On Again, Off Again

For once, everything was quiet around West Berlin. Soviet MIGs no longer buzzed through the air corridors; U.S. troop convoys rolled peacefully into the free city without the usual lengthy delays at the Communist checkpoints. Washington officials shrugged when asked to explain the lack of the usual Soviet harassment; there had been no secret deal between Dean Rusk and Andrei Gromyko at Geneva, they insisted, no hints of a softening of Kremlin policy. Perhaps, suggested the experts, Moscow was just pausing to catch its breath before the next round of trouble.

For one group of U.S. troops, the lull was especially welcome. These were the men of the U.S. military mission-- in Potsdam, deep inside the Soviet zone southwest of Berlin. Three weeks ago East German police machine-gunned a mission staff car, narrowly missed killing the two Americans inside. Immediately, U.S. European Army Commander in Chief General Bruce C. Clarke demanded an apology from his Soviet counterpart, Marshal Ivan S. Konev. When Konev's reply proved "unacceptable," Clarke hung a huge padlock on the gate of the Soviet mission in Frankfurt, posted a communications truck near the entrance to report every movement of the occupants. Soviet soldiers could leave if they wished, said Clarke, but they would be tailed every inch of the way by armed U.S. troops. Two days later the Soviets retaliated in kind by sealing off the 14-member U.S. mission in Potsdam, confining them to its four-story, 20-room villa.

Last week, in West Berlin for a round of goodbyes prior to his retirement from active army service, Clarke suggested a farewell meeting to Konev. Over caviar and vodka, the pair talked in the Potsdam Soviet officers' club, then wound up their four-hour discussion in the U.S. villa. Out of the visit, to Clarke's surprise, came an apology from Konev for the shooting incident, along with a friendly leave-taking handshake. Next day, by mutual agreement, the U.S. and Soviet military missions were reopened and back in business again.

-- Under 1947 agreements still in effect, the U.S., Britain and France maintain individual outposts in East Germany in exchange for similar Soviet outposts in Frankfurt, Bad Salzuflen and Baden Baden. The original purpose of the missions was to maintain liaison among the wartime Allies; now they operate as legal checking systems, cruising the highways and keeping their eyes open for military movements.

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