IN THE SAAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 118, 15 November 1939, Page 10

IN THE SAAR

The repor^of a German -withdrawal ; on the Saar Front after some days pt '.". activity, an* of al' struggle? .for: ythe 7 heights about Pirmasens, indicates that warfare is still7 being ; ; waged urider: difficulties in this region. - London 7 ports now arrivirig by 7 air mail reveal , that the first French withdrawal 7. in 7 "this' fejgion was 7ribt so riiucri: drie t(f: < the condition of the ground, 7as :.was y ~ suggested at the time, as to the French " uriwillirigness to be7£brc<&> into- a heayy engagement in'advance Of-the prepared line. For reasons of prestige;/the; Nazis : 77 determined to reoccupy those portions 7 of German territory which* the French 7 : had penetrated.* This applied especially y to the Warndt Forest, where the French y forces established isolated posts, .the 7: troops in which, by rifle-fire and/ gen- ; eral commotion, endeavoured to per- y suade the Germans that the place was ' ~ held in force. After a week.the Germans discovered the ruse and when they prepared t0.7 attack .the French , withdrew from the^salient. The rainy', weather last month made great phages yy in the , Saar. The tributaries -of .; the y. y. Rhine,* Moselle, and -Saar7ywere yall swollen streams, the River. Blies, ;which -yy runs into the Saar at Saargemuehd, y y was so high that its bridges were awash, and the countryside :y "was 7 7 flooded. Some of the advance case- ; 7 mates of the Siegfried Line, on * the bankjof the Rhine; we're-abandonedto '.",;: the Germans after efforts to keep them 7 , dry by pumping had proved useless. -:; The French took: this state of affairs 7;7 to be an indication of possible jerry- • y building of the rest of the lhie. y ; :.