HUNGARIAN INVASION OF RUTHENIA

Southland Times, Issue 23768, 16 March 1939, Page 5

HUNGARIAN INVASION OF RUTHENIA

RUMANIA TAKES PRECAUTIONS ON NORTHERN FRONTIER (United Press Association.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Received March 15 t 11.50 p.m.) LONDON, March 15. German troops entered Prague at 9.20 a.m. today, and Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist as an independent State. An official statement issued in Berlin in the early hours of the morning, after a long conference between the Nazi leaders and the Czech President (Dr Emil Hacha), announced that Herr Hitler “has taken the Czech people under the protection of the German Reich.” * The Prague wireless station announced at 5 a.m. that German troops had begun to occupy Czech territory. The station said that the Czech Army would be disarmed as the Germans met it. Appeals were broadcast every 15 minutes that the Czech Army should not resist the German occupation. “Arms must be surrendered without hesitation,’ it was emphasized. An official statement announced that the German advance must nowhere be resisted, otherwise it would cause most unforeseen consequences, leading to the intervention becoming utterly brutal. All com manders must obey the orders of the occupying army. The Czech Army will be disarmed. Military and civil aeroplanes must remain in their aerodromes and none must attempt to take to the air.” Hungarian troops invaded the Carpatho-Ukraine (Ruthenia) yesterday morning and have since advanced steadily towards the Polish frontier. Father Volosin, the Carpatho-Ukrainian Premier, has requested help from Germany and Italy, as guarantors of the Vienna Award, which marked the boundary of the Rutheman State. 1 Rumania is taking extensive militaryprecautions along her Ruthenian frontier. The creation of Slovakia as an independent State was proclaimed at Bratislava, the capital, after Father Tiso, who was deposed as Premier by the Czechs, had returned from Berlin yesterday.