WARSAW INFERNO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23489, 28 October 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

WARSAW INFERNO

Women and Children Bombed and Machine-gunned THE horror of Warsaw's last days, when old men, women and children, bombed and machine-gunned i. by Nazi 'planes, huddled in any rough shelter, was ,'/ described by a Polish girl, Maria Wisti, who arrived at Copenhagen last month.

"Ik y|"ARIA, who is now married J\/l to a Dane, said the Germans XVX bombed the town as they pleased. 'Planes flew so low that they could accurately machine-gun citizens in the streets. Everyone, priests, women and children, helped to dig trenches and shelters, which were ci*owded by thousands of refugees. Babies were born in the shelters and injured were taken to them to die. All ages and sexes showed great courage. As soon as anyone was injured by a bomb, artillery, or machine-gun firo from aeroplanes, there was always someone ready to go out and carry the wounded to safety. Terrible Moment Perhaps the most terrible moment, said Maria Wisti, was when boys between 15 and 18 were called up to defend Garwolin, 38 miles from Warsaw. . . "Warsaw was an awful sight from the air," writes the Berlin correspondent of the Politiken, who was taken for a flight over the city in aiiGerman 'plane. "It showed modern warfare in its most terrible aspect. The whole city was in ruins, and was still burning at many points.

"I was struck dumb. All I could find to say was: 'Wtiat destruction!' "Jn the 'plane with me were f OUr Germans who had fled from Warsaw Above the noise of tho engines T shouted, 'Do you recognise Warsaw?? "Tbey were so shocked at what theV had seen that they wero unable to say a word, but sat white-faced silent.'' As a contrast to this fiendish method 1 of conducting warfaro is a report from Paris of operations on the Western Front: Not a Bomb Dropped French bombers flying over the Saar* region have watched 120,000 workers in Saar mining, steel, and tcxtilo works being-driven by Nazi troops and Gev tapo agents from their homes to ths interior, where they are being forced to help in replacing Germany's labour shortage. " - For four days the French 'planes have watched this movement, but not a single bomb has been dropped. Ten per cent of Germany's alreaifr scanty stock of coal has been snatched from her by the French invasion of the Saar. Tho Saar miners and industrial workers, who have been living under a system of since they made tlieir unfortunate and bitterly regretted decision- in 1935 to throw in their lot with Nazi Germany, h ave been formed up into columns, marched miles to the nearest railway station not under fire, and taken to the Ruhr.