ASSUMING OFFENSIVE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20042, 14 September 1939, Page 5

ASSUMING OFFENSIVE

Invading Divisions Reduced RECAPTURE OF LODZ CLAIMED i > Germans Report Pursuit In Galicia MAYOR’S APPEAL FOR WARSAW DEFENCE

(Klee. Tel. Copyright.—United Press Assn.) v (Reed. Sept. 14, 11.15 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 13. A Warsaw radio broadcast received in Budapest yesterday announced that nine Herman divisions had been diverted troni Warsaw to the Vistula and the Western European fronts. “The invaders are now definitely- on the run,” the report added. A Paris message states that Polish sources assert that the Polish Poznanian army has broken the German ring and is now menacing the German centre army besieging Warsaw from the south-west. A Moscow wireless to-day announced that the Poles had converted 1 he defensive to the offensive in the north. A Warsaw radio yesterday quoted an official communique stating .that the Polish Poznanian Army had recaptured Lodz. 1 The Times publishes .the report that the Poles have recaptured Lodz. It also stated that the Polish Army of 250,000 men, retreating from Pomorze, established contact with the Polish troops in the vicinity of Warsaw. The report added that the dry autumn weather had changed and rain had.fallen. The roads, which were already ruined by advances of the German tanks and air bombings, were becoming impassable. ' > The Vilna correspondent of the British United Press says the radio states that despite the German claim to occupancy of the entire Polish Corridor, Polish troops are still fighting there and achieving local successes. A further message frym Vilna reports that Gdynia, with a cordon round it is bitterly resisting and the defenders are hoping that British warships will arrive in a few hours. German Army Claims A Berlin message quotes a German Army communique stating: “The pursuit of the enemy continues, in Galicia. The towns of Sambor and lvrakowice were captured. The advance guards reached the western edge of Lwow. Our troops . crossed the Warsaw-Siodlce road oast of Warsaw. Motorised troops are now 25 miles north of Brest-litovsk. The Polish Army south of Radom has ceased to exist. There were considerable captures of prisoners and war material.” ' The Mayor of Warsaw, M. Starzynski yesterday appealed in a radio broadcast to youths to enlist in what may become .the “suicide battalion” to defend the city. lie warned the youths not to volunteer unless they were resigned to fight to the last as “Warsaw will be defended to the last man.” The Polish commander, in a radio message, said that women were fighting alongside the men and were showing great courage. It is claimed in Warsaw that three bombers bearing Polish markings were brought down by Russian aircraft guns while flying over Russian territory. Some of the occupants captured alive were Germans flying German planes disguised as Polish. A further Budapest' report slates that a German mechanised unit claims to have reached within 18 miles of Lwow, but, was forced back by the Poles who are rushing up reinforcements. Nazi , planes started many fires with incendiary bombings at Lwow. Further Nazi military despatches reported to-day that the Polish defence lines had been broken by three German Army thrusts from East Prussia, -from: the south _ and by mechanised troops in the north-east, which would quickly end the war in Eastern Europe as “a serious military conflict.”