Evening star., 1939-09-05
Capture Of 7 Rich
Industrial Cities
Claimed by Germany
American Owned Mine
In Booty at Kotowiee;
Hitler Crosses Corridor
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
BERLIN, Sept. 5.-Germany to-
day announced capture Of two rich
Polish industrial cities, Katowice
and Chorzow, near the Polish Ger
man frontier In Silesia.
Both towns, on the direct route
to Krakow, Poland's ancient capi-
tai, virtually had been surround
ed by previous attacks where the
German border bulges into South
western Poland, but the final thrust
against them had been delayed.
Germans said they feared the
Poles would blow up mines and steel
rolling mills, which. they said, were
mined with explosives, but the Poles
were said to have been surprised
and fled without damaging the valu-
able property.
Capture of the two towns would
give Germany control of the highly
important Upper Silesian industrial
region.
American. owned Mine.
A United States concern, the
American Silesian Co., owns the So
called Harriman-Giesche zinc mines
at Katowice.
At the same time German author
tiles declared 10 British bombers
had been shot down yesterday when
they raided the German fleet at Will
hemshaven and Cuxhaven near the
entrance to the strategic Kiel Canal.
Revising their previous statement
that 5 of IL British raiders were
destroyed, German officials said more
than half of the attackers were
downed and declared no damage
was done to Nazi warships, despite
British statements to the contrary.
Hitler Crosses Corridor.
Germany reported capture of the
two Silesian cities as Adolf Hitler,
the Reich's first soldier" followed
his troops across the Polish Corridor
and the German News Agency an
nounced triumphantly that East
Prussia had been reunited with Ger
many proper.
The agency said the Fuehrer
joined his army of the east at Kuhn
(Chelmno), on the Vistula River
near the border of East Prussia,
while steps we're taken in Berlin to
strengthen the nation for war, now
in both the east and west.
Claim Division Crushed.
In addition to capturing Katowice
and Chorzow, Germany officially re-
ported the destruction of II Polish
planes in an air battle today be-
tween Lodz and Warsaw. Lodz is
midway between the German from
tier and the Polish capital.
Germany claimed to have crushed
the entire 7th Polish Army Di-
vision southeast of Czestochowa,
which was captured two days ago on
the Silesian front. The division
staff officers were said to have been
taken prisoner. A division usually
is 10000 to 5000 men.
The German news agency an
nounced, too, that a third Polish
submarine had been sunk by the
1Cl AldA NdNy Ill OdllIlS IldI UOI
and that an English bomber had
been shot down by a German sea-
plane over the Dogger Bank in the
North Sea.
The agency asserted that the pilot
of the German plane then rescued
the English pilot from his sinking
machine.
Besides Poles now isolated be-
tween German lines and the Baltic
in the northern part of the corridor
as a result of the German sweep to
the Vistula River, 5000 Polish
prisoners were reported officially
rounded up thus far in Southwest
ern Poland.
Deny West Front Battle.
The supreme army command an
nounced that contrary to foreign
reports mot single shot had been
fired on the western front up to
September S, 8 am. g am. E. S. t.
Likewise there have been no air at
tackS except the reported English