FLIGHT FROM POLAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 September 1939, Page 7

FLIGHT FROM POLAND

SIXTY THOUSAND REFUGEES IN RUMANIA TALES OF HORROR TOLD BY SURVIVORS. WARSAW DEFENCES UNBROKEN LONDON. September 20. A communique issued by wireless from Warsaw and received in Budapest stated that the city’s defences are unbroken. Sixty thousand Polish civilian and military refugees have now arrived in Rumania. Their descriptions of the retreat before ruthless German hordes indiscriminately massacring and pillaging without respect for their historic places or for women, children and babies in arms makes one of history’s grimmest and most tragic stories. It is revealed that members of the British Embassy narrowly escaped when caught in the streets of Krzemieniec during a bombing raid last Thursday. All fell bn their faces and none were harmed despite the havoc on all sides. It was this raid that caused the decision to leave Poland. The British Consular corps was the last to leave, and the Ambassador, Sir Howard Kennard, was holding on till the Polish Foreign Minister, Colonel Beck, almost ordered him to go. The Government train’s journey to the frontier (the members of the British Embassy went by car) was one long horror. The Germans repeatedly bombed the train. Several of the refugees aboard became demented because of lack of water and sleep and the continual German attempts to wipe out the carriages. The train was forced to travel at a snail’s pace because of a lack of fuel, and the train was sometimes divided because the engine was unable to haul the 14 carriages. The train reached the frontier unscathed, but 200 passengers “disappeared” on the way. Survivors from Krzemieniec tell of the destruction of the famous cathedral of Saint John, in Warsaw, one of the most beautiful churches in Europe. Bombs shattered the roof, but the priest continued a service while blazing beams were falling. The Royal castle, containing priceless treasures, has been razed. Nazi airmen destroyed the Parliament Building. The civilian casualties are so large that public parks have been converted into cemeteries. The Warsaw radio states that a German air bomb fell on a house where 90 German prisoners were held, killing 27 and wounding 35. A Polish staff captain told Reuters at Cernauti that the Polish troops will be able to hold out for a few more days. The Polish officers reaching Rumania are heartbroken because the Russian stab in the back compelled them to abandon the main struggle. However, there is universal confidence in the re-birth of Poland. POLISH COMMANDER INTERNED IN RUMANIA. ON INSISTENCE OF NAZIS. (Received This Day. 9 a.m.) BUCHAREST. September 20. Marshal Smigley-Rydz has been interned for the remainder of the war on the insistence of the Nazis. ANOTHER STORY. SMIGLY-RIDZ WITH ARMY. LONDON. September 20. The Polish Embassy in London states: •■Reports in the Press that the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish army, Marshal Smigly-Rydz, has left Polish territory for Rumania, are untrue. The Marshal, together with his headquarters, remains with the army in Poland, and continues to direct military operations.” TYPHOID IN GALICIA FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF SERVICES. (Received This Day. 10.55 a.m.) BUDAPEST. September 20. The Germans claim that there is no Polish resistance except south of Warsaw and the fortress of Modlin. A typhoid epidemic has broken out in Galicia, after the destruction of the sanitation and water supply. The Russians are reported to have bombed the Polish town Buczazc. More than 3000 Polish infantrymen crossed the Uzosk Pass in bitter cold, bearing tales of terror instituted by roving bands of Ukrainians and White Russians, who are sweeping the coun-

tryside. More than 20.000 civilians are now taking refuge in Hungary. They present a most pitiful sight. Among them are scantily clad children, many of whom the Hungarian soldiers have wrapped in their greatcoats.