FLED BEFORE STEEL

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 158, 4 June 1940, Page 8

FLED BEFORE STEEL

GERMAN SHOCK TROOPS. HEAVY LOSSES SUFFERED. LONDON, June 2. Soldiers of the guards regiments who joined Highland troops in fierce bayonet charges in the Flanders hills said the German shock troop's "attacked regardless of everything except cold steel, when they immediately fell back. One member of a Guards regiment said: “The shock troops were all big fellows. They came* over completely ignoring our bullets. They wore armour-plated waistcoats, but they ran when we advanced with bayonets. Their ordinary infantry were ‘ poor. Many were children of 17 who said they did not want to fight. Another guardsman said the German losses were twenty .to one as compared with'the British. Arrivals revealed that 100 French warships and 200 merchantmen co-operated in the defence and evacuation of Dunkirk. THIRD NAZI BOMBER. SHOT DOWN BY SWISS. BERNE, June 2. A Swiss patrol lias shot down another German bomber, making the third shot-down in two days. A Swiss Army communique says: “We brought down German ’planes which committed grave violations of Swiss territory.” . The third German ’plane brought down caught fire, but the crew extinguished the flames. They landed in a field and when surrounded by Swiss soldiers the crew drew their revolvers and tried to set fire to the machine, but the Swiss warned that they would shoot if they did so. YOUNG DUKE" KILLED. LONDON, June 2. The Duke of Northumberland has been killed in action. Born in 1912, the ninth Duke of Northumberland (Henry George Alan Percy) was educated at Eton and became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Lord Priw Seal in 1935. A year later he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Air Minister. Ho was attached to the Grenadier Guards in tiie present war. Jhc Duke had several seats, including Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, and Kielder Castle, North Tyne. He is succeeded by his brother, Lord Hugh Algernon Percy. SUPPLIES FROM AMERICA. ’PLANES AND MATERIAL. , NEW YORK, June 2. Eighteen Stimson monoplanes took off to-day from Roosevelt Field for Halifax (Nova Scotia), from where they can be shipped to France. The flight was made possible under Mr Cordell Hull’s modification of the neutrality provisions. A hundred bombers, valued at 325,000 dollars yesterday, and two hundred more, most; "ly bombers, also engines, are due to sail to-day. Twelve thousand tons of copper, and iron ore, and huge supplies of canned and other foods destined for the Allies, await shipment. BUSY FACTORIES. INSPECTION BY KING. LONDON, June 2.1 The King fired 60 rounds with a Bren gun during a visit to an arrris factory where he saw employees working on Sunday. The King asked whether they were working at full pressure and a workman replied: “Twenty-four hours a day.”' The Minister of Supply (Mr Herbert Morrison), who aepompanied the King, said the factories were reporting most encouragingly in response to the appeal for a big increase in production. CONVOY "PROTECTION. \ NAZIS WARN NEUTRALS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, June 1. Germany lias issued a warning to the world that she is about to commence U-boat warfare. She issued a special warning to neutrals not to enter the protection of British convoys, but on the same day slid gave an unfortunate example of what happens to neutral ship 6 out of convoy when a U-boat sank - the Argentine ship Uruguay. She was proceeding independently to Eire, and was / sunk 160 miles from land, with the loss of 14 of the crew. ’■ ' ' , \ Since the commencement of the war 189 neutral ships have been lost, and of these only three have been lost in convoy. Only 34 ships, British, Allied and neutral —have been sunk while in convoy. It is'easy to see why Germany warns neutrals against seeking the protection which the convoy offers them. ’PLANE OVER NORFOLK. LONDON, June 2. It is officially stated that an unidentified ’plane early this morning flew over Norfolk. Two bombs were dropped and fell in open country. A German communique states : Troop concentrations at; Dunkirk were effect- . iyely bombed. The air force attacked ■ Marseilles, setting fire to two large merchantmen. The Lyons-Marseilles railway was damaged by bombs. The enemv air losses yesterday totalled 58 ’planes. Fifteen German ’planes are missing. . ■