DECISIVE STAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 September 1939, Page 5

DECISIVE STAGE

APPROACHED IN POLAND FIRST GREAT BATTLE OF WAR. ' ADMISSION BY GERMAN 1 HIGH COMMAND. r (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) BERLIN, September 11. A communique states that the first great battle of the war is reaching a decisive point in the Warsaw and Radom sectors of a 250-mile semi-circular front. The capture of Posen is expected at any moment. A London message says it is reported from Berlin that the German High ■Command has for the first time acknowledged that a major battle is in progress in Poland. The fight for the possession of Warsaw seems only to have begun. f' SOME SUBURBS CLEARED (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) NEW YORK, September 11. An American Press Budapest correspondent says the Lwow radio announced that the Poles had forced the Germans to retreat from some Warsaw suburbs. RUSSIAN VIEW EXPECTATION OF POLISH DEFEAT. PREPARATIONS TO RECEIVE FUGITIVES. (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) MOSCOW. September 11. The “Pravda” says Russia is concentrating troops on her western frontier to protect it against Polish soldiers, who may be attempting to retreat over the border. Partial mobilisation is due to an expectation of disarming and interning as many as a million Poles. Analysing the situation, the “Pravda” said Poland had as good as lost, since most of her important military and economic centres were in the hands of the Germans. The Government was disorganised and the military forces lacked powerful fortifications. Moreover the Allies , had not yet supplied effective assistance. RELENTLESS BOMBING WARSAW' AND BATTLE LINES. (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) BUDAPEST, September 11. A Polish communique states that German planes are continuing their relentless bombing of Warsaw, and also the defence lines on the Bug river. There is severe fighting on the San river, near Sanok, where the Germans are attempting to smash towards Lwow in order to cut oft’ the Ukraine Russian-Polish rail communications. GERMAN REPORT BOMBARDMENT OF GDYNIA. (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) BERLIN, September 11. A communique states that German naval forces assisted the army by bombarding Gdynia. German planes bombed railroads east of Warsaw, Lemberg, Lublin and Chelm. French artillery fired on an evacuated aerodrome at Saarbrucken. FIGHTING IN WARSAW GERMANS CLAIM THEY HOLD PART OF CITY. “GREAT BATTLE IN POLAND NEARING CONCLUSION.” (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) BERLIN, September 11. A High Command communique says the great battle in Poland is nearing its conclusion. The enemy has been driven across the San River, which German troops have crossed. They also succeeded in establishing bridgeheads on the south bank of the Narew River, near Nowgorod and Wizna. Polish artillery in the eastern part of Warsaw is directing a heavy fire ,on German troops ensconced in the western parts of the capital. The investment of Gdynia has continued. Neustadt and Putzig are now in German hands. LWOW BOMBED CASUALTIES IN WORKERS’ SUBURB. MANY ATTACKS ON REFUGEE TRAIN. (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) WARSAW, September 11. A Polish General Headquarters communique from Lwow announces that fighting occurred north of the Bug River. In the Ostrowmazowiecki district, the enemy has extended the action of his armoured units to the banks of the Vistula. Lwow sustained six successive bombardments of great intensity on September 10. A number of projectiles fell in working class suburbs, causing casualties. Passengers on an evacuation train from Warsaw to Lwow say they were obliged to leave the train 72 times, owing to bombing from planes.