OCR Text |
Show TPOSSIBILITY OF SOVIET ATTACK : FINDS RUMANIA PROVINCE CALM across the bridge Into Rumania. The examination on the Rumanian aide wai brief and perfunctory- It la aaid. however, that the bridge la mined. By EDWABfe W. BCATTIE JB. CETATEA ALBA. Rumania, Oct 3 (UP) Everyone asxa: "Will Russia Rus-sia try to get Bessarabia back?" No one seems prepared to do anything any-thing about It should the answer turn out to be "Yes." I have traveled ISO miles by automobile from Chlsinau, capital to this eastern province which Rumania acquired from Russia In the World war, to Cetatea Alba on the Black sea. Nowhere did I sea anything that Indicated Rumania waa making any real preparations to resist a possible attack. Everybody knowa that soviet maps still show Bessarabia as Russian. Rus-sian. While rumors fly, life proceeds quietly and normally. Bessarabia is virtually unprotected, e Fewer troops are In evidence than anywhere any-where elae in Rumania. I drove from Chlsinau to Tighlna on the Dniester river ahd along that frontier stream to this Black sea port la the villages occasionally occasion-ally I saw a handful of soldiers. Only once did I encounter anything any-thing that looked like a fort It waa an observation post or machine ma-chine gun nest dug into the top of of a high hlU overlooking the river. The piuvliiiv vuuld, however, ' easily be defended. The Rumanian side of the Dniester Is high and hilly and the Russian side is low. There are virtually no roads worthy of the name, and those that do exist become practically impassable im-passable rivers of mud after rains such as fell yesterday. The country behind the river Is sparsely populated and consists of high, rolling plains devoted chiefly to agriculture and grazing. At Tighlna I witnessed an example ex-ample of the calm attitude of frontier fron-tier officials. An old, long disused, railroad bridge, the only one connecting con-necting Rumania and soviet Russia outside of Poland, has been reopened. re-opened. While I was there a combination com-bination freight and passenger train materialised among the red-roofed red-roofed houses of Russian Tiraspol, across the river, and steamed |