NEAR NEUTRAL FRONTIERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 70, 20 September 1939, Page 9

NEAR NEUTRAL FRONTIERS

ALLIES SAID TO BE ANXIOUS

FRENCH REINFORCE POSITIONS

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Received September 20, 9 a.m.)

NEW YORK, September 19.

Britain and France are concerned at reports of German military activity near the Belgian and Netherlands frontiers. It is heard that German civilians are evacuating1 the Aix-la-Chapelle district, which is in direct line with Liege, Germany'■ * route in the 1914 invasion of Belgium, also that part of the German forces are being recalled from Poland and concentrated within striking distance of the Belgian and Dutch frontiers. (Keceived September 20,10.50 a.m.) LONDON, September 19. A Berlin communique reports slight activity on the "Western Front. It was stated officially in Paris that nothing had happened for forty-eight hours to change the position on the Western Front. The French were consolidating their positions and haye built pill-boxes and concrete trenches at the limit of their advance. The air force continues its reconnaissance; work, the pilots showing skill and courage^ and eluding German fighters. A restricted enemy attack occurred during the night in the region of the east Saar front. It was repulsed. The French hurled back a (German attack east of the Blies River, German troops ineffectively striking under cover of a heavy artillery barrage. . ;

A message from Paris states that the British and French armies are now preparing for a major battle. The French expect a lightning attack, possibly through neutral countries. ■■■■;■

A report from Basle states that the arrival of guns and equipment from the Polish front is assisting the Germans in the west. Their intense artillery fire has transformed the village of Perl into a no-man's land, bearing out the belief that the Germans withdrew from their advance posts to enable heavy artillery to bombard the French, attackers. Activity has now increased" all along the front, including the forestclad sector south of Saarbrucken where the Germans are reported to have dynamited patches of forest 100 yards wide to enable their machineguns to operate without obstrucion.

PRELUDE TO "BIG NOISE"? NEW YORK, September 13.1

The Paris correspondent of the "New York Times" says that on the part of the Western Front where it is considered the Germans cannot afford to lose much ground—that is to say, the central sector facing Saarluten and Zweibrucken—the artillery of both sides continues to be active. The remainder of the front has been quiet for 24 hours. "Quiet" frequently is the prelude to a "big noise." ;

The French have progressed an average distance of 12 miles from the Maginot Line on a front 15 miles wide, the consequence of which is twofold: First, that section of the Maginot Line is now out of range of all except the heaviest guns; secondly, the first-line troops are actually within the outworks of the West Wall.

That the British idea of dropping leaflets in German territory has value is seen in the fact that a number of the prisoners taken by the French in the last week had copies in their pockets, the correspondent adds. The Polish position is unlikely to

prevent the Germans transferring more troops to the Western Front. The estimated total of German troops in the field at the outbreak of the war was 135 divisions, 70 of which on the basis of Field-Marshal Goering's statements, were in Poland. More divisions have been mobilised in Germany since then.