U.S. Withdraws From Two WWII Events With Soviets

VIENNA —  The United States has withdrawn from two military ceremonies in Austria that it had scheduled with the Soviets to commemorate the end of World War II and Austrian independence, the U.S. Embassy said today.

Embassy spokesman Michael Bennett said he was not authorized to comment on why the United States pulled out of the two events in the provinces of Styria and Lower Austria.

But an embassy source suggested the change of heart was to show Washington’s displeasure over the death of U.S. Army Maj. Arthur D. Nicholson Jr., shot by a Soviet guard in East Germany last month.

Because of the shooting death, U.S. officials boycotted a ceremonial reunion of American and Soviet veterans at the Elbe River in Torgau, East Germany, Thursday.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz is scheduled to meet with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko on May 15, as part of the Austrian ceremonies. There was no immediate word on whether those plans had been affected.

Meetings of the superpowers’ military attaches had been planned on former demarcation lines between the postwar Soviet and U.S. occupation zones. Austria, like Germany, was divided into zones by the victorious World War II Allies and granted full independence in 1955.

“I can confirm that the U.S. has withdrawn from the planned ceremonies at Lietzen and Erlauf,” Bennett said. “Letters went from the embassy to the people organizing the events announcing our withdrawal.”