GERMAN AIR RAIDS

Grey River Argus, 6 September 1939, Page 7

GERMAN AIR RAIDS

ALL OVER POLAND Many Fires Started [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.l WARSAW, September 4. German pir-raids, accompanied by heavy, unestimated civilian casualties, were delivered on Warsaw, Hel, Gdynia, Radomsko, Torun, Posnan, Cracow and Deblin in Moravia, indicating the wide scope of the aerial operations. An Official communique states that 27 German planes bombed Bydgoszoz, inflicting heavy civilian losses. The bombs dropped on trains, killing and wounding many. NEW YORK, September 4. The Warsaw correspondent of the United Press of America says that air-raid dead number at least 50, probably more. Many planes participated, the United Press representative counting 30. : 1 The city is burning in several sections. A full count of casualties wii. be impossible for hours. LONDON, Septemoer e. The Polish Embassy confirms the use of poison gas by air raiders in Silesia, and asked for the immediate despatch of a serum against corrosive gas injuries. It also states that planes machinegunned an ambulance, plainly marked with red crosses. Bombers dropped three bombs on the Convent of the Immaculate Conception, where a girls’ school is situated at Belchatow, causing a number of casualties. Warsaw Again Raided by 70 ’PLANES. (Received September 5, 11.44 p.m.) WARSAW, September 5. The capital has suffered further air raids by seventy German ’planes. While the flames from buildings set on fire by an earlier attack, were lighting up the evening sky yesterday, anti-aircraft, guns scattered the oncoming ’planes, three of which dived and bombed from a low altitude. The streets are deep with broken glass from the shattered windows.

25 ’PLANES DOWNED. WARSAW' REPORT. (Received September 5, 11.44 p.m.) WARSAW, September 5. A communique claims that the Poles shot down seventeen raiding German ’planes, and lost eight themselves. Already twenty-four German airmen are imprisoned in a suburb of Warsaw. About twelve of them are suffering from head wounds resulting from parachute jumps. NEW YORK, September 4. The Associated Press of America’s Warsaw correspondent reports that ten were killed and several wounded when a German bomb struck a Gin Guides’ canteen near the East railway station. Bomb splinters Struck a train of Red C?|oss carriages, carrying wounded from the western battlefields, but dirf not harm the occupants Sixteen planes were engaged in the raid. Spirited anti-aircraft gunfire replied. The wardens reported that three German planes were shot down. A United Press Warsaw despatch state that flames were stabbing the sky from two railway stations, one in the north and the other in the west of the city, as a result of incendiary bombs. All the available firemen were mustered. Stretcher-bearers were struggling through streets littered with glass. Railway lines in Eastern and Southern Poland, namely Kutno-Warsaw, Cracow-Lemberg, and Thorn-Detsch-eylau, were destroyed. The Hohensalza station was blown to pieces.

POLISH GOVERNMENT. WARSAW, September 4. The Polish Parliament has adjourned, leaving the functions of Government in the hands of the President and Cabinet, to which a Minister of Civilian Populations has been added. German Terrorism USED AGAINST POLES. WOMEN AND CHILDREN TAKEN AS HOSTAGES. (Received September 5, 10.40 p.m.) LONDON, September 5. The Warsaw correspondent of “The Times” says: “News is coming in hourly of an appalling German terror. The German invaders on the East Prussian front are reported to be taking off women and children wholesale as hostages to East Prussia. Danzigers of Polish blood who are unable to escape are reported to be receiving similar treatment.

i Hitler Near Danzig WATCHES ADVANCE OVER THE VISTULA. (Received September 5, 6.30 p.m.) BERLIN, September 4. The German High Command announces that Herr Hitler has arrived on the Eastern Front, and that he saw German troops cross the Vistula River at Kulm (south of Danzig). He also inspected the liberated province of West Prussia. War at Belgium’s Gates KING’S EMERGENCY POWERS. (Received September 5, 11.5 p.m.) BRUSSELS September 5. Cabinet is submitting a Bill to give King Leopold full power to govern Belgium in war-time. King Leopold, in a broadcast to fhe nation, said: “War has knocked at our gates, but our security is assured by the strong, disciplined army which guards the frontiers;”

BELGIAN ARMY. KING TAKES COMMAND. LONDON, September 4. In Brussels to-day, the following order of the day was issued by Kmg Leopold: “From to-day I h’ave taken over command of the army. I am certain that in all circumstances the army by its bravery and self-sacrifice will know how to show itself worthy of the confidence the whole nation places in it.”