FRONTIER BATTLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23702, 9 January 1939, Page 7

FRONTIER BATTLE

CZECHS AND HUNGARIANS HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING A NUMBER OF CASUALTIES CIVILIANS AMONG VICTIMS (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) BUDAPEST, Jan. 6. It is officially announced that Czech troops early this morning attacked the frontier town of Munkacevo, where a battle ensued, four Hungarian officers and five soldiers being killed. It is unofficially reported that the Czechs employed artillery, tanks, and machine guns, but were driven off. A Czech armoured car was put out of action and the crew taken prisoner. •

The Hungarian Government has protested to Prague, and has informed the German and Italian Ministers in Budapest. The bombardment lasted several hours, a kinema being wrecked and an. hotel partly destroyed. The shelling followed earlier fighting, in which the nine Hungarians were killed.

Munkacevo is in territory ceded to Hungary.

Troops have been rushed to various other points on the border, where an attack is feared.

It is reported that the Czechs are also bringing up reinforcements. The shelling began from the regular Czech batteries on the hill-. side within Czech territory, but overlooking Munkacevo. Later, fierce hand-to-hand fighting occurred in the town following an infantry attack. The Czech losses cannot be computed, but five bodies were found on the outskirts of Munkacevo. Tt is reported that many civilians were killed or wounded. The town is now hermetically sealed, and nobody is allowed to enter or leave. CZECHS BLAME HUNGARIANS INVESTIGATION TO BE MADE PRAGUE, Jan. 6. Officials state that the Munkacevo battle occurred as the result of an attack by Hungarian terrorists. A Government statement is not expected until Czech officers have been sent to the frontier to investigate and submit a report. The newspapers are not allowed to publish news of the fighting. ANOTHER REPORT SLOVAK TROOPS INVOLVED LONDON, Jan. 6. The Australian Associated Press says that it is believed that roving bands, which caused a number of similar incidents during the last month, are responsible for the Munkacevo incidents. “The report that regular Slovak troops were involved is not confirmed. If true, it is disquieting in view of Germany’s influence on Czechoslovakia and her reported ambitions regarding the Ukraine. A NOTE FROM HUNGARY “AN ACT OF AGGRESSION” LONDON, Jan. 7. (Received Jan. 8, at 10.35 p.m.) A Hungarian Note, strongly worded, holds the Czechs responsible for what it describes as an act of aggression, and it declines responsibility for any consequences which may develop. The Budapest correspondent of The Times says the Hungarian view is that the attack was deliberately planned. The Prague correspondent of The Times says the Slovak Government asserts that the firing began from the Hungarian side. Thereafter irregular units of the Hungarian army invaded the republic’s territory, attacking so violently that regular Czechoslovak units, including artillery and tanks, had to be called in to repel the invaders. Five Czechs were killed.

The Daily Telegraph’s Berlin correspondent says the German press reports the affair impartially, giving both the Czechoslovakian and the Hungarian versions at length, thus showing a remarkable change since last summer, when the Czech accounts of frontier incidents were either ignored or ridiculed.