HEAVY FIGHTING ON EASTERN FRONT

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 210, 6 September 1939, Page 9

HEAVY FIGHTING ON EASTERN FRONT

German Forces N earing Warsaw

FIRING HEARD

Poles Admit Capture Of Corridor Centres

PLANES OVER BERLIN

(United Press Association.—Copyright.— Rec. 10.30 a.m.)

LONDON, September 5,

Artillery and machine-gun fire was heard in Warsaw, resulting in the belief that the opposing forces are now near. All roads from the city are clogged with the evacuating populace. It is expected that the Government will shortly depart to an unnamed destination.

The Polish radio has announced that Polish 'planes bombed Berlin and returned to Warsaw without loss, says a message from Paris.

A message from Warsaw says the Polish News Agency confirms the report that over 30 'planes bombed Berlin, but the British Ministry of Information has no knowledge of the raid.

The 8.8.C. also states: "It was announced by the Polish wireless that more than 38 Polish aeroplanes flew over Berlin yesterday and all returned safely."

A Berlin official message says that German aeroplanes in combat between Warsaw and Lodz downed 1 I Polish 'planes. German losses are not stated.

An official Warsaw communique admits that the Poles have been forced to abandon Grudienz and Bydgoszcz, key cities in the Corridor, after severe fighting.

A Berlin official German message says Germans captured Katowice, an important industrial centre in Poland.

The Polish Telegraphic Agency reported that 50 German air raiders destroyed' a Red Cross train near Szydlowicz.

The Warsaw correspondent of "The Times" confirmed in an earlier message that operations had been exceptionally heavy on the Silesian front, but Katowice was still held by the Poles, while they had regained ground near Rybnik.

The artillery bombardment at Katowice was continuous, as were the air raid's on Cracow. The civil population had largely evacuated the town. The fields had been emptied of livestock and the roads were choked with refugees and marching troops.

The Polish News Agency reports intense bombing of Tczew, Thorn, Katowice, Bydgoszcz. Cracow and Warsaw. 'Planes dived and machine-gunned peasants on their farms and by road sides. They dropped two 1001b bombs on a cemetery in a suburb of Warsaw, where villagers were burying victims of Friday's air raids.

It is stated from Warsaw, according to a 8.8.C. announcement, that several German Air Force men were discovered behind the Polish lines dressed in Polish uniform. They were courtmartialled' and shot.

A telegram from Berlin says it is officially claimed that no German parachute infantry have so far landed behind the Polish lines. "The Poles must have shot or executed German flyers forced to land, which is a flagrant violation of International Law."