Notes on the News

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 5 July 1939, Page 10

Notes on the News

Luxemburg’s Independence

A >uggcsiion lias been made by France lha I l lie Anglo-French gun; a Dices of support against :iggre>«.ioii should he extended 1.. Ihe Grand Dudi> ! of Luxemburg. This small State, with 1 Ini inn of 300.000.* is const it ui i«ma ily i:. dependent. but is linked in a Customunion wiih Belgium. The indc pejidei,: exist eiiee of Luxemburg in model-:: times dales from the Congress of Vienna in IMo. which elevated the Stale to a Grand Duchy and gave it to William I. King of the Netherlands, in rollin' for the German territories of the House of Grange-Nassau, which had been ceded to Prussia. When the Belgian provinces separated from Holland iu I*3o. the Powers decided that part o’, the Grand Dueliy should be retained by the King of Midland, but the latter re fused to accept this arrangement, and i the Grand Dueliy remained hi Be'. gium's possession until after l lie Bel ! gin ll revolt, wheu the present territory became inde| M mdeiit by the Treatv of London in April. 1939. This is now on April 22 last centennial celebrations ! were staged throughout the Grand i Duchy. 1 Over-run In Wartime ! In addition to independence. I.uxein I burg obtained by the second Treaty of i : Jvondon, in I*o7. n status of per in a ; nent neutrality, but in the meantime 1 the Grand Dueliy had joined the Gci j , man Zollvevein. and it remained in a i Customs union with the German Reich ) from the latter’s foundation in I*7l. . This association continued until after the Great War. early in which Luxerit burg was over-run by the Germans. By the Treaty of Versailles the budiy was declared free from all ties with Ger ! ! many, and since 1921 the Custom- ! union has been with Belgium. Tin’ I present ruler of Luxemburg is the 1 I Grand Duchess Charlotte and lit--j Grand Duke Jean. who. at IS years of age. is the heir to the throne. Badle Of Tannenberg 1 As an explanation of ils decision to j send tbe cruiser Knnigsberg In lionsii. ! I,as informed Poland that it wishes in this way to commemorate the Hattie of Tannenberg. Be this a* it may. Hie Battle of Tannenberg. from Germany’s ' point of view, Is indeed worth com signal victories of the Great War. It made the name of I linden burg, and achieved a great military reputation for his chief of-staff. Ludemlorff. Indeed, it is now fairly well-established that i’ was Ludendorff's. rather than Hiuden- ! burg's, strategy which brought victory I to tlie German arms. The battle was i fought over a square of territory to the ! south-east of Danzig, partly on Fast Prussian soil, partly on what is now

Polish territory, and partly in wlnit, after the war, became the Corridor or Poland. It began on August 20. 1911 and ended uu August 31 with the coir, j plete defeat and rout of the Russian . forces under General Samsonov. The “Steam-roller” Fails The Russians fought well and were ably led, the disaster being directly due. first, to the failure of Russian trails-1 ly. to the ponderous and iuefficioij' j nature of the Russian military machine generally, which was unable to keep pace with tbe rapid initial advance of the Russian forces. Tannenberg was the field on which the Russian “steam roller,” beloved of propagandist writer-' j in the early stages of the Great War. j met its most shattering blow. Had that blow not fallen, the whole course 1 of the war would have been altered, I and it is unlikely that it would have! lasted nearly as long as it did. Flooding In Bulgaria The death roll in the Bulgarian floods is reported from the capital to he 100. and no fewer than 400 bouses have been swept away. The precise locality of the flood* has not been |*eported, but presumably they have occurred on the great upland plain where the capital is situated. Though it is 17(H) feet above sea-level, this plain is flat and drained Imr slowly by th • rivers Perlovetz ami Eloshnitxa. tributaries of the Isker. wnit.h flaw on either «i,le ..f the citv