WHOLE FRONT ABLAZE WITH GUNFIRE

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20921, 28 September 1939, Page 7

WHOLE FRONT ABLAZE WITH GUNFIRE

TERRIFIC ONSLAUGHT BY THE FRENCH ARTILLERY (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received Sept. 28, 11.45 a.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 27 The Paris correspondent of the American Press says French artillery are reported to have blasted a hole in the Siegfried Line between Merzig and SaarbruckenDispatches from the front say that heavy German counter-fire against the French advance positions in the Saar and Palatinate regions was designed to protect the feverish attempts to rebuild the shattered blockhouses behind the German lines.

The morning dispatches report that the French annihilated important positions between Merzig and Saarbrucken, in an area where there are between thirty and forty pillboxes to the square mile.

The French are subjecting the Siegfried Line to a terrific onslaught. With the whole lront from Luxembourg to the Swiss frontier ablaze with gunfire, it is stated that the Germans concentrated their latest attack on the extreme eastern wing, under cover of guns near Wissembourg.

This apparently was designed to reach the flank of the French forces in the Vosges Forest west of Wissembourg, where the old German forest is reported to have been cut off from the main fortifications protecting the PirmasensLandau road.

The French are steadily consolidating their positions elsewhere. An official French communique merely states: “The night was quiet. There was enemy artillery fire at the rear of our lines in the region south of Wissembourg.”