ON WESTERN FRONT

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 November 1939, Page 7

ON WESTERN FRONT

RAIN REDUCES ACTIVITY [by cable —PRESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.] LONDON, November 18. The French official evening communique reported patrol and artillery activity at various points of the Western front. The Paris correspondent of “Thte Times” states that heavy rain has reduced military activity on the Western front to a minimum, though German patrols were slightly more active in one or two instances. The- opposing patrols used hand-grenades. French artillery dispersed small German detachments east of the Moselle and sent the German troops, who were constructing strong points between the Saar and the Blies 1 scuttling for shelter. ENEMY MORE ACTIVE (Recd. November 20, (noon.) PARIS, November 17. German troops are much more active on the Western front, and patrols are more numerous. French machineguns dispersed them east of the Moselle, also at Nied and Blies Rivers, inflicting casualties. Artillery fire was renewed south of Saarbrucken.

The Rhine is again flooded, necessitating further German precautions. German fighting planes patrolled the front lines between the l Vosges and the Rhine. LOW COUNTRIES NEUTRALITY PARIS, November 18. The Paris radio reports that Italy and Spain informed Germany that they were interested in the preservation of the territorial integrity of Belgium and the Netherlands.