POLAND’S LOSSES

Hokitika Guardian, 8 September 1939, Page 5

POLAND’S LOSSES

HEAVY GERMAN ADVANCE

(United Press Association —By Electrio .iiTel&giaph—Copyright)’. ! .it WARSAW; September 7;

Polish .forces arc reported to be making a; desperate stand tb the west and north; of the capital,' in the face of a withering fire, which is thinning their ranks. f v The . Polish General ■ Staff has' confirmed the removal of the Government to Lublin,' south of Warsaw. The Germans are reported to be pressing on to Lublin.

The latest Polish communique says

The Polish troops are stemming the German advance on the south-west-ern front.

The heroic Westerplatte garrison is still holding out in Danzig. German planes bombed Warsaw several times j also troop concentrations. In retaliation, Polish planes bombed the enemy’s armoured columns. Field-Marshal Smigly-Rydz, (Polish Generalissimo) has issued an Order of. the Day to the Polish Air Force, as follows: ‘.‘Airmen, you are the front rank of soldiers, of Poland! Despite the enemy’s great ascendancy, you are fulfilling your duties . heroically. Poland will remember you forever!” Stories are filtering in about Poland’s Women’s Army.. A German officer in one of. the; captured towns is quoted as. saying: “They fight like tigers.”

The Germans admit severe fighting in Lodz district, also west from Tarnow (which is 45 miles east of Cracow). ■

GENERAL ADVANCE

ON SOUTH-WEST FRONT.

BERLIN, September 7

The German High Command, in a communique, says: Our army is advancing on Warsaw and Lublin. Our forces also have passed within a few - miles of Lodz (60 miles, south of Warsaw). ... Those German forces that are pushing from the south and the west drove, back the enemy from the Cracow industrial area.

Eastern Upper Silesia is now in German hands. Further north Piotrkow and two adjacent towns have been captured.

GERMAN CLAIM.

LONDON,, September 6

A Berlin broadcast claims that Poland has lost her entire coal supply and her industrial region. It says also that the battlefields are Covered with abandoned Polish material. Berlin despatches ' officially claim that the city of Cracow, in the southwest, has fallen, though the Warsaw radio denies the loss of it. - CRACOW FALLS. COPENHAGEN, September 7. A communique says that German troops entered the city of Cracow, (in north-west Poland with 237*000 population), without a battle at noon on Wednesday. >u The commanding German General rendered military honours to Marshal Pilsudski’s grave at Cracow. It is officially reported that the Germans, after the fall. of Cracow, began advancing toward Lodz and have captured the city of Kielce.

GDYNIA IN RUINS

AMSTERDAM, September 7

A report which has reached here says that Gdynia is in ruins, and that the towns on the Hela Peninsula have 1 been destroyed.

The same source says' that Danzig has been under fire since Monday. A big ammunition dump near the mouth of the Vistula River has been burning for three days.

WARSAW RAILWAY BOMBED,

BERLIN, September 7

A communique states that Warsaw’s west railway station was bombed and that burning bridges south of the. capital over the Vistula have been destroyed.

westerplatte GARRISON. MONTREAL, September 7., A Berlin message states that the War Ministry announces that... the Polish garrison at Westerolatte; sur- j rendered at 10.20 p.m. The message, reached here at 8.10 a.m. /w A Bucharest message says that the German Legation has protested

against twelve British officers being permitted to travel through Rumania to Poland.

GERMAN HOPES

LONDON, September 6

Mr L. Mullally, an Irishman, nas returned to England from Germany, arriving yesterday. He said that lie ,was in Cologne when British planes dropped propaganda leaflets there, and although an air raid warning was sounded, the German Air'Force took no action. Ho added that lie was told by Germans that they expected the war against Poland to be over in three weeks, and that the Nazi officials were determined not to be the first to attack on the western front. FURTHER GERMAN SUCCESSES. * j v BERLIN, September 6. To-day’s military comm uniques, if correct, indicate that Germany has seized one-third of Poland, including the nation’s richest provinces. The War Ministry has announced the occupation of the fortified city of Bromberg, and the. industrial centre of Keilcc, which has also been taken. MORE MOBILISATION. PARIS j September 7. The Agence Radio quotes a Riga message that Poland has mobilised six more classes, and also all her officers and non-commissioned men, regardless of age. The message adds that two Czech Legions were being formed when it was received here at 7.35 a.m.

LOAN FOR POLAND,

LONDON, September 6. The British Treasury announced that Britain and France had granted a loan of approximately £8,500,000 to Poland to enable her to continue her resistance to Germany’s invasion. GERMAN REPORT. OF POLISH DEBACLE.. ALONG WHOLE FRONT. (Received this day at 9.0 a.m.) NEW YORK September 7. A communique from Berlin states the Polish retreat along the entire frontier continues, supported by the ail force. The eastern army has kept on the heels of the enemy, forcing engagements. Nowysacz was taken, the Dunajec River crossed and Cracow occupied without fighting. Pilsudki’s 1 tomb was accorded military honours. The Germans after the capture oi Kielce are advancing through the western sector of Lysa and Gora. Further north, nearing Tomaszow and Lodz, they arc mopping up the scattered Corridor army. Northwest of Cruziavz ninety guns have been captured and two divisions and one cavalry brigade, one battalion and two rifle battalions destroyed. The survivors escaped by swimming tihe Vistula river without equipment. East of the Vistula, the Torun-Strasbourg highway was crossed by bridges thrown across the Brewenz river. Troops, advancing from East Prussia, reached the Narew river at Pulstusk and Rozen. ADVANCE SLOWED DOWN. (Received this day at 9.45 a.m.) PARIS, September 7. The newspaper, “Midi,” states the German advance on the northern Polish front has slowed down, the invaders experiencing more and more difficulty. Poles also counter-attacked at several points. A Berlin communique pays tribute to the 1 courage of the defenders. GERMAN CAPTURES. (Received this day at 12.25 p.m.). NEW YORK, Sept. 7. Berlin messages state the High Command reported that 25,000 Polish prisoners had been taken since the invasion, and that 126 guns, also tanks and armoured ears, as well as u.i undetermined number of smaller arms lux 1 been captured.