The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-09-05
FRANCE KEEPING
 HER PLANS SECRET
Rumors of Attacks Made on Western Front Are
 Not Official
BY RALPH HEINZEN
'nited Press Staff Correspondent

United Press Staff C0rrespondent)
 Paris. Sept. 5-tVia Transatlantic Telephone to New York)-(UP) - An official communique today said that an engagement understood to be preliminariy maneuvering of ad- vance French and German troops had begun on the western front.
 The operations were in a zone six miles wide on each side of the from tier, where troops moved into trenches between the main French and German fortified lines.
 So far as official announcements were concerned and so far as official sources had been advised in Paris there had been no real fighting on the western front up to 3:45 D. m. (l0.45 a. m. EDT).
 There has been nothing to indi- cate that any artillery had opened fire up to that point or that there had been any shooting by infantry. men.
 Observation Moves
 The contact made between the opposing forces was mainly in the nature of observation operations and preliminary movement of both German and French troops into the six-mile zone in front of their own Qualifications.
 Communications with the front were in military hands and officially reported details were confined to announcements that troops were moving into advance positions and that observation operations were carried out.
 Air raid alarms sounded early to. day in Paris and other points due to such observation flights by Ger man planes and official war com. munique No. 3 announced that movements of the combined land, sea and air forces are proceeding normally"
 Military edvices from the Polish front were more detailed and said that five German attacks were un- derway in the Polish corridor area, which has been narrowed down by the Na1 pincer movement. Fighting also was reported in the Posen area, these dispatches said, while the Poles were reported coun. ter-attacking the Nazis south of Cracow.
 The communlque was issued at noon.
 Thousands Huddled
 Thousands huddled for three and one-half hours during the alarm in Paris. It was the capitals first air raid alarm of the war. No planes appeared. although anti-aircraft fire was heard for a short time at s a. m. (midnight Monday EDT).
 The alarm came within three weeks of the 2Sth anniversary of the first World War aerial bombing. A German plane dropped bombs on Paris on Sept. 27. 1914.
 Guns were roaring again on the western front, after 20 years of quiet.
 An official communique last night, the only word of the re-start Of fighting on fields sered by can- non in the last World War, said only:
 Contacts being progressively es- tablished at the front. French naval forces have occu- pied positions assigned to them. ! "The air forces have proceeded to necessary reconnoltering." Air Raid Alarm
 The air raid alarm came at 3:3O a. m. u0:30 p. m. Monday EDT) Thousands streamed from hotels. apartments. and private residences to the nearest shelters while the sirens shrieked.
 It was a clear, mooniit night. visi- bility would have been excellent for enemy bombers, though the city was blacked out.
 An hour and a half passed; anti aircraft guns were heard in the dis- tance for a short time. Then as dawn came hundreds drifted out into the streets. impatient of the close confinement in the shelters. The sky had become overcast, and no planes had been seen or heard.
 At a. m. when sirens signaled the end of alarm many thousands still were in the shelters, only those with acceptable excuses hay- ing been permitted to leave. The shelter at the Place De La Opera subway station alone had held 500 HAl