Sudeten Territory

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 81, 3 October 1938, Page 9

Sudeten Territory

CZECH TROOPS MOVE OUT

Watched by Silent People

..:. I Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (Received October 3, 11 a.m.) LONDON, October 2. German troops have begun their march into the Sudeten terroritles evacuated by the Czechs according to the Munich plan. The German War Office announces that the troops marched into Zone 1 in accordance with the plan and were received witti jubilation by the liberated population. Hear Hitler has appointed Herr Henlein to be Reich Commissioner to administer all the Sudeten territories after the German troops have advanced. Acting under Herr Hitler's commands, Herr Henlein will extend German laws throughout Sudetendand. The German High Command announces that troops under General Bock began the occupation of Zone 2 (north-eastern Czechoslovakia) on a line from Friedeberg to Rumburg, and that simultaneously troops under General yon Leeb are occupying' Zone 1, having crossed the river Moldau with their right flank on the limit point" set for occupation. The left flank should be in position this evening. All communications are being taken over as the march proceeds so that essential services may be assured. Reuters' correspondent at Asch says that -the Czech-Ger-man frontier evacuation hour was heralded at 1 a.m. with a burst of machine-gun and rifle fire, while Verey lights illuminated the surrounding country. The Czechs began the evacuation of part of the Sudetenland and also of south-western Bohemia. It is officially announced from Berlin that German troops crossed tie frontier between Helfenberg and Finsterau at 2 a.m. The Czechs evacuated Eger. The first German troops to cross the frontier were commanded by General Ritter yon Leeb. AWAITING THE WORD TO MARCH. A message from Regensburg says that troops of Germany's new army, wearing flowers in their helmets and buttonholes, stood by in the cold, foggy dawn awaiting the order at 2 a.m. to march. Roads to Passau were crowded with traffic. The Sudeten Fr«e Corps had the strictest orders not to move to the Sudetenlapd. Czech troops have completely evacuated the first zone. They were watched by a silent population. Immediately the last soldier1 left swastika flags were run up everywhere. The British United Press correspondent at Waldhausel, describing the beginning of the» German occupation, reports that armoured cars headed the advancing column, followed by lorries carrying mechanised infantry, anti-aircraft guns, and much other modern equipment. Thus the first zone of Sudetenland, 60 miles long by 18 miles deep at its widest section, became part of the Reich. A small group of Sudetens at the frontier had built a triumphal arch of evergreens, through, which the troops passed and were received with, rhythmic "Heils" and pelted with flowers. Meanwhile Sudetens further in the interior were busy dismantling barricades of tree-trunks which had been erected by the Czechs and hurling them into-ditches. Later t3ie triumphal march continued through villages decorated with flags and festoons. Herr Hitler's portrait was displayed in. shop windows. The Nazi Labour Corps followed the troops in order to clear the roads. In one case they had to dynamite a Czech anti-tank barrier formed of railway lines embedded in concrete. THE GERMANS' FIRST TASK; General Weissenberger, commanding the division advancing through Tusset, said that the Germans' first task would be to relieve Sudeten unemployment by roadbuilding in the mountains and ot&er measures to raise the standard of living, a thing for wMch the inhabitants have long waited. The British United Press correspondent accompanying General Hairtmann's column described by telephone the advance by five columns of field-grey troops into the Sudetenland along a 25-mile front. Bands were playing and the troops were singing-, laughing, and joking. They were widely acclaimed by the population, hundreds of whom lined the streets and gave the Nazi salute. The-Sudetens tore down the Czech mobilisation order and removed Czech signs. The Czechs had received ord«ers either to destroy mines or to mark the mined zones, so that they would be easily recognised, with danger signals. Reuters? correspondent at Linz, describing the advance of German aoid Austrian troops over the frontier hillroad from Linz, reported that the advance occurred a little earlier there as Herr Hitler's parents are buried in the cemetery at Vogelwald in, thai vicinity.