International: Beware the Wolves

The U.S. and Britain were not the only ones. Russia was also having occupation trouble.

Letters home from Russian soldiers told of Germans living in cellars and dugouts without light, food or water, and begging from the Red Army. People's Commissar of Foreign Trade Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan flew to Berlin and Dresden, reported these remedies last week:

¶ Farmers were given permission to sell, without price or other restrictions, all produce not needed by the occupation authorities.

¶ A similar free market was established for all consumer goods, which had virtually disappeared under the Nazis' tight rationing.

This Russian laissez faire surprised those who...

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