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Berlin, Richard E., 1894- / Diary of a flight to occupied Germany, July 20 to August 27, 1945.
(1945?)
Rehabilitating steamship Europa, pp. 55-56
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Page 55
told that the British, upon their arrival here, killed most of the cattle. We saw the fishing harbor, the largest in Germany. Bremerhaven was almost wholly demolished by one air raid last- ing 20 minutes. We dined with Col. Connor, the Port Commander at Bremer- haven. He is living with his officers in a large assembly house- formerly headquarters of the German admiralty. We had an enjoyable dinner-the steak was served by waiters formerly of the SS Bremen and Europa. The musicians-all from the German liners played Viennese waltzes. Due to their ship training, the servants spoke perfect English. Rehabilitating Steamship Europa After dinner we motored out to the basins in Bremerhaven which are undamaged. Here we saw the Europa, which is being converted into a troop transport for the U. S. Navy. We went aboard and made a complete tour of the ship. Col. Skinner, in charge, tells us that the Europa's engines are in fine order-are turned over at least once a week. The ship, covered by netting had been camouflaged to resemble a farm. We saw the Bremen sunk in a basin, demolished and gutted by fire. Col. Skinner told us that Capt. Sharf, formerly captain of the Europa, whom I knew in pre-war days, is working with him on the rehabilitation of the ship. Every stateroom on the Europa still carries the German markings of the proposed Ger- man troop occupancy of each room for the British invasion. We saw cranes working, one crane unloading a locomotive from one of our Victory ships, handling the locomotive as if it were a match-stick. In this port is the largest floating crane in the world, undamaged; also the world's largest dredge. A ship-load of German soldiers was alongside the dock, hav. ing just returned from Norway. They, like all German soldiers, 55
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