Evening star., 1939-10-08
Allies Hope 10 Delay
Fighting Until Winter
Halls Operations
Convinced Long Siege
Without Reich Victory
Will Weaken Morale
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
PARIS, Oct. French ard
British sources indicated today that
the allies were playing delaying
game to prevent the start of major
German operations on the western
front in order to let winter weather
give full effect to the blockade Of
Germany.
These sources indicated that allied
leaders were convinced that If Ger
many had to face a winter siege
without sensational land battles to
bolster the morale, the Nazis would
be much weaker when weather
cleared again for military opera
tions in the spring.
French military observers set the
end of October as the outside Limit
for the German offensive to start.
While there often is Indian sum-
mer" weather in Alsace-Lorraine
through October, the weather turns
bad with the beginning of Novem-
Der and stays bad through February.
Experienced French military men
recalled that during the last war
the weather was such that there
never were more than two weeks in
December and January when it was
possible for airplanes to take of,
even for reconnaissance fights.
Hope to Prolong "Lull."
The French and British appeared
to be taking full advantage of Adolf
Hitler's peace lull," doing every
thing possible to prolong it until
the end of October. After that the
war probably would settle down to
. winter siege with the western
front stalemated and the British
And French fleets drawing a sea
Gordon about Germany.
In that connection the French
general staff's communique tonight
SAID the French Navy in the last
week had intercepted 10000 tons of
merchandise destined for Germany.
The communique also reported ar
tillery action on both sides between
the Moselle and Saar Rivers and
patrol action. also by both sides,
south of ZWeibruecken.
The French high command, far
from pressing an offensive against
German lines, seemed to be care
fully strengthening its own advance
positions against occasional attacks,
which were reported repulsed.
Attacks Try Out French.
During the last week the Germans
made perhaps 10 or IL of these small
attacks against French lines estat1-
Gshed on German territory.
Most German attacks were made
during the night, the French in
dicated. In the largest there was
scarcely platoon involved and in
the majority the Germans used
only combat group or section
8 to Is men.
These German night attacks of
the last week seemed designed to
test out French strength in the
areas where they advanced farthest
into the German no-man's land
separating the Maginot and Sieg-
fried Lines.
French advance posts were kept
IN a constant state of alert, watch
ing for shadows sliding over ground
soaked by days of rain. AT first
sight of suspicious shapes crawling
over the mud the French sent up
flares, throwing norman 's-land into
bold relief. In the light of the flares
the machine-guns picked out targets
while the artillery began shelling.
French reports said the Germans
froze to the earth at the first shots,
then slowly inched their way back
ward
Aerial Activity Curtailed.
Bad weather already has curtailed
aerial activity The French said
German planes were noted OCCASION
ally flying behind the German lines,
apparently trying distance spotting
for the artillery, but rarely did the
Nazis venture over French territory.
French planes likewise were
pinned down by the weather. Al
though the weather in the strictest
sense was not too bad for flying,
heavy fogs which lay over river val
leys between the Rhine and the
Moselle made flights almost useless,
as it was impossible to see through
the heavy curtain drawn over posi-
tions of both armies.