SKIRMISHES ON WESTERN FRONT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20056, 30 September 1939, Page 7

SKIRMISHES ON WESTERN FRONT

More Prisoners Taken By French

PLANES FLYING DEEP INTO NAZI ZONE

(Reed. Sept. 29, 3 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 28,

An official French communique issued in Paris states that a local attack on the. part of the French troops in the district east of the Moselle developed favourably and the French took some prisoners. Other messages from Paris state that tie actual fighting on the Western Front appears to have slowed to a standstill, but French planes flying deep into German terntory are bringing back information of troop movements. Some heavy artillery firing was heard north-east of Perl this afternoon. * Herr von Papen’s castle near Saarlouis was under fire.

A correspondent of the British United Press, writing from a neutral country states ; he was one of a party of neutral journalists invited to the Siegfried Line. He says that the French are within 1300 yards of Saar bracken, which, like Zweibrucken, is completely deserted by civilians.. There is little military activity. No bridges or factories behind these towns were damaged. The countryside was peaceful.

U “I motored 200 miles along the Siegfried Line,” continues the correspondent. “Everything was camouflaged. T*here appear to be 1,000,000 Germans on the Western r ront, half of whom are facing the Belgium-Luxemburg borders. 1 saw nearly 100 emplacements in vineyards near Treves. T’etrol stations have been converted into machine-gun ne.vts with massive walls of steel and concrete 6ft. to 12ft. thick.

A special correspondent of the Associated Press, who accompanied the party, says that neither Saarbrucken nor Zweibrueken was hit during the visit. A German guide stated that 200 goods waggons filled with material and machinery leave Saarbrucken daily without hindrance from the French. Carman artillery from heights commanding French positions, five miles away, returned a desultory fire.