CLASSIC PLAN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20039, 11 September 1939, Page 5

CLASSIC PLAN

STRATEGY OF GERMANS ENVELOPING FLANKS POL AND ’ S RE SI STAN C E ARMY STILL IN BEING (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Roccl. Sept. 11, 10 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 9. The Paris correspondent of the New York Times says the campaign in Poland is developing to the classic German plan—the envelopment ol one or preferably both 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 narrower front and then deliver battle, stales the correspondent. If the Polish High Command decides to defend Warsaw, there will be a battle on four rivers, the Vistula, the Bug, the Narew and the Ultra. The Germans are converging on Warsaw from the north, the north-west and the south-west and simultaneously trying to advance from the south with Tarnow seeming to be the objective, but it implies a crossing of the Carpathians and progress must be slow. The situation, says the correspondent, is serious, but the Polish Army is still in being. Up To 60 Divisions

It is believed that Germany has 50 to 60 divisions engaged in Poland, the main force of 30 operating in Silesia as the main arm of the pincers movement. The other arm consists of 10 divisions operating from East Prussia.

The German forces, which are mobile and highly mechanised, arc capable of striking hard with lightning speed. This fact, together with an air’strength vastly superior .to that of the Polys, enables an offensive unparalleled' in the history of warfare. However, the Poles are consolidating on new, pre-arranged lines. Their morale is reliably reported to be still high. A German spokesman at Berlin announced that Herr Hitler had placed Germany's frontiers in the east where they were before 1914. This means that Herr Hiller intended to annex not only Danzrj and Pomorze, but portions of East and West Prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Poznan, and Silesia which were taken from Germany by the Versailles Treaty.