ULTIMATUM BY GERMANY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22519, 29 September 1938, Page 11

ULTIMATUM BY GERMANY

* FEW HOURS GIVEN FOR ANSWER TWO DAYS ALLOWED FOR EXODUS ? BRITAIN AND FRANCE TAKEN BY SURPRISE IGNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Received September 28, 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 28. The Berlin correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says that well-in-formed circles fear that, failing the acceptance by Czechoslovakia of the German ultimatum by 2 p.m. on September 28, Herr Hitler’s troops will march against Czechoslovakia on the morning of September 29. The exodus of foreigners is proceeding at full speed, including many Britons. The wives and children of the embassy staff's have left Berlin.

The Berlin correspondent of “The Times” says that the official news agency states that the Sudeten areas, Asch, Schluckenau, and Rumberg, have been cleared of Czech and Communist bands and have been cu' off from the rest of Czechoslovakia. They are now wholly controlled by the German Sudeten Party. The post offices are working only with Germany. The news from Germany that 2 p.m. on September 28 is the “zero” hour came as a complete surprise to the press and public throughout Britain and France. It was thought that the crisis would come on Saturday, but now, according to the Berlin correspondent of “The Times,' the time limit for acceptance has been fixed at 2 p.m. on September 28, so that the Czech army, in the event of acceptance, could quit the Sudeten areas by October X.

The world overlooked the difference between acceptance or nonacceptance and, in the event of acceptance, the accomplishment of the exodus. Thus the world faces the culmination of the crisis in a few hours instead of on Saturday. A message from Paris states: “The report that Herr Hitler had advanced the time-limit was received with something like' stupefaction, even by well-informed quarters.” The Berlin correspondent of the “Manchester Guardian” says that the prolongation of the respite beyond October 1 was rejected. The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press reports that Herr Hitler’s bodyguard, the Black Guards, have abandoned their black uniforms for field grey.

A message from Malta states that German subjects are departing. An official spokesman in Bei’lin suggested that Mr • Chamberlain's speech was intended largely for "home consumption.” BRITAIN’S OLDEST ALLY PORTUGAL “WILL HONOUR HER PLEDGES” (Received September 28, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 28. The Lisbon correspondent of the British United Press says that Portugal, Britain’s oldest European ally, according to the official newspaper, “Diario Da Manha,” will “honour her pledges with unshaken morale.” REFUGEES VOLUNTEER FOR FRANCE (Received September 28, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 28. The Paris correspondent of “The Times” says that refugees from Austria and the Saar at Bordeaux offered to fight for France against Herr Hitler.

The Czechoslovak colony in France has followed their example.