NOT MERELY GOSSIP
Hanighen, Frank C.
Not Merely Gossip By FRANK C. HANIGHENi BLOODY disorder in Germany is a distant possibility this Winter, according to informed observers. The trouble would come from demobilized German soldiers...
...Apparently Russia has decided to pursue the same policy in Hungary as that initiated in Finland—non-interference in the internal affairs of small nations...
...These informed observers have also revealed hitherto secret figures on the basic cause of German unrest— the shortage of food...
...PRESIDENT TRUMAN is leaning heavily on his Army and Navy advisers in the shaping of foreign policy, according to well-informed officials...
...Disorders would be sporadic, without any coordinated plan and not necessarily connected with revival of Nazism or Communism...
...It remains to be seen whether this is an exceptional policy or whether it will become general in Eastern Europe...
...THE absence of Stalin from the Red Square celebration of November 6, as well as the conspicuously brief mention of the Red Dictator in Molotov's long speech, will certainly stimulate further speculation— so far lacking confirmation—as to his health and grip on power...
...But Mr...
...Additionally, Molotov's speech, according to some, deepens the impression that the Foreign Secretary seems to be "running the show...
...The Admirals know that such a Department would destroy the autonomy which the Navy now enjoys and would probably relegate the Navy to an inferior position in the whole defense setup...
...ONE of the obstacles in the path of the Pearl Harbor committee is the attitude of the Navy...
...This explains the Navy Department's resistance against Committee efforts to obtain vital information and documents relevant to the investigation...
...It is not improbable that these elements, rendered completely desperate by starvation and chaos, would clash with American and other occupying troops...
...This was strikingly illustrated, it is said, in the composition of the Navy Day speech, which laid down the "Twelve Commandments" of our foreign policy...
...The State Department draft was described as "conciliatory" and "general...
...Army and Navy circles claim that Far Eastern policy is now going "their way...
...the armed services' draft as "more specific" and "firm...
...RUSSIA deserves credit, say diplomatic observers, for permitting the free national elections in Hungary, which resulted in victory for the middle-class Small Holders Party and crushing defeat for the Communist Party...
...In the Russian occupation zone of what remains of Germany (between the Elbe and Oder), the total crop will not exceed 50 per cent of the 1935-39 average...
...The State Department was, of course, consulted and one of Mr...
...All this means that, whereas Germany used to be 80 per cent self-sufficient in food, it is now less than 50 per cent self-sufficient, and imports of food are negligible today...
...Of no less importance in this speech was the emphasis on Russia's grievance at her pointed exclusion from the secrets of the atomic bomb...
...General Eisenhower's warning on this subject was designed to relieve the Army of responsibility for the results of Potsdam and the Morgenthau plan...
...The total loss of grain equivalent in the entire Reich is estimated at between 13 and 14 million tons, or about 40 per cent of the average 1935-39 production...
...Army circles express confidence that the final power over Japan will remain in the hands of General MacArthur...
...The General Staff of such unrest would be Hunger...
...In the western occupied zones, the total crop approximates 80 per cent of this average, but this is the least important agricultural section...
...In the German areas ceded to Poland, the grain and potato harvest is not more than 15 per cent of the 1935-39 average, or a loss of grain equivalent to eight million tons...
...Evidence brought out in the hearings might swing public opinion to support of a unified Department of National Defense...
...Formerly desirous of exposing the facts about the great disaster to clear the name of Admiral Kimmel, the Navy reportedly prefers now to whitewash the affair, for a very vital reason...
...The trouble would come from demobilized German soldiers and displaced persons, equipped with arms bought or stolen from occupation forces...
...Byrnes' assistants produced a draft of a speech...
...In short, Germans and other inhabitants of the occupied zones will take to banditry in order to obtain food...
...But it would be a mistake to envisage any organized revolt...
...But they admit that the trend of policy in Europe— more influenced by the State Department—remains obscure...
...Truman reportedly shelved this draft and framed his speech largely on a draft supplied by the armed services...
...Unless relief supplies are sent promptly, Germany will descend further into chaos...
Vol. 9 • November 1945 • No. 46
