In pre-dawn darkness last week, 4,000 G.I.s cordoned off a 45-mile stretch of the Danube in U.S.-occupied Bavaria, rounded up 397 river craft. Tight-jawed G.I.s routed out sleeping sailors and their women, led them shivering on deck with the command, in G.I. German: "Snell-like" (hurry up). One fuzz-cheeked soldier who found a rust-covered fowling piece dashed topside, tripped, fell in the river in the best Keystone comedy manner.
But "Operation Grab-Bag" was no joke. Its announced reason: to break up a Nazi smuggling ring. Unannounced reason: to break down a Russian veto.
After the Soviets occupied the lower half of the Danube...
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