RESERVES CALLED UP SUDDENLY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 145, 15 March 1939, Page 9

RESERVES CALLED UP SUDDENLY

German Troop Trains For Vienna REPORTED MASSING IN SLOVAKIA (Received March 14, 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 14. The 1913 class of reserves were called up suddenly today in Munich, and a number of troop trains left for Vienna. The Propaganda Ministry explains that the movements are in preparation for a review in celebration of the anniversary of Anschluss. The Bratislava correspondent of “The Times” says that there are unconfirmed reports of a concentration at Energau, opposite Bratislava, of German troops and Storm Troopers equipped with anti-tank guns and light artillery, and also three divisions of Czech troops near Bratislava. The Munich correspondent of “The Times” states that increased troop movements on the main highways, which have been noticeable in recent weeks, have been intensified in the last two or three days. Long columns of army lorries, filled with soldiers, have been proceeding to Saftburg, mainly at night time. ■ Travellers in the vicinity of Leipzig, Breslau, Munich, and Salzburg claim that they met large detachments of troops in active service dress, but that in the neighbourhood of Vienna, where concentrations were to be expected in the event of trouble, there was nothing that could not be explained by the preparations for a review in celebration of the Anschluss anniversary. The atrocity campaign in the German Press is increasing, the papers citing incidents of brutality and tyranny in which Czech terrorists are spilling innocent German blood.

RIOTS IN BRATISLAVA “Situation Unbearable” BRATISLAVA, March 13. The Hlinka Guards, who arc protecting their own buildings with rilles and fixed bayonets, called a massed meeting tonight in order to hear speeches by MM. March and Tuca. Rioting broke out during the meeting and police charged with bayonets and used tear gas. The spokesman for M. Karinasin, the German minority leader, declared that the situation was unbearable and that normal conditions must be promptly restored. German help, he declared would be immediately obtainable if necessary. The Germans have forbidden traflic in the vicinity of their headquarters. Late tonight three bomb explosions killed six persons. One damaged a house and killed an adult and a child near a bridge over the Danube. The second wrecked a German-owned factory, killing four persons, and the third exploded near the Town Hall without causing casualties.