TROOPS ARRIVE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 125, 9 March 1936, Page 5

TROOPS ARRIVE

WELCOMED BY THE PEOPLE. “LONG-AWAITED LIBERATION.” SENTRIES ON FRENCH FRONTIER (United Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, March 7. For the first time since 1918 German field grey uniforms were seen in the historic cathedral square of Cologne, once familiar to the khaki-clad British army of occupation, when a force of motorised cavalry, artillery and infantry, fully equipped with modern armaments mechanised machineguns, mortars, anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns—marched in while Herr Hitler was speaking in the Reichstag. When it was reported that troops were on the way, German flags were hoisted in all parts of the city and the facades of buildings disappeared behind masses of bunting. Windows were filled with siglit-seers. General von Kluge, commanding the Munster district, who organised the reoccupation, took up his post, accompanied by local officials. Suddenly came the news that troops had arrived and the populace, singing “Horstwessel” and “Deutschland Über Alles” flocked to the station and saw a long column of men with full war equipment streaming out. The crowd, flinging flowers, closed about them until only the sloped rifles could be seen above a mass of heads. A tumultous roar of cheers and greetings drowned the regimental bands marching tune. The 38th Infantry Regiment, wearing red and white carnations (the colours of Cologne)—recalling that they formed part of the garrison in the city before the war—were especially warmly welcomed. The troops halted in front of the main post office while rho Lord Mayor, in official robes, welcomed them and handed a bouquet of flowers to the commander. . . There were similar scenes of rejoicing in various towns in the Rhineland, including Aix la Cliapelle, Treves, Saarbrucken, Coblenz and Manheim. Thousands, including children who seeing German soldiers for the first time, marched alongside the troops to the barracks, singing an d cracking jokes. , German troops reached the reach frontier at dusk, at the German end of the Kehl bridgehead in Strasburg, 200 infantry taking up their position and being the first in the neighbourhood of France since 1918. Hundreds of French inhabitants stood silently at the French end of the bridge and watched the Germans establish senCelebrations throughout the Rhineland continued far into the night, with monster torchlight processions. Cologne’s famous cathedral bell, Big Peter,” which was last rung when the British evacuated the city in January, 1926, boomed a welcome to the German troops. . , , The Burgomaster of Frankfurt-on-Main telegraphed to Herr Hitler: In this historic moment all citizens remember with grateful- enthusiasm and love him to whom we owe this longawaited hour of liberation.” THE NAZIS JUBILANT. “ A PEACEFUL GESTURE.” BERLIN, March 7. Berlin'celebrated the “erasure of the last stains on German honour” with a torchlight procession of 25,000 jubilant Nazis,’ led by Herr Hitler’s goose-step-pin<r guards. Wearing black uniforms amf black helmets, the guards marched with fixed bayonets through surging crowds of people, who waved flags and handkerchiefs, on the way to salute Herr Hitler, Dr. Gcebbels and other dignataries, who stood on the balconj’ of the Chancellery in a blaze of searchlights. . ~ Herr Hitler raised his arm continuously as the procession passed,. _ Radio stations broadcast a revised programme packed with patriotic items. Dr. Goebbels (Minister for Propaganda) thanked the Rhinelanders for their message of gratification, and emphasised that the re-occupation was really a peace gestume promising a new and better future for all Europe. The troops had entered the Rhineland not thinking of revenge, but only of peace. HITLER TO TOUR RHINELAND. INSPECTING NEW GARRISONS. (Received This Day, 9.35 a.m.) BERLIN, March 8. Her Hitler will shortly visit the Rhineland to inspect the newly-garri-soned towns, as he did after the reoccupying of the Saar.