“QUIET” PERIOD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20047, 20 September 1939, Page 5

“QUIET” PERIOD

PRELUDE TO “BIG NOISE” PROGRESS BY FRENCH AVERAGE OF 12 MILES FRONT 15 MILES WIDE (Reed. Sept. 20, 9 a.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 18. The New York Times’ correspondent in Paris say s that on the part of the Western Front where it is considered the Germans cannot afford to lose much ground—that is to say, the central sector facing Saarlautern and • Zweibrucken, the artillery Of both sides continues active. The remainder of , the front has been quiet for 24 hours. “Quiet” is frequently the prelude to a “big noise.” French troops have progressed an average distance , of 12 miles from the Maginot Line on a front, *ls miles wide, the consequence of which is twofold. Firstly, that section of the Maginot Line is now out of range of all except the heaviest guns, and secondly, the 'first-line troops are actually within the West Wall outworks.

The correspondent adds that the British idea of dropping leaflets on German territory has its value. This is seen in the fact that a number of prisoners taken by the French last week had copies in their pockets.

The Polish position is unlikely to prevent the Germans from transferring more troops to the Western front.

It is estimated that the German troops in the field at ■the outbreak of the war represented 135 divisions, 70 of which, on the basis of FieldMars Hal Goering’s statements, were in Poland.

■More divisions have been mobilised in Germany since then.