GREAT ATTACK BY GERMANS EXPECTED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 October 1939, Page 5

GREAT ATTACK BY GERMANS EXPECTED

4 Should Peace Offensive Be Abortive ENEMY UNABLE TO FACE PROTRACTED STRUGGLE SOME MILITARY POSSIBILITIES DISCUSSED (By Telegraph.---Pro<;r. Association.- Copyright.) NEW YORK, October IThe military correspondent in Paris of the “New York “Times,” Mr Archambault, states: .“Barring surprises diplomatically, because militarily they seem well-nigh impossible, the situation seems well defined. All the available forces on either side are concentrated, waiting for action. The question is who will make the first move, and when and how? “The British army momentarily may be-left out, of account. Though its potentiality is great, at present it is more in the nature of a reserve. The initiative ol a general battle by the Allied side is improbable, because it would be considered a rash offensive. The tactical initiative hilly answers their present purpose, since it has enabled the Allies to come within easy striking distance of the West Wall and. al the same time, place the greater part of Iho Maginot Line out of range of the German guns. “The Germans may decide they have ceded enough ground and launch a massive frontal assault with fresh troops at what, they judge the weakest spot in (he French lines in order to recapture all the lost positions in one swoop after the 1915-1917 pattern. Bnl a frontal attack, however successful, would be chiefly moral, namely, to repel the enemy from German soil. “A second possibility is an attack on both the French wings simultaneously, and a third is an attempt at an enveloping movement through neutral territory. “There are no other possibilities except protracted, passive resistance behind the West Wall. The French believe this cannot be adopted, since it would provide time to bring the British armies into action. Rather it is believed here that should the peace offensive be abortive the Germans cannot but attack in one of the three ways above mentioned,”