AIR WARFARE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23521, 5 December 1939, Page 10

AIR WARFARE

GERMANS PREPARE MASSING BOMBERS THE WESTERN FRONT FRENCH ENTRENCHING By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright LONDON, Dec. 3 The Germans are' concentrating a great mass of bombers on the Western Front, for which they are constructing many new aerodromes in the Frankfort and Rhine Valley regions, says a message from Paris. The Army dispositions on the Swiss and Dutch borders are unchanged, and will permit of any offensive with two days' notice. A French communique reports: "Nothing oE importance occurred in the night."

This contrasts with a German communique which states: "The enemy is applying himself to entrenching between the lihine and the Moselle, and is behaving very carelessly. In some places enemy enti'enching work in South Mandern was harassed by our artillery and,, machine-gun fire. "The enemy's artillery shelled Hamelsbcrg and Oberperl, and also Mainsbcrg Castle. Tliero was also increasing harassing fire in other sectors. "Enemy light and medium artillery bombarded' between the MoseJle and Bueschdorf throughout the day. Minor fights between German fighting aeroplanes and 'enemy aircraft yielded no results.".

The French official morning communique states that there is nothing of importance to report, according to a British official wireless message. There has been some artillery action. The evening communique states: "A quiet day. There were patrol activities at various points."

THE NEXT MOVE POSSIBLY BY GERMANS PRESSURE BY ALLIES POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC (Keceived Docember 4, 5.S p.m.) NEW YORK, Dec. 8 "If the Allies cannot extend the theatre of war by direct military action their conjoined diplomatic and economic moves might lead the enemy to do so," gays Mr. G. H. Archambault, Paris correspondent ox tho New York Times. "It is in this li.a;ht that events in Europe should now,he regarded —in the Balkans as elsewhere." In this connection the correspondent emphasises .that the recent reduction by France of lor Army zones along the Italo-Swiss borders may be of significance later.

PHASE OF WORK ROYAL AIR FORCE COMMUNICATIONS UNIT British Wirelens " LONDON, Dec. 3 Tho Royal Air Force communicatiois squadron plfiys an important, althougn perhaps a little known, part in tue war. Besides flying' Royalty, Cabinet Ministers and higher ranks on duty, it a.so carries men summoned urgently h° in< ; on account cif illness or the -loiolrs of relatives. IV makes no differea ;e between olhce::s and men when cieanng yith compassionate cases. A recent example, when one aircraft arriving in England there stepped out, a general, an air commodore, two staff officers and a private, serves well to illustrate this. \Vhen space is available these communications aircraft carry 'comforts to Francebooks, woollens, radio sets and many other things that make life in tho field a little more comfortable.

THE, SIEGFRIED LINE

PIT BOYS INVESTIGATIONS RECENT MOTOR HOLIDAY [FROM A I3PRCIAL CORRESPONDENT] LONDON, Nov. 10 Siegfried 'Line secrets have been disclosed to the War Office by George Thornton, an 18-year-old pit lad of Sheffield, Yorkshire, who shortly before the war spent a holiday in Germany motoring with a friend. "Wo visited all the well-known large cities," he said this week, "and then, toward the, end of 14 days' holiday, we decided, if possible, to take a look at the Siegfried Line. We travelled the road for over 80 miles. Often I persuaded my friend to stop the car, and, if anyone came, to tell them we had a breakdown. "While he stayed near the ear with tho bonnet up, # pretending to be looking at the engine, I did a bit of exploring. I never realised at the time that any information I got would be of value. I did it for curiosity. But I did see a_ lot of things I have never seen published, and I took a lot of photographs. They were confiscated on the border at Trior. "I Hunk," ho went on, "the guards must have been warned that a British car was coming, as they pounced on us as soon'as we got near them. They searched our pockets and took the camera, films, and my diary, in which I had a lot of notes of our travels." LONDON HOSPITALS READINESS FOR AIR RAIDS [from a special correspondent] LONDON, Nov. 11 With thousands of patients evacuated and out-patients' lists cut by half, London hospitals standing by in readiness for air. raid casualties are now nearly empty. While one or two hospitals still have about 100 beds occupied by. civilians, thero are others where tho only patients are black-out casualties.' At Westminster Hospital recently, during an air raid test, an old man was carried in on a stretcher. He was not a "du/nmy" patient, he had pneumonia, calling for immediate treatment. The old man was laid down between groups of "dummy" patients tagged "gas," "electrocution," "limb fracture." The air raid test stopped while doctors and nurses went to help the man who was really ill. Middlesex Hospital, which has G25 beds in peace-time, now uses only 180. About 20 doctors, some students and 150 nurses / arc in attendance.