NAZI ULTIMATUM

Evening Star, Issue 23374, 18 September 1939, Page 6

NAZI ULTIMATUM

WARSAW ASKED TO SURRENDER I POLISH COMMANDER REFUSES TO COMPLY CITY SHELLED AND BOMBED BERLIN, September 17. It is officially stated that the Nazi army authorities have issued a 12-hour ultimatum to the people of Warsaw to leave the city, which has been declared an active war area. A bombardment is likely at any time after 3 p.m. on September 17. ...... A German radio message stated tliat the Polish commander, General Czuma, refused to comply with the ultimatum. War planes later roared over the city, dropping millions of leaflets containing the text of the ultimatum, which demanded the surrender of the city and the garrison. If this was refused civilians would be given 12 hours to evacuate by two specified routes, after which Warsaw would he considered a military ■ objective and become an active theatre of war. The German radio explained that there was no example in history of an army behaving as chivalrously, fairly, and generously as the Germans to Warsaw.

The Munich radio also announced that Warsaw was armed, and would be completely destroyed unless it surrendered by 3 a.m. "The ultimatum obviously is an earnest of things to come. The Germans launched a terrific artillery bombardment last night. '

HUNDREDS OF FIRES RAGING. The Polish Government announced by radio that Warsaw was now almost a single torch of flame. Two hundred heavy German guns are pouring in shells and incendiary bombs. Most of the civilians are taking refuge in cellars, while buildings are collapsing and catching fire. Hundreds have been killed, including invalids and children. The Lithuanian Legation and the Protestant Church were destroyed by low-flying planes. Four hundred fires are raging in various parts of the city. CARNAGE IN VILNA *2OO BOMBS DROPPED LONDON, September 17. A radio report from Vilna states that 18 Nazi planes dropped 200 bombs, causing shocking carnage in the centre of the city. The death roll is immense, mainly women and children being the victims. Polish despatches say that the Nazi planes continue to attack defenceless refugee trains and Red Cross columns, swooping low, and massacring civilians with bombs and machine guns. SLAUGHTER DF POLISH CAVALRY EFFORT TO CUT THROUGH ENCIRCLEMENT LONDON, September 16. The British United Press Rome correspondent with the Nazi army says the German command last week trapped 1,000 Poles in a square formed by Skiorniewice (south-west of Warsaw), Cienchenow (north of Warsay), Gabin (otherwise Gomhin, 72 miles west of Warsaw), and Kutnow (due west of Warsaw). Polish cavalry four times charged the Nazis’ lines on the east and south sides of the square in an attempt to cut through and escape, but they met with the cross fire of machine guns. It was more slaughter of horses than men, because the gunners were ordered to fire low. Nazi artillery and aeroplanes completed! the slaughter at dawn next morning. Cernauti (otherwise Czcrnowitz), in Rumania, is the haven of Polish Government officials. Rumanian diplomatists in Poland informed President Moscicki that his officials who entered Rumania must live at designated places andl eschew politics. They added that Polish children who were wounded would be sheltered. Polish officers and soldiers would be disarmed and interned. Many children have readied Cernauti, where all the Ministers and Mesdames Moscicki and Smigly-Rydz are staying. MASTERLY TACTICS REASON FOR POLISH ARMY'S DEFEAT NEW YORK, September 17. The Zaleszcyki correspondent of the ‘ New York Times,’ discussing the reason why the well-trained, wellequipped Polish army was defeated so quickly, suggests that this is because the Nazis used on a colossal scale General Franco’s system in the last stages of the war in Spain. They made masterly use of the long Polish-German frontier, and descended iu overwhelming force with bombers, tanks, motorised columns, and a barrage of air bombs which could only be resisted by counterattack with an air force of equal size, but the proportion of the Polish air force and motorised columns to the Nazis is one to five. Nazi bombing and ineffective Polish artillery opened the way for motorised .columns to thrust forward with maximum speed. The fine weather facilitated high altitude bombing. Despite terrific attacks, the Polos kept their morale, and whenever directly engaged in close combat, appeared to be superior. REPORT OF NAZI SUCCESSES DEFENDERS OF KUTNO INCREASED NEW YORK, September .17. (Received September 18, at 8 a.m.) The Berlin correspondent of the 1 New York Times ’ says that, while the battles for Warsaw and Kutno continue without abatement, the Nazi wings are seeking the rest of the Polish reserves. In a concentric sweep through East Poland the German forces took Bialystok and Przomysl, driving a spearhead of- motorised units to Walndze mierz. Brest-Litowsk has not fallen, but the fact that the Germans are able to drive isolated flying wedges such distances indicates the Poles', weakness. The defenders of Kutno have been in- -cased bv 10 divisions as li result of the ab-

sorption of troops retreating from Poznan. A eoinmnniqne reports the capture of 8.000 prisoners and 126 guns by the Oennans when the Poles attempted .to penetrate the ring around Warsaw.