UNDER SWASTIKA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 169, 17 June 1940, Page 7

UNDER SWASTIKA

CHANGED FACE OF PARIS. LEFT TO THE GERMANS. ‘ Received June 17, 10.55 a.m. LONDON, June 16. A neutral journalist who entered Paris after the German occupation says Germans , everywhere are guarding buildings and patrolling the city and suburbs. They have mounted anti-tank guns or the bridges. Apart from ihe Germans, the boulevards are empty. The Germans have ordered the curfew at 9 p.m, and also a complete black-out. After nightfall there is a'graveyard hush over the city. Most of the hotels, restaurants, theatres and cinemas are closed and no trains are running.

It is estimated that three-quarters of the population fled from the city before the German arrival. On the road to Paris wherever fighting has occurred there is havoc. Village streets are wrecked and littered with debris, including perambulators, tanks, guns, and the carcases of horses, cows and dogs. German bombers reduced parts of Amiens to a shambles. The Cathedral is untouched. PLAN OF ATTACK. ALLIED REORGANISATION. MAG I NOT LINE DEFENCE. ’ TOURS, June 16. A The Allies are developing a. widespread plan of attack against vital German and Italian points, and the French line is being reorganised for a-strong stand against the Germans, say the Paris Soir, which claims that its information is from reliable sources. It adds that the French have been obliged to spread their forces, but still have an important force in the east, while the Maginot Line is fully manned. Meanwhile the French forces are contesting every inch of the ground and are making the Germans pay as dearly for their gains as possible. The Berlin radio announcer, referring to rumours of the possibility of peace talks now that Paris has fallen, said : “The time for talking is over. Now is the time to destroy the British and French troops.” HUGE GERMAN FORCES. It is estimated that 2,000,000 Germans are engaged from the sea to the River Meuse, including a number of fresh divisions. The French retirement from Paris lias further lengthened the line, and the enemy also has a crushing superiority in ’planes and tanks.

No attempt is made in official quarters to hide the fact that the military situation is . extremely dangerous, particularly where both the west and east defensive wings are threatened. The German armoured units in the western sector are being followed by large and well-equipped motorised divisions. The situation at the eastern end is no less critical, but the French troops have so far succeeded in defending the Moutmedy pivot, where, the mobile French line joins the Maginot Line. The French are still fighting with all the strength they have left. A French High Command communique issued from Bordeaux states: .“The situation is unchanged in Normandy as well as south of Paris. Fighting in Normandy is proceeding west of Louviers and Evreux with undiminished violence. Our forces below Paris are carrying out all movements according to orders from the command. “The enemy has again accentuated his pressure in the direction of Troyes and St. Dizier (towns 100 and 120 miles east of Paris) and violent fighting is going on. There have been violent bombardments on the front and the lines of communication in Lorraine and Alsace (area of the Maginot Line). Farther east the Germans crossed the Seine in the Romilly area (75 miles east of Paris) and increased their pressure from Troyes and St. Dizier and also pushed advance guards toward Chniimont (about 100 miles directly south of Montmedy). In Alsace the Germans attacked the Neubrisnch. region. and more detachments crossed the Rhine without breaking our position of resistance.” NAZI TRICKS. Every kind of trick and deception is used by the Nazis to speed up the advance "of their armies on the Western Front (states a British Official Wireless report). Stories of two such ruses aic described in London. At one point, an observer said, a line of what appeared to be refugees, ineluding women witb arms in slings, came walking down a Toad in fiont of a British position. Immune from fire, they advanced till suddenly they threw themselves down and opened fij'c• Ihe “refugees” were German ' soldiers in disguise. ' A