ORDER RESTORED BY CZECHS
SUDETENS NOW UNDER
MARTIAL LAW
SCHWADEK3ACH RETAKEN
BY POLICE
SPECIAL TRIBUNALS TO
TRY OFFENDERS
(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT.) (Received September 15, 11 p.m.) PRAGUE, September 15. Martial law has completely restored order in the Sudeten areas.
The police regained control of Schwadenbach, again taking possession of the police post. No arrests were made, the rioters fleeing to Germany.
Anxiety is expressed in Government circles regarding’the fate of 20 Czech gendarmes in Schwadenbach. It is understood that §l number were captured and taken to a part of" the town across the German frontier.
The Sudeten version of the fight is that the trouble started when Communists provoked Sudeten Germans. Gendarmes tried to intervene and the crowd followed them to the police station, from which a steady rifle fire suddenly opened. The crowd then stormed the station. The gendarmes tried to flee, but all were shot down. The Sudetens armed themselves from the police stores. Czech soldiers are reported to have advanced against the rioters with heavy armoured cars. Police investigations reveal that many of the demonstrators were carrying weapons of foreign make. The authorities found an ammunition dump with Thuringian markings. It is officially stated that a policeman, a woman and four civilians were killed by shots from the Hotel Victoria at Eger, in which the Sudetens have their headquarters. The police stormed the hotel and arrested several.
The Sudetens used rifles and machine-guns of German manufacture. The police brought up armoured cars and machine-guns. Two of those killed were journalists of the local Sudeten paper, who strayed into the affray. The Prague correspondent of “The Times” says that documents found at the Sudeten headquarters at Gorkau prove that orders to start rioting on Tuesday were issued some time ago. The correspondent adds that the Henleinists, during their brief control of the different areas, ordered all non-members of the Sudeten Party to leave within six to 24 hours. While dispersing after sporadic revolts, numerous Sudeten ring-lead-ers were arrested. They will be tried by special tribunals, and, if found guilty, will be sentenced. The emergency provisions of these, tribunals provide that if an accused is found guilty, the death' sentence shall be obligatory, except in very rare instances. Two thousand Sudetens and hundreds of Czech gendarmes and soldiers are reported to have engaged in a fight at Hebersprik, near Falkenau. Twenty-five gendarmes are reported to have been killed. The Sudeten casualties are unknown.
An official Czech communique denies the Sudeten report of a battle near Falkenau: It declares that all was calm at 3 p.m. at Hebersprik. Official quarters state that the Sudeten report must refer tq an incident yesterday, in which four gendarmes and two Henlein supporters were killed.
. The Czech Legation in Paris and the French Foreign .Office deny the report of the Falkenau battle, but they confirm the report of a serious clash at Folknov, iii which four policemen and two Sudetens were killed. The official figures of the casualties since Herr Hitler’s speech are 12 Czechs and nine Sudetens killed, 37 Czech soldiers and 24 civilians seriously wounded. The Sudeten wounded are unknown. Two Czechs were killed to-day in clashes with Sudetens.
HERR HENLEIN’S ULTIMATUM
NEWSPAPER COMMENT IN LONDON
“DEMOCRACIES CAN NEGLECT
NO CAUTIPN”
' (British ornciAt. wireless.) RUGBY, September 14. Referring to Herr Henlein’s ultimatum, “The Times” states: “If Herr Henlein’s principal aim is peace and security in German districts, and not a tactical move against the Government, he can offer such conditions as will make measures by the Czech Government for the protection of public order altogether unnecessary, at least during the period in which the negotiations may be carried forward. That the German minority in Bohemia lives in hourly fear for life and limb and property finds no support in yesterday’s deplorable disorder and violence.” Dealing with Herr Hitler’s claim, “The Times” states that in principle it is fundamentally just and sound, but “the difficulty, naturally, is that of deciding and shaping the application of the. principle. It is well known that Herr Henlein speaks for a considerable majority of his fellow nationals, but no one knows precisely what they claim or how far the Czech Government can go to meet it, or if it can meet it at all.” The “Daily Telegraph,” referring to the Ministerial Conferences in Paris and London, states; “In such a crisis as has developed, the democratic governments can neglect no caution, and they are bound to make preparation for every eventuality. Nothing is more difficult to foresee than in what manner, and at what hour vital decisions, may be forced upon the Government,* or when it
may become necessary to defend the country.” V _ The “Daily Mail” states: “Any demand'for a plebiscite or any other plan to enable the minorities to _ decide their own future should be given the closest attention.” The “Standard” and the “Star” both point out that there is no reason why the clashes and the resulting deaths in Czechoslovakia should lead to war, since in view of the iron discipline of the Sudeten Party, such disturbances must have been sanctioned by the party, and they can equally well be brought to an end by a word from the same source.
GERMAN SECRET
ARCHIVES
STEPS FOR REMpVAL* FROM LONDON (Received September 15, 9 p.m.) LONDON, September 15. The “Daily Telegraph” says steps are being taken to remove the secret archives of the German Embassy from London to Berlin.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19380916.2.56
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22508, 16 September 1938, Page 11
Word count
Tapeke kupu
905ORDER RESTORED BY CZECHS Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22508, 16 September 1938, Page 11
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.