WARSAW PREPARES

Evening Star, Issue 23368, 11 September 1939, Page 5

WARSAW PREPARES

GRIM BATTLE IN PROSPECT GERMAN ARMIES ON THREE SIDES POPULATION CALM AND DETERMINED LONDON, September 9. The Warsaw radio station announced at 6.30 p.m. that the city was under constant bombing, but will not yield. German armies are on three sides of the city, and 150,000 men and women are throwing up defences. The population is calm and determined, and is preparing for a long siege. All bridges over the Vistula are intact, despite constant bombing. The Polish Army Command issued a communique, reporting .considerable damage in the centre of the capital from heavy bombs. Several adjoining towns were raided, and the enemy lost many machines. The Polish Air Force continued to raid German mechanised columns. Our troops continue to fight bravely against overwhelming forces,” the radio speaker continued. “ Although being I'orCed slowly back, they are fighting stubbornly at Lodz, Liotrow, Tomaszo, Mazoieeki, Kielce, Tarnow, Rozanxvo, and Pnltnsk.” The High Command in Berlin announced that German troops had penetrated the centre of Warsaw from the south, but had not occupied the city yet. The Lwow radio announced that the Gormans are in the Warsaw suburbs. Broadcasting in a Polish-German accent on the Warsaxv wave length, an announcer xvas overheard warning residents of Warsaw that the Germans xvero entering the city early to-day. Armed Poles would be punished, and the population was asked to remain calm. Shops were ordered to close. It is officially stated in Berlin that Gorman advance troops have reached Gora and Kalxvariya, on the loft bank of the Vistula, 23 miles north-east of Warsaxv. Troops operating on the southern front reached Saudomir, 50 miles south-west of Lublin. A German Spokesman in Berlin announced that Hitler had placed Germany’s frontiers east of where they xvero before 1914. This means that Hitler intends to annex not only Danzig and Ponnoza, but portions of East and West Prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Poznan, and Silesia, taken from Germany by the Versailles Treaty. - The Berlin correspondent of the Associated Press of America-states that the Germans claim to have occupied Polish industrial areas south of Warsaxv. Including munition and aircraft works. BRILLIANT RETREAT POLES CONSOLIDATE NEW LINES LONDON, September 9. . It is believed that Germany has 50 to GO divisions engaged in Poland.-. The mani force of 30 divisions is operating in Silesia as the main arm of the pincers movement. . The other arm consists of 10 divisions operating from East Prussia. The Gorman forces are mobile and highly mechanised, and are capable of striking hard with lightning speed. This fact, together xvitb air strength vastly superior to that of the Poles, enables an offensive unparalleled in the history of xvarfare. The Poles, boxvever. are consolidating new, prearranged lines. Their morale, it is reliably reported, is still high. Neutral military observers declare that the retreat xvas brilliant and carried out at top speed considering the difficulty of the terrain. The only sizeable losses xvere hetxvcen txvo to sis divisions, which xvere cut off and captured at Poznan. ANALYSIS OF TACTICS THE CLASSIC GERMAN PLAN LONDON, September 9. So far from Warsaxv having fallen, its radio station triumphantly broadcast the famous ‘ Polonaise,’ and followed it by a military broadcast, despite an air raid. The Paris correspondent of the ‘ New York Times ’ says that the campaign in Poland is developing to the classic German plan—envelopment of one or preferably bot|i flanks by superior forces on an extended line. The only reaction possible for inferior forces is to withdraw and reassemble in a more favourable position on a narroxver front, and then to deliver battle. If the Polish High Command decides to defend Warsaxv there xvill bo a battle on four rivers—the Vistula, Bug, Narew, and Ukra. The Germans are converging on Warsaxv from the north, northwest, and south-west simultaneously. They are trying to advance from the south, with Tarnoxv seeming to, be the objective, but it implies the crossing of the Carpathians. Progress must be sloxv. The situation is serious, but the Polish army is still in being. Seven German aircraft landed at Lublin on Fridav, the occupants deelarin": “We do not want to fight for Hitler.” The planes and aviators xvere interned. , Refugees from Cracow report that bombs wrecked blocks of flats, killing 1,000 perrons. "THE END IS SURE" WAR OF CIVILISATION AGAINST HITLERISM (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 9. Mr Hugh Dalton. M.P. (UnderSecrotarv for Foreign Affairs in the last Labour Government), speaking at Bishop Auckland to-day, described the xvar as “ for the defence of civilisation against Hitlerism.” He continued; “History shows that in war our country and our Allies may lose many battles, but xve always win tho last.' These are the early days, hut our Air Force has made a magnificent beginning. They have dropped a few heavy bombs on German battleships and millions of truthful leaflets on the German people. Above the war zones of Europe, with her Allies, Britannia rules the clouds. Those are the early days. We ssliall pass through great trials ami tribulations, but the end is sure.”