European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 10, 1948, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A by a ,8?1 if Foj r is skis ii a ii a tkii4  i -5 he chief support of a Workingman s town Strols the first bus to machine land the pres picture Only a still further. A popularly Fine members \ Abinet of  mayor is Fauncil subjects King or the a Rith its heavy Linares li6ge,fibres on the the Catholic immune its hold laces and the Day the most have the last Jirauch of their int tests. Com Yazied from its icy and the Jated but Little Liege electorate. I there is not As much agitation no among belgian socialists for the nationalization of Industry As there used Ito be. Lie Geoid who love the satirically i humorous Side of things enjoy pointing out that the socialist party has itself. Gone capitalistic in a big Way owning outright a considerable Block of real restate in the heart of the City and a number of factories in the environs. They philosophically accept the fact that political fire eating is one thing f and living up to the demands of responsible Public office quite another. Unlike the British labovites the belgian socialists have not had to resort to an austerity regime. Theirs has Bee policy of plenty. As Belgium was one in the few european countries at the close of the War to have still on hand favourable Dollar balance shop win bloomed soon after the govern t had Given the Green Light with amazing array of u. S. Luxury goods. When the miners and Mill workers in from the suburbs to Thron Gace St. Lambert on saturday after Noons they look Iri upon labels an nameplates ranging from Dupont to Buick and from Frigidaire to  Are High because they were inflated when the stuff was stocked inform America. And with the Twenty five percent import tax on such things As new automobiles refrigerators and radios and despite the snob Appeal of made in u. S. A.," m. De Liege finds the bulk of available goods too Rich for his blood. The american influence in li6ge Wasi certainly stimulated by the War. Within a. Short time after its libera Tion on september 7, 1944, it had become the Railhead and main Supply depot for both the first and ninth u. S. Armies during subsequent fighting on the West Ern front As such with enormous stores of food fuel and ammunition the Cit was the primary objective of the Ger Man counteroffensive through the ardennes in december of 1944. While this attack fell Short by some Miles Liege did not escape the punish ment of War for it was subjected Toa prolonged bombardment with the in famous Al which lasted from novem Ber 20, 1944, to january 20, 1945, not counting earlier and later hits in out lying areas. In All 1592 Buzz bombs dived into the City during this period,.killing 1649 people and wounding More than 2500. Nearly three thousand houses were destroyed in the attack and Man times that number damaged. Rebuild ing and repair of dwellings has Bee slow but significantly Industrial and Public structures which were damaged or destroyed have been largely replaced. The housing problem now however is nothing compared with the period when the american army had under requisition nearly All of the hotels and apartment houses in the Central part of the City. Today the army has Only the hotel do suede a few apartment House Sand one office building to accommodate some 250 soldiers and 150 army department civilians working in the first zone Headquarters of the Graves registration command. The americans working in Liege have their own pm clubs commissary and Apo but the army does t pro vide quarters for dependents in free countries. And if a yank wins a car inthe Neucom Exchange service lottery he must pay the belgian import duty before he can bring it into Liege As Well As buy a License based on the vehicle horsepower an additional blow of forty to one Hundred  nearly All americans stationed in li6ge seem to prefer it to living in Ger  was t a new experience for Liege in 1944. Thirty years earlier it was the first City assaulted by the Imperial German army. The dogged resistance put up at that time by Thering of forts on the Meuse and on the Heights behind the City delayed life invaders just Long enough for the revered King Albert to Man Euver the bulk of the belgian army into line with scattered Allied forces farther West. Again in 1940, lying As it does before the Monschau Gap in the ardennes