FRENCH REPULSE ATTACKS

Southland Times, Issue 23945, 11 October 1939, Page 7

FRENCH REPULSE ATTACKS

ARTILLERY ACTION ON WESTERN FRONT OFFENSIVE BY GERMANS EXPECTED (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) PARIS, October 9. . Surprise enemy attacks in the region east of the Moselle have been repulsed and there have been reciprocal artillery actions south-west of Saarlouis, says a French communique. Commentators interpret the enemy activity near the Moselle as an indication of the importance the Germans attach to the French penetration in this sector, coupled with penetration in the Nied area.

The French Annies are jointly threatening the right wing of the German forces covering the Saar coal field. They also threaten the other wing around Blies.

German problems in the Ohrenthal salient reveal irritation that the French are so placed that they can attack from there in a westerly direction towards Blies and in a northerly direction again Zweibrucken and against Pirmasens.

A writer in the Paris newspaper Petit Parisien declares that probings may portend a German offensive north of Thionville but the Germans will not find it easy to set foot on Lorraine territory.

Le Matin reports large concentrations of German troops on the Swiss frontier from Basle to Lake Constance to support an ' offensive along the Rhine between Basle and Strasbourg. All German villages to a depth of 16 miles on the right bank of the Rhine are being evacuated.

A French war communique states that the activity of the German patrols and raiders was intensified in the hope of securing prisoners to identify the opposing French units, but machine-gun and rifle fire repulsed them all. The German artillery bombarded the French forward areas ‘ but rain hampered operations. The Germans have resorted to the use of loud-speakers on the Western Front to broadcast passages from Herr Hitler’s speech in both German and French. The fact that the Germans are using full companies to carry out raids, plus real counter-battery fire, is taken to indicate that they are working up towards an offensive.

SUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON U-BOAT FRENCH PATROL VESSEL (Received October 10, 8.30 p.m.) PARIS, October 10. A war communique says that a French patrol boat successfully attacked a German submarine. LONG WORKING WEEK IN FRANCE 15-HOUR DAY DECREED ON RAILWAYS PARIS, October 10. After conferences with the Labour leaders the French Government -decreed a maximum 60-hour week for employees in public administrations and a 15-hour day for railway workers. An extension of hours in the mercantile marine is also expected.