RUSSIAN INVASION

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 September 1939, Page 8

RUSSIAN INVASION

BRITISH PRESS OPINIONS.

[BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] (Recd. Sept. 19, 10.40 a.m.). RUGBY, September IS. Although the Russian invasion of Poland was not wholly unexpected in London, and was implicit in the Rus-sian-German Pact, the development imparts a new factor into the situation, which is being anxiously studied by the British Ministers, and which will be the subject of consultations with the French and Polish Governments, when full official reports arrive from Moscow. Conferences between Ministers, with the assistance of officials, were frequent throughout yesterday, and are continuing to-day. In informed quarters, the view, is taken that a situation not dissimilar from that which has now arisen would have occurred if Russia had been allied with'Britain and France, in the event of the Polish Government being driven beyond its frontiers, as is now reported to be the case. It is noted in this connection that M. Molotov emphasises the necessity for “protecting” the White Russians and Ukrainians. The newspapers, while regarding as specious these professions, detect in M. Molotov’s communications an indication that the Russian Government is alarmed at the rapidity of the German advance, and the threat it offers to Russia’s Western frontier. “Russia’s policy,” says the “Daily “Telegraph,” “is as imponderable as ever,” and after discussing the possibilities in detail, it adds: “Whatever the future may hold, two things are certain. The presence of a powerful Russian army on his Eastern frontier will immobilise a large part of Herr Hitler’s forces, at a time when they are needed in the West. Poland, brutally stricken to earth, will rise again.” The “News-Chronicle” states: “The intervention in Poland has no doubt been hastened by the speed of the German advance. It may be that Moscow had begun to fear, lest the impetus of Herr Hitler’s drive might carry him further than it| was convenient to remain, and find him establishing himself on or dangerously near the existing Russian frontier. Immediate Russian action, to occupy a slice of East Poland, and more especially to safeguard the Polish Ukraine from German penetration before it was too late, would be the obvious reaction to such a fear.”.

The “Daily Mail” says: “Russia says that Poland is abandoned and ■ without leadership, but she is neither. Britain and France do not desert their friends. They will fight for the independence of Poland and the destruction of tyranny, and will secure both.”

LITHUANIA MOBILISES LONDON, September 18. Lithuania has ordered a general mobilisation, as a precaution, in view of the Russian action. The Kovno correspondent of the United Press of America, says _ that Lithuania virtually totally mobilised all reservists up to 40 years of age, to the colours, as the Soviet troops drove within a few miles of her eastern frontier. According to the Ministry of Inforination, it is understood that the Lithuanian Government has decided to undertake partial mobilisation, in order to strengthen- its forces on the Polish frontier. - The explanation given in official circles is that this step has been taken in pursuance of the Lithuanian policy of neutrality, for the purpose of disarming and interning any units of the Polish army which may attempt to retreat into Lithuania.

CLOSING IN ON WARSAW LONDON, September 18. A report from Berlin says that German bombers have established contact with the Soviet troops. The location is not announced. Siege guns are reported to be closing in on Warsaw 12 hours after the expiration of the ultimatum, but the Ministry of Propaganda claims that it is without information about the city’s fate.

It is officially stated that the German High Command has consented to Warsaw’s civil foreign population evacuating by the Warsaw-Siedlce road to the east, and the Warsaw-Gar-wolin road to the south-east. Only very meagre reports of the Polish situation are reaching London. This morning the Polish Embassy was anxiously awaiting news. British radio sets were unable to pick up broadcasts from Poland, where the stations were either discontinued oi- were being jammed. From Riga it is reported that the Russians have reached Wilno. Broadcasts from the German wireless stations are continually repeating that the Polish army is in process of disintegration. The official French wireless announced that the German command informed the commander of the Polish forces in Warsaw (General Czume) that the city will be bombarded at 10 a.m., and appealed to Warsaw to' take advantage of the respite to evacuate women and children, but the garrison seems determined to go down fighting. The Danish newspaper “Politiken” reports that an important meeting of Russian and German political and military chiefs will be held at BrestLitovsk to-day to discuss the carving up of Poland, and the definition of new frontiers.

A later message reported that the Warsaw bombardment has not begun. The Germans now state no purpose is to be served by bombarding it.

NORTHERN NEUTRALS’ FEARS. LONDON, September 18. The Exchange Agency’s Copenhagen correspondent says that the Norwegian Foreign Minister, M. Koht, attending a meeting of the Premiers and Foreign Ministers of Norway. Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, declared that though the belligerents were interested in the non-violation of military neutrality, the outlook for the four countries’ commercial neutrality was darker than in the last war. He could not consider an extension of the British convoy system to the northern countries, which would be self-supporting in foodstuffs. They would' help each other in respect to raw materials and industrial products, except coal. |