Evening star., 1939-09-10
Fight May Prove
To Be Decisive One
In Nazi Invasion
Fate Of City May Hinge
On German Pincer
Movements Success
BY LLOYD C. LEHRBAS,

LWOW Gemberg), Poland. Sept.
3 (by courier to BuchareSt -
Poland's armies, battling overWhelm-
Ing odds and tremendous German
artillery, aerial and manpower for
possession Of Warsaw, today at
tempted to establish new defense
lines along the Vistula as major
battle progressed which may be de-
cisive in the German-Polish war.
German invaders have advanced
swiftly into Poland since September
from three main directions-north
west and south-hoping to strike
death blow before France and Brit
ain can launch a major offensive on
the Rhine front.
German forces from the north
now are on the right bank of the
Vistula which flows through the
heart of Warsaw.
This presumably is northwest
of the city Berlin communiques
reported the Germans also had
reached the right, or east bank of
the river at Sandomierz, 125 miles
south of Warsaw
There the Poles, heartened by
memory of a previous victory when
they repulsed Soviet Russian Army
at the gates of Warsaw in 1920,
hoped to stem the German military
tide.
Fate Depends on Pincer.
But WarsaW's fate probably will
depend on whether a gigantic Ger
man pincer movement is successful
in shutting off Warsaw from its
narrowing link with unoccupied ter
ritory to the east. And even greater
importance is attached to whether
the Polish Army must withdraw
eastward before the north-south
points of the pincers meet near
Warsaw bottling up any Polish
forces still resisting to the north,
south and west.
Already the Germans from the
south have advanced to Lodz. 80
miles southwest of Warsaw, and to
Radon within striking distance of
the capital from the south. But
Polish Army officer reminded me of
strategy used effectively to repulse
Bolshevik troops in 1920. when all
seemed lost. Then the Poles with
drew to their best defenses outside
Warsaw and on August 16 succeeded
in turning the Polish flank to drive
the Russians back and finally save
Poland.
Many of Warsaw's citizens, threat
ened by air raids and the German
advance, believed that the military
miracle might be repeated. They
focked to Vistula bridges to pray
for that miracle, addressing special
supplication to Our Lady of Gees
tochowa," the image of the Virgin
which now is in German
territory.
go Divisions Hurled Into Poland.
At least so German Army divisions
and extremely large numbers of ar
tillery and mechanical units have
been thrown into the Polish cam
paign for swift kill" German
Army divisions usually number be-
tween 10000 and 10000 men.
When I LETT Warsaw Wednesday
night with Maj, William H. Colbern,
the United States Military Attache,
the Germans had advanced almost
to within artillery range of the cap
ital. Strong motorized units were
spread out to attack from a dozen
directions.
The advancing Germans and re-
peated air raids had left only one
avenue of escape open, the road
southeast to Lublin. Highways were
Choked with Warsaw citizens on foot
and using every possible mode of
conveyance to try to escape before
q major battle occurred on the city's
outskirts
Maj. Colbern was ordered to leave
wednesday for Nalenczow, near Lub-
lin, about 100 miles southeast of
Warsaw. The Polish government set
up temporary quarters at Lublin.
Trucks, cars, carts, bicycles and
refugees scurrying on foot blocked
the road.
Planes Overhead Twice.
German planes were overhead
twice during the late afternoon, but
bombed objectives some distance
from the thronged highway. Traffic
conditions and a ban on all lights
made the trip a nightmare through
: the darkness since we did not reach
NalenczoW until we'll after midnight.
We travelled in an old car requisi-
toned for us and filled with gaso-
line by Polish authorities. When
we reached the little resort town it
was deserted except for a long line
of motor cars frantically trying to
get fuel from the only gas pump.
We found the Polish foreign Of
hce-which had been at NalenczoW-
already had decided to move its
headquarters further east out of the
line of the German push from the
west and south.
Foreign Office officials and diplo-
mats again packed everything hast
lily into cars and drove off into the
night for an unnamed destination.
Nazis Get Information Quickly.
Later we learned that the German
radio station in Koenigsberg had
announced that the Polish foreign
office had moved to Nalenczow and
even described the house where
United States Ambassador Anthony
j. Drexel Biddle, jr., had made his
headquarters.
Maj. Colbern was certain the ad-
vancing German forces were not
close enough to reach us before day.
light and needing sleep we had our
pick of the deserted houses and
chateaux of the summer resort. Mr.
Biddle was gone from the chateau
to which he had moved
We slept on straw mats while hur-
rying autos outside rushed to fill
their tanks with gasoline and then
sped away eastward toward the
Russian frontier.
When we hunted breakfast the
next morning we were directed by
an American woman, Mrs. Stefan
Sliwonski, who formerly was Miss
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