ARMIES IN CONTACT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20035, 6 September 1939, Page 5

ARMIES IN CONTACT

Operations on West Front LAND. SEA AND AIR FORCES ■ V" v • f ‘ • ♦ HAMMERING AT “BURGUNDY GATES” Berlin Denial Of Serious Engagements (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Sept. 6,11.15 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 5. It is reported that fighting has been in progress since dawn on Monday along the French frontier for 300 miles and also that the French penetrated the Siegfried line at several points. According to an Independent Cable Service message from Berlin, German observers on the Western Front report that during Monday the French entered the line and sent aloft hundreds of balloons carrying banners: “We won’t.shoot if you don’t. ’’ They still were up at 9 p.m. The Germans raised makeshift signs: “Won’t fire either.” The Paris correspondent of the Associated Press of , America says it is officially announced that the French forces - made contact with Germans and penetrated German territory. A Paris communique states: “Operations by .the whole of the land, sea and air forces are proceeding normally.” The Paris correspon'dent of the British United Press says that an official communique stated that an engagement, . understood to be preliminary manoeuvring of the advance French and German troops, has begun on the Western Front.., The communique did not indicate any real fighting up to 3.45 p.m. Paris time. The Parisj correspondent of the Associated Press of America in New York states that fighting appeal’s to be general along the 200-mile Rhine frontier. The French troops' are reported to be hammering at the “Burgundy Gates” which valley is enclosed by the Vosges and the Alps northward in • conjunction with the French, German and Swiss frontiers. A further offensive is reported in the Moselle Valley. An official communique issued in Berlin stated: “Until 9 a.m., not a single shot had been fired on the Western Front -j and there were no air raids except that by the British at Wilhelmshaven and Cuxhavem”