Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-09-17
The Eastern Front

major movements.
The Eastern Front
BY the end of the week, German
troops had occupied almost one-half OF
Poland, according to the official claims
of Berlin. The three German armies
which two weeks ago thrust their spear
heads into Poland from East Prussia,
Northeastern Germany and Slovakia on
the south continued their drive toward
Warsaw in a giant pincers movement.
The area of Poland under the military
domination of Berlin expanded eastward
until it included, roughly, all territory
west of line running from Kalmo, on
the Polish East Prussian border. to
Stanislawow. near the Rumanian from
tier Meanwhile, Polish forces continued
valiantly to defend an island in this
area which includes the city of Warsaw,
which, like Madrid during the Spanish
Civil War, is refusing to surrender de-
spite a daily hail of German bombs and
artillery shells.
West of Warsaw a suicide army" of
approximately $4,000 men was COM
pletely surrounded by German troops but
refused to surrender.
According to German communicates,
"very strong and desperately defending
Polish forces" were thwarted in an
attempt to drive southwark through the
encircling German troops.
German forces were reported to have
crossed the LwoW-Lubin road and to be
progressing toward the Bug River. Mean
while, other troops of the Reich in the
Warsaw sector we're said to have crossed
the Narew River east of Modlin and
siezed Jablona, 10 miles northwest of
the capital. These troops were said to
be approaching Praga, suburb of the
capital.
Still other German troops were re-
ported to have advanced 100 miles east
of Warsaw to Brest-
Germans Advance Litovsk and to have
On Schedule invaded the north
eastern zone of Notifications. According
to a terse statement from a German
general staff spokesman in Berlin Fri
day:
THE arny's schedule for occupation
OF Poland is being preserved
During the week, the important Polish
port of Gdynia on the Baltic, built by
the Poles as substitute entry to the
sea in case they should ever lose Danzig,
fell into German hands after stiff bat
tie by its defenders.
In the southeast, the German move
ment toward the Russian border pro-
ceeded rapidly. Lembert Tor Lwow) was
still holding out, but the Germans ap-
peared to have cut off Poland from its
rail connection with Roumania.
With nearly half of their country in
the possession of the enemy and thou
sands of their troops in German con-
centration camps, the only hope of the
Poles was that the fall rains, now begin
ming, would bog down the highly mech
anized German military machine and
give the famed Polish cavalry an OPP
portunity to counter-attack.
Poles found encouragement in reports
that nine German divisions had been
swung from the eastern to the western
front to meet the menace of a British
French attack along the Segfried line.
eASAoSANJ
cropped up last week when German Of
ficers showed American
Atrooity ToIes correspondents the mu-
Fill the Air tilated corpses OF civil
ians whom they claimed
were German residents of Poland who
were slain by the Poles. Some commen-
tators pointed out, however, that no
If
was established and they might have been
Poles killed by Germans.
Meanwhile, the seat of the Polish gov
eminent and the foreign diplomatic
corps was kept an official secret because
of the fear of German air raids. Ac-
cording to story circulated by Stafani
italian official news agency, Polish Off
Gals and diplomats were at Zaleszczyki
in extreme southeastern Poland on the
Rumanian border, where they fled after
German planes began bombing their
former hideout at Drzemieniec.
Despite it's earlier assurances to Presi-
dent Roosevelt that non-military OBJ
iectives would not be bombed, the Ger
man government announced last week
that it had embarked on campaign
of unrestricted aerial warfare.
The Reich, however, assured the
British and French that its troops would
refrain from the use of poison gas ano
archaeological warfare so long as these
agents of death were not employed by
the enemy.
The Western Front
The arrival of the British Army In
France was officially announced in Lon
don last week. Under the direct COM
mand of Viscount Gort, British troops
;. will function in close cooperation with
the French under the leadership Of Gen