GERMAN COUNTER-ATTACKS AT SOME POINTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 September 1939, Page 5

GERMAN COUNTER-ATTACKS AT SOME POINTS

Failure to Modify Advanced Positions REPORTED PREPARATIONS FOR DIRECT ASSAULT (By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, September 10. The Germans are reported from Paris tonight to be striking into the triangle formed by the junction of the Moselle and Saar Rivers on the extreme northern flank of the Western front, where the French have advanced the farthest into Saarland. Fifty miles south-east the French are advancing on a 20-mile front between the Saar River and the foothills of the Vosges. Between these sectors German counter-attacks from the shelter of a maze of coal mine galleries have apparently halted the French advance. , A communique describing the German counter-attacks in the region north-east of Sierk suggests .that they are attacking close to the French frontier, apparently following the French tactics of using the Luxembourg frontier to cover their right flank. German shock troops are carrying out night raids on French positions in Saarland with varying success, states a report from Bastle. Paris reports that the German offensive striking from Merzig on the Saar River is apparently designed to relieve the pressure eastward and protect Trier. The French declare that.the offensive has failed to modify their advanced positions, and that their forces are driving close to Zweibrucken, Blieskaster and Temrasse. It is said that the direct assault on the Siegfried Line can be expected at any time. The German resistance north of Bitsch is strong, and the Germans are retreating stubbornly. ’ The French forces in the Saar, it is reported, resumed the attack shortly after daybreak and pushed to within range of automatic arms in the main Siegfried forts, less than three miles separating them from the forts at some points. An official French wireless report states that the French line between the Rhine and’the Moselle is entirely on German territory, where the French hold 350 square miles along a front of 120 miles, to an average depth of three miles. The general staff is clearing the way for the infantry.