1939-09-25 — Page 6

SWEDISH SHIP SUNK BY U-BOAT

London, To-day.

A 1,500-ton Swedish steamer was sunk by a German submar- ino 10 miles off the south coast of Norway yesterday morning.

It la belloved that the submar- Ine was assisted by an aeroplane. The crew took to the lifeboats and landed safely on the Norwe glan coast.-Router.

Oslo, To-day.

It was the Swedish cargo boat, Gertrud Bratt, which was sunk by a Garman submarine off the south coast of Norway yesterday morning. The crew took to the. boats and fanded safely-Reuter.

FIFTY-FIFTY CHANCE OF SUBMARINE'S DOOM

The

THE CHINA MAIL, SEPTEMBER 25, 1939.

SIEGE WARFARE ON SAAR FRONT: FRENCH MOBILE GUNS BROUGHT INTO ACTION

Paris, To-day.

A COMMENTARY on the fighting on the western front says that the Germans have not only fail- ed to dislodge the French from their advanced positions but have themselves been thrown back. This has especially been the case in the Perl sector,

near the Luxembourg frontier.

Here the French have seized a small height which

has enabled them to extend their artillery fire.

French officers consid that pro- longed fire from the F ach artillery at the concrete blockhouses of the Siegfried Line is bound to cause the Intter to crumble.

The German power to take the Initiative has been seriously ham- pered.

to

They have failed

drive the French from the heights, and though they have fired thousands of shells the French batteries continue their

Paris, To-day.

has

bombardment.-Reuter, New York, To-day.

American liner "American Farmer," arrived in New York yesterday with 28 survivors of a British ship which had been torpedoed in the Atlantic.

A communique says: "There been local activity by our reconnais- sance forces on several parts of the

One of the survivors said that shortly after the ship had been sunk an R.A.F. bomber appeared from no- where as if by magic.

The bomber swooped down and dropped a bomb which apparent. ly destroyed the U-boat.

One of the crew of the "American Farmer" said there was a 50-50 chance that the submarine had been sunk.---- Reuter.

HOUSES BURNT OUT IN KOWLOON

100

Standing helplessly by, some villagers in Tai Ku Ling Village in Kowloon City watched their homes burn out yesterday.

Front.

"Enemy artillery reaction has been specially lively in the region south of

Deaxponts (Zweibrucken).-Reuter.

ATTACKS CONTINUE

Paris, To-day. Last evening's French army com- munique says that the enemy's local attacks on the western front continue.

Enemy artillery reaction is tremely violent, especially south of Saarbruecken.

ex-

French fighters fought several air battles to protect our observers. Reuter.

A LA SIEGE

London, To-day. Observers liken the German posi- tion on the western front to troops besleged in a great fortress.

All the tactics of modern alege warfare are being used, with the French making a gradual ap- proach to the Siegfried Line. The Germans are making sorties with the aim of delaying the French as long as possible.

are

Fire engines which arrived in the

The enemy alm is to hamper the neighbourhood shortly after the fire French work on trenches and advance broke out about 11 a.m. were pow-positions which erless to quell the blaze of wooden closer and closer huts, located almost a mile from the main road.

Firemen equipped with buckets, at- tempted to control the outbreak with water from wells.

This was, however, not effective and by 3 p.m. 10 wooden huts were burn- ed to the ground.

GERMANY RUNNING

GRAVE RISK

Zagreb, Sept. 20. "It is difficult to state that a con- tact with the Red Army will be pro- Aitable to the Nazi regime in the long run," the paper "Obsor" declared to- day. "If a political disintegration of Germany takes place during the war as is hoped for abroad, it may occur to the advantage of the Soviets and their imperialism," the "Obsor" add- ed.-Havas.

POLITICAL MURDER

IN SHANGHAI

Chungking, To-day.

are

being moved to the Siegfried Line - the ramparts of the fortress.

Among the French moblie unita

of a now alage guns

type` which can ba moved by road. They had been specially designed to batter the Siegfried Line. French experts say that the German fortifications are so well hidden that

a long effort will be necessary before a general advance can take place. Reuter,

M. LEON NOEL BACK IN PARIS

...

(Our Own Correspondent) (By Telegraph. Received, September 25, 12.80 p.m.)

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JAPANESE OFFICER

REPORTED KILLED

Changsha, To-day.

A field despatch claims that Re- giment Commander Shimamura, of

the Japanese forces on the north Hu-

nan front, was seriously wounded in action on Saturday. A later, uncon-

cumbed to his wounds.-Central News.

|firmed, report says he has since suc-

The Coldstream Guards, are now fully mechanised, oven to the ex- tent of equipment with light tanks. Picture shows the method of cam. ouflage, in exercises at Pirbright just before the outbreak of war.

ORDEAL OF CREWS

OF U-BOATS: SAPPING OF MORALE

London, To-day.

TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS at sea haunted all the time by the knowledge that every man's hand, as well as the sea itself, is against you.

That, says a Ministry of Information bulletin, is to-day the situation of the German U-boats which were on the trade routes of the Atlantic before the declaration of

war.

crews.

The

Days of ceaseless strain in cramped Not only does the Royal Navy quarters must tend to sap the morale harass the U-boats on their hunting of young submarine-

round on the oceán trade routes, hut available resources of trained Ger it is bustly engaged in closing the man submarine nersonnel are limited. routes to their boll-holes. The opera- our patrols make the en- crews must tons of The strain on U-boats' have been great for the German sub-trances to the North Sea exceedingly M. Leon. Noel, the French Ambas-marine warfare has been answered in hazardous to an enemy submarine sador to Poland, returned to the French no uncertain terms by the anti-sub-while the passage homewards, once in capital yesterday, being among the Inst of the foreign diplomats to leave Poland.-Our Own Correspondent.

Paris, To-day.

DAMAGED U-BOAT IN ICELAND

Mr. Li Ju-tsang, chief secretary of

Copenhagen, Sept. 20. the Shanghal Child Refugee Training

A German submarine is reported to Centre, was murdered by an unknown have come into the harbour of Rey- gunman outside the Tiendan Broad- javik, the capital of Iceland, yester- casting Station yesterday in Shanghai | day. The vessel is said to have been while entering his car.--Central News. ' ħadly damaged.--Roubar.

the North Sea. Is made more danger-

marine craft of the Royal Navy.

The moral effect of denth charges ous by our patrolling surface vessala on U-boat crews is intensified by the and alveraft.-Eritish Wireless. knowledge. from bitter experience. that the Royal Navy can detect and hunt them with an efficiency never dreamt of. In the last war.

THE GREATEST: ORDEAL · It is when a submarina short of vital supplies, torpedoes, fuel, food and fresh water tries to get home that the vitality of her crew is at Its |·loweat.

It is then that the U-boat faces its greatest ordeal.

TYPHOID RATE. STILL VERY HIGH

Six cases of cholera, nine of tunhold. and 33 of tuberculosis were notified, to the Medical Department during the week-end... Two of the cholera «cases occurred in the New Territories, And three.in Kowloon.