DEFENCE OF THE LOWLANDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24236, 1 March 1940, Page 9

DEFENCE OF THE LOWLANDS

SPECIAL MEASURES TAKEN THE REASON REVEALED OFFICER HURRIED TO BRIDE (From Oub Own Correspondent; LONDON, Jan. 19. The remarkable story of how the Belgian and Dutch Governments came into possession of Nazi plans which led them to take special defence measures last week-end is related by the special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph at- Liege. He said: A German officer’s haste to rejoin his newly-married wife was the prime cause in a chain of events which resulted in the plans falling into Belgian hands. Last Wednesday a German plane made a forced landing at Mechelen-sur-Meuse, on the Belgian frontier near here. Two officers were in the machine. One of them belonged to the group of armies which has its headquarters at Cologne. He was the officer who carried the vitally important documents. Told to Go by Train I learn that he had been ordered to convey these documents, which were very bulky, from Berlin to Cologne. So that no risks should be taken, the officer had been told to travel by train. The High Command in Berlin had. in fact, provided him with a first-class railway pass. It happened that the officer had only recently been married. His wife was living in Cologne. The train journey would have taken so long that he would not have been able to see her the same evening. He heard that one of his friends, an airman, was just on the point of leaving Tempelhof for Cologne, and the staff officer decided to take his chance of reaching his wife so much more speedily. As the result of a big navigctional error, the pilot crossed the Rhine far to the north of Cologne and found himself over the Dutch border. He was greeted by anti-aircraft fire. He consequently turned south, and a few minutes later had to make a forced landing in a meadow at Mechelen-sur-Meuse. Borrowed Matches The first thing the staff officer did was to ask a peasant for some matches. With these he tried to set fire to his documents. Belgian soldiers hastened to the plane, however, and forcibly prevented the officer from destroying the papers. The two Germans were taken to the nearest military post for questioning. During the interview the Nazi Staff officer succeeded in snatching the documents and throwing them into the fire. A Belgian officer, however, was able to recover them before they caught fire. There could thus be not doubt that these papers were of exceptional importance. According to mv information, they related to the transfer from the neighbourhood of Berlin to the left bank of the Rhine of 22 newlyformed divisions.

Facts Confirmed This movement was in course of being carried out. Some of these divisions were to go to the Dutch frontier, but the great majority were destined for the Belgian frontier. The Belgian Intelligence Service was speedily able to confirm that these troop movements were in fact taking place. At the same time news was received of the arrival in the Aachen area of the Belgo-German frontier of two army corps, each consisting of three divisions. While the movement of troops in the sense indicated by the captured plans was thus clearly taking place, it was not possible to be sure whether these movements were to be regarded as a concentration or were merely designed to relieve units already in the area. At the same time, there was nothing in the papers taken from the Gprman officer at Mechelen which made it possible to place any certainty on this interpretation of the troop movements. The one fact which is certain is that at the present moment there are between 75 and 80 divisions on the frontiers of Holland and Belgium, for no movement of troops from the Rhineland into the interior of Germany has yet taken place. Of the total concentration, o 7 divisions are believed to be eastward of the Belgian frontier.