USA keeping Yugoslavian merchant ships in custody according to the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant dated 24 August 1946

An item referred to a broadcast of Radio Moscow reporting that the Yugoslavian cabinet asked UNO secretary general Trygve Lic to discuss on the next meeting their protests that the USA illegally kept Yugoslavian ships in custody. All ships were Yugoslavian property and stolen during the Second World War by the Germans and now lying on the Danube in the American zones in Germany and Austria. The ships included 7 passenger ships, 16 tugs, 18 tankers and 119 smaller vessels, 7 pontoons and a crane. Despite several requests of the Yugoslavian cabinet refused the American government to return the ships which were badly needed to build up Yugoslavia again. The reason why was not known.