TRIUMPHAL MARCH

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 58, 9 March 1936, Page 7

TRIUMPHAL MARCH

ZONE REOCCUPIED.

German Troops Arouse Popular Rejoicing. WELL-EQUIPPED FORCES. United Press Association. —Copyright. (Received 12.30 p.m.) BERLIN, March 8. On the reoccupation of Cologne for the first time since 1918, German field grey uniforms were seen in the historic Cathedral Square, once familiar to the khaki-clad British Army of occupation. The force of motorised cavalry, artillery and infantry, fully equipped with modern armament, mechanised, and with machine-guns, mortars and anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns marched in while Herr Hitler was still speaking in the Reichstag. When it was reported that tlie tioops were on their way, German flags were hoisted in all parts of the city, the facades of buildings disappeared behind masses of bunting, and windows were filled with sightseers. I General von Kluge, commanding the Munster district, who organised the reoccupation, accompanied by local officials, took up his post. Suddenly came the news that the troops had arrived. The populace, singing "Deutschland über Alles" and the "Horst Wessel" song, flocked to the station and saw a long column of men with full war equipment streaming out. Scene at Frontier Bridge. The men of the 38th Infantry Regiment were wearing in their steel heimets red and white carnations—the colours of Cologne, recalling the fact that before the war they had formed part of the garrison of the city. They were especially warmly welcomed. There were similar scenes of rejoicing in various towns in the Rhineland, including Aix-la-Chapelle, Treves, Saarbruecken, Coblenz and Mannheim. Thousands of people, including children, were seeing German soldiers foi t e time, marched /alongside the troops the barracks singing and cracking jo ' The German troops reached the French frontier at the German end of the Ke bridgehead in Strasburg at- dusk, hundred infantry took up their P 09 "'™o°'0°' being the first tn the neighbourhood ot France since 1918.' Hundreds of J, re ° " inhabitants stood silently at the French end of the bridge and watched the Ueimans establish sentnes. The reoeeupation celebrations throughout the Rhineland continued far mto the night with monster torchlight processions. Cologne's famous cathedial bell, Big Peter, which was last rung when the British evacuated the city m January, 1020, boomed a welcome to tne German troops. Rhineland Garrison. It is officially stated in Berlin that the remainder of the troops will move in to-day, when the Rhineland's garrison will consist of ID battalions of 13 artillery detachments, two flights pursuit-aeroplanes, and two detaclimons of anti-aircraft guns. The majority wi be stationed along the Rhine and in tne Rhine Valley between the Black "Forest and the Rhine. NO CAUSE FOR ALARM. MR. W. M. HUGHES' OPINION. (Received 12 noon.) SYDNEY, this day. The Minister of Health and Repatriation, Mr. W. M. Hughes, .summing up the European situation, said: Theie is no cause for alarm. At the most t here is no more cause for it than there was a week ago."-