EAST GERMANY: EAST BERLIN: MILITARY PARADE MARKS TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF EAST GERMANY

Record ID: 451054

  • Title: EAST GERMANY: EAST BERLIN: MILITARY PARADE MARKS TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF EAST GERMANY
  • Date: 7th October 1969
  • Summary: EAST GERMAN DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENCE REVIEWING TROOPS; ONLOOKERS; TROOPS MARCH PAST; MILITARY VEHICLES PAST; SVOBODA, AND ULBRICHT ON STAND; ROCKETS. Initials MJS/V/PN/PC Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 22nd October 1969 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: EAST BERLIN
  • Country: East Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVADB68K6SB5AOR7SK77NTE0BVLR
  • Story Text: EAST GERMANY TODAY (7 OCTOBER) STAGED A HUGE MILITARY AND CIVIL PARADE TO MARK THE COUNTRY'S TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY.

    THE PARADE TOOK PLACE IN EAST BERLIN. IT WAS RECKENED BY EXPERIENCED OBSERVERS AS THE LARGEST THEY HAD SEEN IN THE CITY FOR YEARS. EAST GERMAN DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENCE GENERAL HEINZ KESSLER DROVE PAST LINES OF TROOPS DRAWN UP FOR REVIEW, AND TOOK THE SALUTE.

    THEN, AT EXACTLY NINE A.M. (GMT) THE MASSED BANDS STRUCK UP AND THE SQUADS OF SOLDIERS AND SAILORS BEGAN FILING AT AN ENERGETIC GOOSESTEP PAST THE FLOWER-DECKED PODIUM WHERE EAST GERMAN LEADER WALTER ULBRICHT SAT WITH DIGNITARIES. ALSO ON THE PLATFORM WERE A NUMBER OF EASTERN EUROPEAN LEADERS, INCLUDING CZECH FIRST SECRETARY HUSAK, PRESIDENT SVOBODA, AND SOVIET PARTY LEADER LEONID BREZHNEV.

    FOLLOWING THE TROOPS CAME AN IMPRESSIVE ARRAY OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT - ARMOURED ARTILLERY, ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS, ROCKET LAUNCHERS, AND EVEN MOBILE BRIDGE BUILDING UNITS. ONE PIECE NOT SEEN IN EAST GERMANY BEFORE WAS A GIANT TRIPLE-ROCKET LAUNCHER, SEVERAL OF WHICH LUMBERED PAST ON HUGE HALF-TRACK VEHICLES.

    THE ALLIED COMMANDERS IN WEST BERLIN IMMEDIATELY PUBLISHED A COMMUNIQUE EXPRESSING REGRET AT THE PARADE, WHOSE MILITARY CHARACTER THEY SAID WAS ACCENTUATED BY THE EQUIPMENT ON DISPLAY. SUCH DEMONSTRATIONS WERE, THEY SAID, 'IN VIOLATION OF THE SPECIAL DEMILITARISED STATUS OF THE CITY'.

    THE TROOPS WERE FOLLOWED BY SPORTSMEN, YOUNGSTERS CARRYING BALLOONS AND PAPER DOVES, AND A VAST STREAM OF WORKERS.

    (THERE WERE DEMONSTRATIONS OF A DIFFERENT KIND IN EAST BERLIN TONIGHT. ABOUT TWO THOUSAND EAST BERLIN YOUTHS HAD ASSEMBLED NEAR THE BERLIN WALL TO HEAR A SHOW BY THE BRITISH ROLLING STONES POP GROUP ON TOP OF A BUILDING ON THE EDGE OF WEST BERLIN.

    THE PERFORMANCE NEVER CAME, AND THE YOUTHS CLASHED WITH POLICE AND MEMBERS OF THE EAST GERMAN COMMUNIST YOUTH ORGANISATION BEFORE BEING DISPERSED.
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