NEUTRALS WARNED

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 November 1939, Page 7

NEUTRALS WARNED

ATTACKS ON AEROPLANES

GERMAN THREAT REPORTED [by CABLE —PBESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] (Recd. November 21, 9.30 a.m.) PARIS, Nov. 20. According to the “Excelsior,” Germany has sent notes to Belgium and Holland, warning them not to attack German planes flying over their territory, otherwise Germany will take immediate measures for counter-aggression. The notes are reported to assert that Belgium and Holland have not opposed with force Allied control of their shipping, for which reason Germany claims the right to fly, over their territory. A message from The Hague stated that authoritative circles emphatically discount the “Excelsior’s” report of the German threat.

A German military plane crashed in Dutch territory, while attempting a forced landing. The pilot was killed. The plane, which was broken in three parts, was partly buried beside.the river Roer, with the body of the 18-year-old pilot leaning out of the cockpit.

It is officially stated that Dutch anti-aircraft guns fired on the plane, before it crashed.. It is semi-officially stated in Berlin, according to a message from that city, that one German pilot was seriously injured in an encounter with a Dutch plane on November 19. It is denied that the German machine was inside Dutch territorial waters. “The Times’s” Amsterdam correspondent says: Berlin reports indicate that, when Dutch aircraft chased a German seaplane from Vlieland on November 18, one of the German pilots was wounded. NEUTRALITY VIOLATED. (Recd. November 21, 2 p.m.) LONDON, November 20. “The Times’s” Paris correspondent says it is reported' that German planes are making a practice of violating Belgian, Dutch, and Swiss neutrality. German troop concentrations are still being maintained close to the Belgian and Dutch frontiers. A Basle message stated: The Swiss Army announces that foreign aircraft repeatedly violated Swiss territory on November 17 and 18. Several of the planes were identified as German German leaflets were dropped. The Swiss anti-aircraft guns opened fire.