GUNFIRE ON WESTERN FRONT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20073, 20 October 1939, Page 8

GUNFIRE ON WESTERN FRONT

FRENCH PUT DOWN INTENSE BARRAGE BERLIN VERSION OF RESULTS OF WAR PARIS VIEW ON "WISHFUL THINKING" (Reed. Oet. 20, 1.50 p.m.) LONDON, Del. 10. A message from Luxembourg states that the h pencil intensively bombarded the German lines in the vicinity oi ' Perl. A. communique issued in Berlin by the German High Command announces .that the first phase 01. the iighling on the Western Front ended with the withdrawal ol the I* reneli over the frontier in ihe area of the Saar River. Only local artillery and reconnaissance activity were experienced elsewhere. It is claimed by tin; German High Command Hud Germany has lost only 11 planes on the West era Front since the commencement of the war, whereas France and Britain have lost GO. including 12 'British. Prisoners and Casualties. The. German High Command also claims 1 hat the Germans toolc as prisoners 25 French officers and G 64 other ranks. The communique, gives the German, losses on the. Western '.Front up to Tuesday as 196 dead, 356 wounded and 114 missing, and declares that since September 9 no serious fighting has occurred. The communique generally minimises Ihe French successes and occupation of German territory, hut admits that the Germans have not crossed Ihe French frontier. A Paris message quotes the official French radio commentator who declares that the German claims are highly exaggerated. “The German communiques seem inflamed with Hu* spirit of victory,” lie states. “They are wishful, thinking in the attempt to influence neutral opinion.”