CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Plain Words

The most important military refugee from Czechoslovakia since the Communist coup turned up in Heidelberg last week. He was slight, soft-spoken General Antonin Hasal, 55, military adviser to President Eduard Benes until Communist Leader Klement Gottwald took over the presidency in June. Hasal, who at 25 was a general in the Czech Legion in Russia in World War I and fought with other Czech refugees in France in 1940, began his third exile with an interview. Excerpts:

¶”Czech officials insist there will not be a war. So do the Soviets, and I think they will be very careful to avoid the responsibility for war . . . There does, however, seem to be some Czech urgency in preparing for a possible conflict. . . Czech heavy industry is now working mostly for the Russians, producing not finished articles but certain parts that will fit into armament.”

¶”The whole uranium-mining area of Jáchymov is now more or less in the hands of the Russians. They have struck new veins of ore. Only German prisoners are working in the mines; their numbers are estimated at 70,000.”

¶”In the Czech army 70% of the 140,000 enlisted men can be counted as antiCommunist. Among officers the percentage is smaller because those with known democratic leanings have been purged. Some 1,200 officers have already been released or purged, including 25 of the 120 generals. About 14 generals have already escaped. Many, many more would like to escape . . . The western frontier is now more heavily guarded than at any time since the war. There are 45,000 police troops guarding the border and patrolling the Bohemian forests.”

¶”Members of the Czech air force have left the country by the hundreds, some of them flying their own planes. Because the government is worried that others may do so, it is removing many from the air force, which as a consequence is undergoing a marked disintegration.”

“Benes is not well; he needs peace and quiet. He is not likely to make any kind of statement in the near future. He believes his silence speaks for itself.”