SOVIET THREAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 January 1940, Page 5

SOVIET THREAT

TURKISH AND RUMANIAN PRECAUTIONS DISPOSITION OF FRONTIER FORCES. PREPARATIONS TO RESIST INVASION. By Telegraph-—Press Association —Copyright. NEW YORK. January 1. It is reliably stated that Turkey is reinforcing her eastern and northeastern defences, says the Belgrade correspondent of the “New York Times.” New concentrations are based at Diyarbekir, Erzincan and Km'S. Already six of the 13 army corps are stationed east of Sivas. It is understood that the new dispositions increase the military forces in eastern Turkey by about one-third. Simultaneously it is confirmed that Iran and Afghanistan are continuing to strengthen their armies on the Russian frontier.

It is .logical to believe that there are concrete indications of Russian military movements between the Black and Caspian Seas. Rumania is reported to have recently withdrawn three divisions from Bessarabia, leaving one division of cavalry and three divisions of infantry east of the Pruth River. In the event of an invasion, it is believed Russia would press south between the Pruth River and the Carpathian Mountains, and therefore Rumania has two divisions of cavalry and 16 divisions of infantry around Cernauti, seven divisions on the Hungarian frontier and seven in the Dobruja.