WARSAW'S EASTERN ROAD CUT BY NAZIS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 217, 14 September 1939, Page 7

WARSAW'S EASTERN ROAD CUT BY NAZIS.

THREE BIG THRUSTS.

Poles Claim Successes In Offensives. GERMAN TROOPS FOR WEST. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Koo'iveil 1U noon.) LONDON, September 13. A German Arniv communique, issued in Berlin, says: "The pursuit of the enemy continues in Galicia. The towns of Sambor and Krakowice were captured. Advance guards have reached the western edge of Lwow.

"Our troops have crossed the WarsawSiedlce road, to the east of Warsaw. Motorised troops are now 2.1 miles north of Brest-Litovsk.

"The Polish Army, south of Radom, has ceased to exist. Considerable captures have been effected of prisoners and war material."

Nazi military dispatches from Berlin reported that the Polish defence lines were broken by three (ierman Army thrusts —from Knst Prussia, from the

south, and by mechanised troops from the north-cast. This, it is claimed, will quickly end the war in Kastern Europe as "a serious military conflict."

Polish sources, says a Paris dispatch, assert that their Posen army has broken the German ring. It is now menacing the German centre army, which is besieging Warsaw from the south-west.

The Moscow wireless announced that the Poles have converted their defensive actions to an offensive in the north. Many Fires Started. From Bucharest it is stated thut a mechanised unit reached within IS miles of Lwow, but was forced back by the Poles, who arc rushing up reinforcements. Nazi 'planes, says the same authority, started many fires in Lwow by incendiary bombings.

"The Times" publishes a report that the Poles have recaptured Lodz. It is also stated that a Polish army of 250.000 men. retreating from Pomorze, in the Corridor region, has established contact with the Polish troops in the vicinity of Warsaw.

The German High Command claims that all the territory in Poland belongingl to Germany before the Great War is now in German hands. The battle west of the Vistula is drawing to a close. German troops are approaching the fortress of Modlin, 12 miles northeast of Warsaw. Others Jiave crossed the Warsaw-Bialy«tok railway. Suicide Battalion. A Budapest report states that the Mayor of Warsaw, M. Starzynski, has appealed by radio to youths to enlist in what may become a suicide battalion ti> defend the city. He warned the youths not to volunteer unless thev were resigned to fight to the last, as "Warsaw will be defended to the last man." The Polish commander said over the radio that women were fighting alongside men and showing great courage.

The Rumanian weather bureau states that heavy rain is falling in northern Poland, but there has been no rain in the south.

The actual fate of Lodz is uncertain, says a later message. The Germans issue continued reports that Lodz is in tlieir hands, intact, but the Poles claim to have recaptured it.

General Von Brauehitsch, Coinmander-in-C'liief of the German Army, lias joined the German troops in the front line near Radom. where tierce fighting is reported.

It appears that Hitler visited Lordz. not Lodz. A communique says the visit was an agreeable surprise for the troops and population. It is also stated that unfavourable weather conditions are now developing.