UNUSUAL STIR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 August 1942, Page 3

UNUSUAL STIR

IN WESTERN EUROPE TROOP TRAIN MOVEMENTS IN BELGIUM. NAZIS TAKE MORE HOSTAGES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, August 4. General Jakob, the German Inspec-tor-General of Fortifications, has inspected the defences in the occupied countries on the Atlantic coast and said he was completely satisfied. The Vichy correspondent of the British United Press says that all leav* for police and high officials has been cancelled and holiday-makers have been recalled. Railway traffic has been delayed at several points in Belgium by troop trains, which are given preference.

Another Paris policeman was killed and two were wounded while attempting to disperse a crowd of people listening to a portable wireless set at the central markets, says the “Daily Mail’s” Madrid correspondent. The men who fired the shots were not caught. Porters who were arrested for pushing their trucks in front of policemen who were pursuing suspects were released when all the porters threatened to strike unless their colleagues were set free. The Nazi Governor-General, von Falkenhausen, in announcing that he has taken many hostages throughout Belgium, said: “The enemy by radio and pamphlet has intensified his incitements to sabotage. Hostages, therefore, have been taken from all regions under my command to dissuade irresponsible persons from putting into practice the hints given in enemy propaganda/ If sabotage occurs the hostages will be held responsible.” Twenty-eight Belgians were shot for sabotage and possession of arms. The Germans have appointed civilian guards to stop sabotage, and they hold them responsible if sabotage occurs. In Norway numerous arrests were made after a demonstration in Oslo, where the inhabitants were forbidden to wear flowers in their buttonholes in recognition of King Haakon’s birthday.