RUSSIAN AIMS IN POLAND

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22823, 23 September 1939, Page 13

RUSSIAN AIMS IN POLAND

Reported Move To Check Germans PROPAGANDA IN NEW PROVINCES (united press association — copteidht.) (Received September 22, 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 22. The Bucharest correspondent of “The Times” states that the Soviet forces are telling the population in the'occupied areas of Poland to return and beat back the Germans. It appears that one of Russia’s aims has been to prevent Germany reaching the PolishHungarian frontier. The Russians have set up local soviets of Ukrainians and White Russians in the occupied territories. Polish officials have been dismissed. Russia has already started propaganda in her new Polish provinces. Hundreds of thousands of copies of the Soviet newspaper, “Pravda,” are being distributed in the villages, in which large photographs of M. Stalin are already appearing on the walls of buildings. Arrangements are also being made to show Soviet films in the new pror vinces. . The movement of" the Russian troops is slowing down, their work now being mainly confined to mopping up; the sovietisation of the farm lands has already begun. GERMANY AND SOVIET FRONTIER AGREEMENT REACHED (Received September 22, 7.5 p.m.) LONDON, September 21. reports that the Germans and Russians have completed an agreement on the Polish- frontier question, and the German military mission is leaving. The German Official News Agency, commenting on the report from Moscow that deliberations on German and Russian spheres of influence in Poland had been decided, said that the negotiations were practically completed. It is expected that the Germans will withdraw to a line west of Warsaw. It is thought likely that a small independent Polish State will be created, with Warsaw as its capital and under a combined German and Soviet protectorate. It is reported that German and Russian troops have made contact in various localities along the line of demarcation.

From Lithuania it is reported that, under Soviet pressure, Germany has abandoned th- idea of establishing a Polish protectorate. . It is stated that the ultimate government- of Poland will favour the Soviet.

The Copenhagen correspondent of the “News-Chronicle” says it is reported from Berlin that the Soviet Commander - in - Chief, Marshal Voroshilov, is going to Berlin on October 1 or October 2 to meet Field-Marshal Goering and General von Brauchitsch, the German Com-mander-in-Chief.

The Moscow correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says the Soviet press yesterday for the first time reported Herr Hitler’s Danzig speech, but ommitted his assertion that he no longer wanted the Ukraine, and also his remarks about an agreement between Russia and Germany about Poland’s future. NEUTRAL SHIPS STOPPED ♦ FIGURES ISSUED IN BRITAIN ’ LONDON, September 21. The Ministry of Information has replied to the allegations by the German wireless that since the outbreak of the war 520 neutral ships have been held by the Admiralty. The truth of the matter was, states the Ministry; that the total number of neutral ships stopped by Britain up to Wednesday was 200, more than 80 of which were released with their entire cargoes. The remainder had been released after all or parts of their cargoes had been removed in conformity with the contraband regulations. BOMB EXPLOSIONS IN BERLIN (Received September 22/ 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 22. It is now learned from Copenhagen that at the time of the bomb explosion at the German air headquarters in Berlin on Saturday, two other bomb explosions occurred in Berlin—one at > the police headquarters and one at a gasworks. Arrests following the explosions now total 30, the majority of those arrested being supporters of the anti-Nazi movement lead by the German politician, Dr. Otto Strasser, now a refugee, FRENCH MINISTRY OF ARMAMENTS ' PARIS, September 21. A decree creates a Ministry of Armaments under the direction of the Minister for National Defence, which is responsible for all supplies of armaments,/ chemicals, and explosives, and controls all factories.