GRIMMEST TRAGEDY

Grey River Argus, 21 September 1939, Page 7

GRIMMEST TRAGEDY

Refugees Massacred

THE HUN AT HIS WORST.

(Received Sept. 21, 1.7 a.m.) LONDON, September 20. Sixty thousand Polish civilain and military refugees have now arrived in Roumania. These give descriptions .otf their retreat before ruthless German hordes who were indiscriminately massacring and pillaging, without any respect for historic places, or women, or children, or babies in arms. This retreat makes one of history’s grimmest and most tragic stories. The journey of one Polish Government train to the Roumania frontier has been one long horror. The Germans repeatedly bombed the train. Several refugees aboard became demented because of the lack of water and sleep, and the continual German attempts to wipe out the carriages. The train was forced to travel at a snail’s pace, because of lack of fuel. The train sometimes was divided because the engine was unable to haul the fourteen carriages. The train reached the frontier unscathed, but two hundred of its passengers had “disappeared” on the way.

Survivors from Krzemieniec tell of the destruction of the famous cathedral of Saint John. It was one of the most beautiful churches of all Europe. Bombs shattered the roof, but a priest continued with a service while blazing beams were falling. The Royal castle at Krzemieniec, containing priceless treasures, was razed to the ground. It is revealed that members of the British Embassy Staff narrowly escaped when they were caught in the streets of Krzemieniec during a bombing raid on Thursday. All fell on their faces. None was harmed, despite havoc on all sides. It was this raid which caused their decision to leave Poland. The British Consular Crops was the last to leave. Mr B. Kennard held on until Colonel Beck almost ordered him to go. The British Embassyites went by car, and not by the Government train,

Waves of Refugees

FROM POLAND TO ROUMANIA.

(Received September 20 9.10 p.m.) NEW YORK, September 19.

“The Times” correspondent at Cernauti says: A second bigger, more needy and more destitute wave of Polish refugees has swarmed over Cernauti overnight, coming in carts, cycles, and on foot. In some cases even firemen came with their engines. From fifteen to twenty thousand people comprise the present wave, and a serious problem is faced in providing shelter and food for the refugees. Many railway cars still crowded with refugees in which they arrived, are lacking any other shelter. NEW YORK, September 19. The Cernauti correspondent of the Associated Press of America states •that a bitter argument between the i Foreign Minister, Colonel Beck and Marshal Smigly-Rydz, occurred at the I station, while they were farewelling i M. Moscicki, who was entraining for : Craiova, near the Bulgarian frontier, ; where he has received permission to I i uside.

The subject of the argument is not disclosed, but the two men are journeying by separate routes to Bucharest, whence it is reported they may go to Paris.

GUERILLA WAR.

POLES SHOW GREAT ACTIVITY.

(Received September 20, 9.15 p.m.) COPENHAGEN, September 20.

Newspapers admit there is great activity on the part of Polish guerilla lighters behind the front, where hundreds of the Germans have been sniped. Those shot include Major General Wilhelm Roettig, the xnspectorGeneral of Germany’s gendarmes. Thousand German Airmen KILLED BY THE POLES. (Received September 20, 9.5 p.m.) COPENHAGEN, Septemoer 20. An open admission that the German Air Force has suffered heavily in the Polish conflict, is given by an appeal to Nazi youths between the ages of seventeen and twenty years to join the flying personnel. It is estimated that the Germans lost one thousand airmen in Poland.

GERMAN BOMB.

KILLS 27 GERMAN PRISONERS.

PARIS, September 19.

The Warsaw Radio states: A German air bomb fell on a house here, where ninety German prisoners were being held. The bomb killed twentyseven and wounded thirty-five of the prisoners.

GDYNIA HEIGHTS SHELLED LONDON, September 19. The Associated Press of America’s Berlin correspondent says that the warship Schleswig Holstein has opened fire, from Danzig harbour, upon the heights above Gdynia, which have still not surrendered, but the absence of reply indicated that the Poles were short of ammunition. Between 2000 and 3000 defenders in the vicinity of Gdynia maintain the fight against superior forces on the. Oblosz Heights, west of the town, also the village of Ochshoeft. They are waiting, as captives said, “for the British to arrive.” Two or three thousands Polish troops are still holding out near . Gdynia on the heights overlooking the ■ city. ZOO ANIMALS CONSCRIPTED IN GERMANY (Received Sept. 20, 11.40 p.m.) BASEL, September 20. The Germans have pressed camels and elephans from the zoos into farm work.