GERMAN LOSSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 November 1939, Page 5

GERMAN LOSSES

BELIEVED TO BE HEAVY ON WEST FRONT TRAINS FULL OF WOUNDED A FREQUENT SIGHT. DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY PLANES. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON. November 24.

Observers from western Germany say ihe impression behind 1 he bat l ie lines is I hat German losses are much heavier than is commonly supposed, says I he Rotterdam correspondent of “The Times.” Trains full of wounded are a frequent sight. Reinforcements of the Siegfried Line are proceeding steadily.

Fortifications are being extended northward from Cleve to the Dutch frontier. It is estimated that since the weather cleared three days ago Allied fighters have got 18 enemy planes between the Belgian and Swiss borders, 12 of which have been confirmed.

On Wednesday, for the second succesive day, Germans suffered severe aerial reverses on the Western Front. Huricane fighters patrolling the Maginot Line shot down seven German reconnaissance bombers. This is officially confirmed. Four of them were Dornier Seventeens. Six fell over the Allies’.lines and one .on the German side. British personnel suffered no casualties, but one plane was hit and forced to land, another was damaged. The "Daily Mail” says a total of 150 planes were in action on the-Western Front all day. So far the "Germans have not dropped a bomb either on or behind the French front.

One British pilot attached to the advance squadron secured his second victim within a fortnight. He engaged a Dornier near Vousiers. He dived, down and fired a burst of 800 bullets and further short bursts. He riddled the German machine from nose to tail and tore gaping holes in the fuselage. The machine finally crashed on a hilltop. Two of the crew leaped out, dragging a wounded gunner. A French

peasant witnessed the landing and at tempted to prevent the Germans firing the plane, but was held off at the revolver point. As the Dornier blazed, French soldiers raced across the field, whereupon the Germans surrendered. AIRMEN TAKEN PRISONER. On Thursday a second Dornier bombier was brought down near Chalons Sur Marne. Two of the crew, who were wounded, used their parachutes. One was picked up dead and the other was found entangled in the parachute. The pilot, who was unhurt and remained in the machine, crashed 20 miles away and was taken ■prisoner: A British fighter spotted a third Dor-. ,nier near. Saint Avoid and shot it down in a few minutes. Another Dornier which was attacked by a fighter in this vicinity was last seen diving to the earth with the port engine on fire. The two occupants used their parachutes. Other reports state that British pilots brought down bombers near Saarbrucken and Thionville. THE ENEMY ARMIES. According to the latest estimates, Germany now has 107 divisions in the field, divided into 30 army corps and 10 armies. These include 58 active divisions. There are also 49 divisions of reservists. Germany in 1914 had 87 divisions, including reservists. She is greatly deficient in officers and non-commission-ed officers and is strenuously endeavouring to train great masses of raw recruits. According to the German High Command, 14 Hohenzollerns are serving in the various forces of the War Department, including the-fifth son of the ExKaiser, Prince Oscar, 11 grandsons and a grand-nephew. Prince Oscar’s eldest son was killed leading an attack in Poland on September 5. Prince Friedrich Wilhelm has been interned in Scotland and Prince August Wilhelm is a distributor of ration cards in Potsdam.