Evening star., 1939-09-06
BY LOUIS P. LOCHNER,

pears belo,U::
BY LOUIS P. LOCHNER,
Associated Press Foreign Correspondent.
WITH THE GERMAN ARMY OF
THE EAST, Sept. 6.-The greatest
single difficulty encountered by the
German Army in its drive on Poland
has been sniping by Polish civilians,
this correspondent was told on
visit to the 'front.'
AS a result, roundup of all civil
ian males of arms bearing age has
been ordered in conquered sections
Of Polish Silesia.
The snipers include women and
boys in their teens. Polish women"
an officer said, fight like tigers"
The officer who explained the i'm
portance of the sniping said that
gunfire from houses in this South
western Polish town of Czestochowa
on Monday cost the lives of Ger
man captain, several lieutenants and
an undisclosed number of privates.
Shipping had been resumed yester-
day morning in Czestochowa, and
saw 80 men conducted to the City
Hall-now a German commandery-
as among those believed to be guilty
of attacks. The officer and I followed
them.
Silent Testimonial.
Outside the City Hall I saw a
soldier on guard under big tree,
where lay the body of lieutenant,
his boots sticking from under a
straw mat. A scabbard and blade
lying crossed over the mat spoke
eloquently of death. I was told the
lieutenant had been shot the night
before while working at desk near
q window
The 80 sniper suspects marched
into the hall with their hands raised,
escorted by steel-helmeted soldiers
carrying cooked rifles.
On my way to Czestochowa by
plane and automobile from Berlin,
Just before we crossed the border
Into Poland, we paused at a stockade
where some 1,100 captured Poles
had been sent from various parts Of
the fighting area.
During the stop there, the prison.
ers we're marched off in groups OF
about 200 each to be transported by
rail to regular internment camps:
Among the badly-clad soldiers
there was a sprinkling of men in civ
ilian attire, five women and about a
dozen boys in their teens. The civ
ilians had been arrested on sniping
charges.
Town Devastated.
Shortly before arriving at our des-
tination, we passed through desc
late town, Graszyn, where buildings
along the main road were wrecked.
The officer assigned to me explained
that two days previously. after the
main German force had marched
beyond Czestochowa and while the
rearguard was being brought up, civ
ilians in the town opened fire from
their homes.
Several officers and men were
killed, and a regular skirmish ensued
in the course of which houses and
brick kilns, the towns principal in
dustry, were destroyed.
I came to Czestochowa as the first
neutral correspondent permitted at
the front, upon selection by three
American news organizations in Ber-
lin which had been invited by Ger
man authorities to delegate an OBJ
server.
A military plane carried me from
Templehof Airfield, Berlin, via
Breslau, to Stunebdorf, near Op-
peln, in German Siberia. I had been
called to the war Office and equip
ped with gas mask and first aid
kit for the trip.
Civilian Traffic Lacking.
The plane that carried me had
machine guns protruding from the
fuselage, and inside were steel he'll
NETS. parachutes, first-aid kits and
gas masks.
On the way East, was struck by
the lack of civilian traffic on the
German super-highways. The rail-
way also seemed empty of passenger
trains.
We flew past some 20 military air
ports en- route, and at each of them
were bombers, pursuit planes and
other fighting craft, encircled pro-
tectively by anti-aircraft batteries.
It appeared that the Poles, If they
attempted to raid Berlin from Upper
Silesia would have to jump at least
20 dangerous hurdles.
We landed at Stunebdorf only a
few minutes after 81 bombers re-
turned from raid. At this and
two other improvised airports, my
officer companion said, there were
some 1,100 military planes of every
description. The Stunebdorf field
was fringed with camouflaged tents
for officers and men. Some distance
of were larger barracks.
Road Crawling With Troops.
Yesterday morning, after a stop
at Oppeln. we started for the Polish
border The road to Czestochowa
was one long procession of army
trucks, officers cars, horse-drawn
provision wagons, marching labor
battalions, army engineers and
anti-aircraft sharpshooters.
Every bridge from the border to
s>HSoeOSAioWo iAoo bCClt UlOycu Nv
the Poles in their retreat. Our car
bumped over emergency spans so
that we wondered why the axles
didn't break.
While the German Army poured
eastward, Polish civilians were flood
Ing back to the west, finding their
homes again now that fighting had
stopped here and the land was in
German hands.
Barefoot women had babies tieo
to their backs. Old men carried
heavy burdens wrapped in bed
spreads. Boys and girls pushed
loaded bicycles. Pushcarts bulgeo
with household odds and ends
Whole families huddled together or
horse-drawn vehicles. OF such wa.
the miserable procession that passed
German troops moving up to the
front,