ALONG RHINE AND SAAR

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 2, 27 September 1939, Page 9

ALONG RHINE AND SAAR

Move To Forestall Expected

Nazi Offensive

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

Received Sept. 26, 9.20 p.m. LONDON, Sept. 26. It was reported from Paris today that French long-iange guns dropped shells directly on the West Wall fortifications on the east bank of the Rhine at the edge of the Black Forest as the western front fighting spread along the entire length of the FrancoGerman frontier. ■ ■ Yesterday the French artillery, supporting infantry attacks on the German flank, fired a plentiful supply of high-cahbre shells against the Siegfried Line from Karlsruhe to the Swiss frontier in order to forestall the expected German offensive. The Germans, who are massing planes at strategic points near the Swiss border, indicating intensified aerial operations, are also erecting aerodromes. The reception given to counter-attacks elsewhere appears to have discouraged the Nazis. FRENCH SHOCK TROOPS’ THRUST. On the northern frontier the French artillery yesterday began a direct bombardment of the! main fortifications of the Siegfried Line in an attempt to blast the Germans from their positions. The Germans are replying, but are failing to make direct hits on the advanced French positions. The cannonades reached the intensity of the great bombardments of the last war, hundreds of big guns being massed on both sides of the front. A Nazi mechanized detachment made a surprise encroach- . merit on French territory in a quiet part of the Vosges sector. French shock troops took an offensive in the Saar, and Palatinate regions, and claim to. have annihilated several German groups. Military observers believe that the big gun action may be the prelude to a general offensive. The French troops driving toward Saarlbrucken suddenly swung north in the direction of Blieskastel, where the main Siegfried Line begins. The French, however, appear to be on the defensive against German pressure at Wesissemburg. The earlier reference to improvement in the French positions on the West Front relates to rectification of the lines in the region of Blies and the Hardt Forest, involving an actual advance of several hundred metres.

An official communique states that there is a local improvement in the French positions. The enemy artillery is active southeast of Zweibrucken.

The German High Command stated in a communique that small skirmishes took place on the Western Front.

Senegalese troops are effectively participating in the French operations.. The French consider that the German armies are not as powerful as in 1914 in numbers and fighting ability, though they have no lack of equipment.