house is in this region of
the city and it may have been
the military objective. N
The appearance of the force
In the city was so unusual as to
start a wave of discussion among
foreign diplomats almost at
once. That night the diplomatic
corps went to the opera for the
first performance Of a newswork
The Degembrist.' Malenkov,
Molotov - everybody else was
there but not Beria.
Within three or four days, Mr..
Bohlen, a veteran student of
Soviet affairs, had decided along
with the top diplomats of friend
ly Western countries like Brit
ain and France that the evi-
dence could probably be added
up to the startling conclusion
that Beria was being purged.
Had Alerted Dulles.
In the light of assumptions
about struggle for power this
seemed like logical bet. Mr..
Bohlen sent message to Secre-
tary of State Dulles pointing out
his suspicious. Diplomats said
yesterday he claimed no exclu-
sive insight and in the regular
style of such diplomatic reports
pointed out that his speculation
was not verified. NonetheleSS
the focus was on Beria.
Since his arrest was announced
last Thursday night. Washing
ton time, United States officials
have tried various combinations
of known facts to determine
whether it may mean some
change in Soviet policy. Inter-
nally Beria had on public occa-
sions talked about protecting the
constitutional rights of the So
Wet peoples. In other words, the
chief of that instrument of ter
ror, the secret police, had tried
to put on the garb Of the hu-
manitarian.
In Western Europe and tc
some extent in the United States
experts have tended to identify
Russia's series of friendly ges-
lures toward the outside worlc
with Beria.
Furthermore, in the last few
days there has been some sharp
ening of tone in Moscow prop.
Aganda toward the United States