ACCORDING TO PLAN

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 249, 20 October 1939, Page 3

ACCORDING TO PLAN

MOVEMENTS OF FRENCH ARMY TACTICS TO MEET NAZI PUSH GERMANS STILL POURING INTO LINE BUSY TIME FOR RBCONNAIS- • ; SANCH UNIT'S LONDON, Oct. 18. Reports from France state that While the German communique claims a French retirement between the Moselle and the Palatinate Forest, the fact is that the thinned French outposts waited till the 'Germans were advancing and then fired rockets as a signal tc- the artillery and machineguns which opened a barrage. The French., meanwhile, were falling hack to re-arranged positions. Trains and motor waggons poured! in Germans throughout the night behind the lines. It is revealed that hundreds of British guns,' ranging from massive howitzers to motorised antitank guns, are massed in the British sector of the Western Front. Paris quotes the highest authority for stating that the operations of the last few days were carried out according to the plans of the French Command. “Out units are in contact with the onwgijirat certain points Turd resisted without yielding an inch,’’ proceeds the statement. “Other points were withdrawn in accordance with instructions. The troops everywhere punctually carried! out orders.” + German Reinforcements The Germans tot-night were reported to be still rushing up reinforcements to support the units which had gained a precarious footing in the vicinity of French territory on the extreme northern Hank of the Western Front from which the French strategically retired on Monday. The correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain declares that thousands of men and troops are pouring into the fighting zone. Others are hastily erecting barbed-wire barricades and digging trenches and tank traps in the positions reached Muring Monday s offensives. A night communique states that there was no change along the whole front. Reconnaissance units were very active, notably between the Moselle and the Saar. In announcing that- the British Expeditionary Fence had now finally taken over the allotted sector in the French line and that all'divisions were in position, the Prime Minister. Mr. Neville Chamberlain, said in the House of (Jommons to-day: ‘‘W'o are proud (,o knew that our men are thus standing to arms beside the soldiers of France, for whose patriotism, determination and magnificent qualities we have such a deep admiration. Mr. Chamberlain also said that since he had. last- spoken activity had been unremitting in attack and defence and the whole nation was grateful to the navy for its.efforts to ward off eneiivy attack and remove the menace of the submarine so that a steady flow of trade might remain unbroken.

BLACK-OUT ROAD TOLL

LONDON. Oct. 18. The Ministry of Transport, Captain Wallace* in the House of Commons, said deaths by road accidents in Britain last month numbered 1130, compared with 554 in September last year.