NAZI CLAWS

Taranaki Daily News, 16 September 1939, Page 7

NAZI CLAWS

By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.

GLOSING ON POLAND SERIOUS VIEW NO LONGER ANY FRONT C0NFLICTING CLAIMS

Rec. 11.45 p.m. New York, Sept. 14 The Polish front continues to monopolise attention in France, says the Paris correspondent of the New York Times. , The situation of the Polish armies is admittedly serious There is fierce fighting on all sides of - Warsaw but seemingly there is no longer any front. The radio on both sides is making conflicting claims from the confusion. Nevertheless some points stand out. Firstly, the claws of the German pincers are closing tighter after the double envelopment movement seemed halted, or at least retarded. Secondly, the Vistula has been crossed by Germans at Annapol near the confluence of the San River, which was also crossed at several points. Thirdly, the Germans have crossed the Bug River south of Ostrow. Fourthly, the Germans who crossed the Carpathians are progressing. Polish Disintegration. The Polish forces appear to be disseminated. In addition to a body fighting in the Warsaw region between the Bug and the Vistula inside the pincers others are apparently grouped just beyond ths claws in the vicinity of Bialystok in the north-east and in the vicinity of Lwow i* the south-east. In the meantime the fractions which fought in Pomorze and Poznania are beginning, a campaign concentrated .n the triangle formed by the towns of Kutno, Lowicz and Lodz. Manifestly this cannot bd described as a cohesiva regrouping of the forces. Indeed, some French quarters to-day speak of guerrilla warfare. It is stressed at Paris that the Poles report that rain has been falling ;n many areas during the last 48 hours. Hitherto the Germans have certainly been favoured by the weather, which enabled the armoured columns and motorised troops to progress swiftly across the plains, which are quagmires in the rainy 3eason. The Polish Army's night communique admits that the German forces after crossing the Narew River reached the outskirts of Bialystok, where severe fighting is going on. Heavy fighting is also progressing south-eastward of Warsaw, where the Poles claim to have annihilated a vvhote German infantry regiment. They also claim to be successfully resistmg heavy German attacks on Lwow, capturing ten tanks and one armoured car and bringtjng down several German bombers. t