PAINFUL OPERATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 285, 2 December 1938, Page 9

PAINFUL OPERATION.

Purge Made By Rumanian

Political Police.

IRON GUARDS START FIRES

Independent Cable Service.

t (Iter**!vc<] 11! noon.) BUCHAH KST, December 1

The Iron (iuards set fire to 10 houses and workshops at Czernowitz and two were arrested.

The (iovernment organ, "Romania." indicates that the shooting of Codreanu marked the culmination of a purge conducted by the political police throughout the country for several weeks. "It was a painful operation necessary in view of the revived terror of the former members of the Iron (iuard, which became a constant threat to public order." Codreanu's wife refuses to believe that lie is dead.

A cablegram received yesterday stated that Cornelia Codreanu. leader of the Iron (iuards, an illegal Fascist organisation, had been shot dead while trying to escape with other prisoners, wfien they were being removed to a military gaol at Bucharest.

IRON GUARD THREAT.

Hope of Peaceful Solution Abandoned. UPSET IN RUMANIA. BUCHAREST, December 1. Police orders are "to proceed with the greatest energy against all individuals committing acts of violence, shoot down terrorists at sight, and maintain order at all costs. Policemen hesitating to shoot will he punished in accordance with the existing laws."

Pamphlets addressed to King Carol and circulated in Bucharest yesterday stated that as the Iron Guard had abandoned hope of reaching a peaceful solution of their conflict with the Government, they would adopt other measures. A number of Army officers suspected of Fascist sympathies have been relieved of their posts, including General Antonescu. a former War Minister, commanding the 3rd Army Corps.