FIGHTING BACK

Evening Star, Issue 23370, 13 September 1939, Page 5

FIGHTING BACK

POLES’ SPIRITED RESISTANCE NAZIS CONVERGING ON WARSAW BATTLE RAGING ON BANKS OF VISTULA NEW YORK, September 11. The Berlin correspondent of the 1 New York Times ’ outlines the principal Nazi advances on the Polish front to-day as follows:—North and west of Warsaw, where it is reported that between eight and 12 Polish divisions are fighting desperately to break through the Kutno and Radom sectors. The biggest battle of the war is being fought at the Polish fortress at Modling, on the banks of the Vistula. North of Warsaw the Poles are holding out against a Nazi push directed south from Ciechanowy. The most important Nazi drives are coming from the Narew and Bug Rivers sector, north-east of Warsaw, and the Lodz and Radom sectort, south-west of Warsaw. Thus from the north and ,the south two Nazi armies are driving to-; ward each other, and when they meet the bottle neck will be tightly closed and Warsaw surrounded. The Nazis are now firmly established on the southern bank of the Bug, and are driving south. North of them East Prussian troops have captured' Lomza and reached Nowgorod and Wizna. THE REFUGEE PROBLEM THOUSANDS FLEEING FROM NAZI ADVANCE NEW YORK, September 11. The ‘ New York Herald-Tribune’s ’ correspondent at Cernauti, Rumania, says Poland has been only 11 days at war, but is already facing a refugee problem of tragic intensity. Even such towns as Tarnopol and Tembowla, 30 miles from the Russian frontier, are crowded with men, women, and children who fled from the west. Roads have been choked for six days with people moving south and east from the advancing Nazi armies and air raids. Thousands are spending cold, raw nights in the open. There are no facilities whatever for handling such mass migration of civilians. Those who fled southward are likely to be trapped again if the Nazi armies make a drive on Lwow, while those in the east will be driven against the Russian border. P3LISH RESISTANCE STRENGTHENS ENEMY HELD UP ON SEVERAL FRONTS LONDON, September 11. The Warsaw correspondent of the British United Press says that Nazi bombs fell in Pilsudski Square and also in the heart of the business section. Polish* resistance is becoming more organised daily, halting the enemy advance on several fronts. The Nazi army advancing from East Prussia has hardly progressed beyond the line of Sierpce, Plonsk, and Lomza, which it reached five days ago. FRENCH MILITARY EXPERTS IMPRESSED PARIS, September 12. The check on the German' advance at Warsaw impresses the French military experts. Colonel Fabry, writing in ‘Lc Matin,’ states: “It proves, like Madrid, that armoured divisions are efficacious in the countryside, but useless in suburbs and large towns.” BOMBING OF OPEN TOWNS LONDON, September 11. The Warsaw radio announced that Poland had decided to lodge a protest to the Governments of all civilised nations against “ the Nazi practice of indiscriminate bombing of open towns and civilians.” NAZI DESERTERS GROSS OVER TO FRENCH LONDON, September 12. Paris reported that a Nazi officer and 20 soldiers deserted at Hunningue. The officer stated that if a pontoon bridge was placed across the Rhine thousands would cross to France. The ‘ Petit Parisian ’ suggests that the time is not distant when the Germans will have to fall back on the line at the Saar. COURAGE AND ENERGY DISTINGUISHING QUALITIES OF POLES LONDON, September 12. (Received September 13, at 8 am.) A Belgian balloonist, Demuyter, who has returned from Lwow, expresses the opinion that if Poland receives effective, tangible help in the course of the coming weeks she will be able to resist the aggressors for a long time on a reduced front. The Polish troops and the civil population have shown wonderful courage and energy. APPREHENSION IN SCANDINAVIA SYMPATHIES WITH ALLIES NEW YORK. September 12. The ‘ New York Herald-Tribune’s ’ Stockholm correspondent says Scandinavians are apprehensive of their ability to preserve neutrality. Swedish sympathy is almost entirely with the Allies, and there is fear of involvement apt from, choice, hut from compulsion.