GERMANS ON WEST FRONT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20060, 5 October 1939, Page 5

GERMANS ON WEST FRONT

NO GREAT EFFORTS YET MADE NAZI EVACUATION OF KARLSRUHE FRENCH AND BRITISH PLANES ACTIVE PARIS ESTIMATES OF CASUALTIES (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. 'October 5, 12 noon.) LONDON, October 4. • I An official French communique issued last night, through the British Ministry of Information states: “Enemy raids v have been repulsed to the east of the Moselle and hast o the Saar. Artillery is active on both sides of the same regions. ” ' The Paris paper, Le Matin says that so far the Germans have made no great effort to recapture the small positions taken by the French Army. Artillery fire by both sides was active to-day south of Zweibrucken, A message from Basle states that the Germans are reported to he evacuating Karlsruhe, south-east of Saarbruc.ken. The military expert of the Petit Parisian states: “Nothing doing along the Rhine. The submarines are sleeping at sea. Only French and British planes are active in the air. The French Air Force, during September, shot down • 24 German scouts and lost eight of its own.” An official broadcast in Paris states that over 30 enemy planes were shot down in the past month, excluding unproved losses. French planes flying over Germany opposed German planes and barrage fire. The losses-were slight in view of the results obtained. The Paris correspondent of the British United Press says that French officials sources estimate the German losses on the Western Front so far as 550 killed, 2500 wounded, and 150 taken prisoner. The French losses are considerably less. The special correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain with the French Army reports that there is very little animosity to Germany among the French, who refer to the Germans as the “adversary” and not as the enemy. The correspondent states that the same unemotional attitude . characterises the fighting by the French artillery, who fire on the Germans, after which the Germans reply for a similar period, ending the exchange of shots.

A communique issued in Berlin by the German High Command says there is almost complete quiet on the Western Front.