Evening star., 1953-07-26


difficult than getting out OF
Russia. Both were difficult in
my case.
Russia was far from my
thoughts that June morning in
bomb blasted Chelsea, London,
where I was living in 1941. The
telephone beside the bed began
that English double-ring and 1t
was the Russian voice Of an
amigre Russian girl that told me
of the German invasion of the
Soviet Union.
"Hitler's soobmorineS, she said
in that curious, melodious voice
--~
The business Of reporters is to tell
what happens to other people, not
themselves. But occasionally the re-
porters themselves get into the news
and the STORY Behind the Story
becomes Of interest. In this article
Eddie Gilmore tells his own personoI
story.
that I was to hear so many times
later in the U. S. S. r., less
drobink torpaydos all ovah leetle
mudda RooShia."
Il always thought she affected
this accent, but affected or not,
it was effectively
This was all very hard to tune
in at am, British double day.
light time.
What are you doing" I asked,
drinking vodka at this hour of
the night?"
After quite a few more ques-
tionS I realized Hitler had at
last marched against Stain. In
no time at all the Associated
Press ordered me to the Soviet
Union. But how to get there?
A convoy, I was told in a hushed
voice, was the only way.
I TAXED to the Soviet En-
bassy, confident they would be
delighted to hand me a visa to
go help report the Russian war
effort to the outside world. How
extremely wrong I was. They
never heard of me. They said
the visa would take time.
Sailed in October.
It did, too, but early in Oc-
tober we were sailing the Arctic
Ocean, above the Arctic Circle,
in a British convoy for Arch
angel. What witching words
those were for me Arctic
Circle, Archangel.
Every day German planes
would come out and look at us
and we would look back and pray
they would do no more than look.
That's all they did do. We were
loaded with tanks and Hurricane
planes. The Russian front was
falling apart and military ex-
perts all over the world were pre-
dieting the Germans would oc-
cupy Moscow in weeks. The
Soviet capital, we learned, was
already being evacuated.
A grim outlook, and made
DINNER by events in Archangel.
The Russian authorities there
had never heard of us Give cor
respondents, three American, one
English and one Australian, with
two Raj officers. They wouldn't
even let us of the boat. Then
one morning I saw a smartly
dressed RAF officer walking
along the quay, looking up at the
ship.
GOOD morning." he said
brightly, and those words never
sounded nicer.
The officer turned out to be
GROUP Capt. Qater Air Commo-
dore) Ivoe Bird, and later to die
in Moscow. We told him our
plight and he began to deal
with It," as the British say. In
a few hours we were at least
allowed off the ship, a doughty
little merchantmen on which
we'd been confined q days.
We crossed the Dvina. already
freezing, in a small boat and
spent the day trying to find a
Russian with authority to let us
90 to Moscow. DisilluSioned, we
started back across the Dvina to
our ship. We used an Archangel
ferry for this ride through the
ice and 1t brought me IN close
contact with Russians in mass
for the first time.
Icebound in the River.
The pilot of the wood-burnlng
ferry showed utter disregard Tor
the big ice blocks. When the
ferry would get halted by them'
he would throw her into reverse,
and then charge the blocks. the
entire craft quivering. Again ana
again. After an hour OF this
we reached solid ice, IS yards
from the river bank. The ferry
could go no farther.
The 200 Russians on the ferry
began to pour over the sides,
down a sort of ladder. I noticed
that the first one was a cripple:
He reached the ice and started
out on his crutches.
He took three PAGES and tnen,
whoops! His crutches shot out
from under him and he fell on
the ice.
Roar after roar Of laughter
swept the 200 Russians. The
cripple got up and grinned. /
"That's very Oriental" said
one of the Raj officers. land
never forget this. The Russians
are cruel people. But so beautl-
fully cruel"
After six days in Archangel
word got through from Moscow
to let us come to Moscow. On we
went to the railway station IN
snowstorm. Never mind. we
were on our way. We thought
everything was fine. but at the
railway station we discovered
that while the Moscow train was
standing by. we had no tickets