MILITARY STIR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 August 1939, Page 6

MILITARY STIR

HEAVY 1 CONCENTRATIONS OF GERMAN TROOPS

THREAT OF SUDDEN ; ATTACK ON POLAND."

COMPULSORY LABOUR SERVICE

FOR CZECHS.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright, (Received This Day, 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 21. “The Times” Berlin correspondent says the final military preparations necessary if a decision of the Polish dispute is to be forced, are now progressing.. The concentrations of troops is being increasingly expedited, so that all may be ready by August 23. Berlin is more heavily garrisoned, by troops going eastward or in reserve, than since the war.

Germany’s reason for a sudden blow against Poland are based on an assumption that the Polish Army can be put cut of action in the shortest time. Germany would rely on, the slowness of the Western Powers to join action, due to diplomatic delays and unwillingness to face war until Poland’s effective resistance had ended, thus convincing England and France that she was beyond help and that peace talks could follow.

‘The Times” Prague representative says the German manoeuvres make demands on the principal roads, where emergency measures are being tested. Garages have been registered in order to accommodate five thousand military vehicles. German officers are reported to be co-ordinating hospital services All Czechs up to 45 years of age have been mobilised for compulsory labour service, and the evacuation of the German civil population from Prague and other cities is planned. The military police have been strengthened, bridges guarded, emergency railway schedules

distributed and air precautions overhauled.

Bohemia is comparatively normal but there is marked activity in Moravia. where military equipment is going to Slovakia to zones where Germany has obtained the right to operate. “The Times” Vienna correspondent says large contingents of motorised transport left the city throughout the day for the German-Slovak frontier, despite an announcement that manoeuvres will not begin until September 10.