Women, Children Bombed, Warsaw Alleges

Northern Advocate, 5 September 1939, Page 6

Women, Children Bombed, Warsaw Alleges

LONDON, September 3

'THE FOREIGN OFFICE IN WARSAW STATES THAT GERMAN AEROPLANES HAVE DROPPED HYPERITE GAS ON CIVILIAN POPULATIONS AND BOMBED AND MACHINEGUNNED WOMEN AND CHILDREN FLEEING FROM ATTACKED CITIES.

The Zurich correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Company says gas and incendiary bombs have killed and injured hundreds of people in the Posen district.

“Air raids on the Polish civilian population killed 1500 men, women and children on Saturday alone.” said the Polish Ambassador (Count Raczynski), in the course ot ! a Press interview at the Embassy,

Hardly a Town Escapes,

He "added that scarcely a township had not suffered from aerial attack.

German aeroplanes for the first time had used gas at Wolbrom, a small town in Western Poland. Official bulletins state that several towns are aflame.

The Warsaw radio stations warned the 'public that German aeroplanes were dropping poisonous chemicals at Wilno.

It is officially stated that 200 people were killed in the course of bombing at Bydgoszcz on Friday and Saturday.

Asks for Serum,

The Polish Embassy confirmed the use of poison gas by air raiders in Silesia, and asked for the immediate despatch of serum against corrosive gas injuries.

The Embassy also stated that planes machine-gunned an ambulance, plainly marked with red crosses, while bombers dropped three bombs on the convent of the Immaculate Conception at Belchatow, where a girls’ school is situated.

There were a number of casualties.

The Warsaw correspondent of the Associated Press says ten were killed and several wounded when a German bomb struck a Girl Guides’ canteen near the East railway station.

Bomb splinters struck a train of Red Cross carriages carrying wounded from the western battlefield, but the occupants were not harmed. Sixteen planes were engaged in the raid, but spirited antiaircraft gunfire replied. The air raid wardens reported that three planes were shot down. Incendiary Bombs. The United Press of Great Britain’s Warsaw correspondent states that flames were stabbing the sky at dusk from two railway stations, one to the north and the other _to the west of the city, as a result of incendiary bombs. t All available firemen were mustered and stretcher-bearers were struggling through streets littered with glass. A Warsaw official statement says that 27 German planes bombed Bydgoszcz, inflicting heavy civilian losses. Bombs were dropped on trains, killing and wounded many. 27 Planes Brought Down. A communique states that Polish cavalry recapturued Leszno and Rawitz on the western frontier and are pursuing the enemy.

Slight gains were made on the East Prussian front, but the loss of Czestochowa on Sunday is admitted, “close to where we previously destroyed two enemy columns.”

“Twenty-seven enemy planes were brought down today, while our losses numbered 11.” continues the communique.

“Strong attacks continue on the Silesian front, and in the Tatra Mountain regions we face heavily superior forces with armoured units, artillery and air transport. We are retreating to Silesia.”

Consumptives Massacred

The Warsaw correspondent of “The Times”- says the air bombardments, although accompanied by the violation of open towns, seem to be confined to military objectives. The bombardment of the pleasure resort, Otwock, 18 miles from Warsaw, was determined by the existence of military establishments, but resulted in the massacre of a number of

consumptives