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All But Few Saved From Torpedoed British Liner
hitler Expects To Subjugate Poland In Few Weeks
Here’s What Italy’s Neutrality Means
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Italy (1) has shown no indicatioffof giving Germany military help.f As result, British forces from India
and from concentrations in Egypt during recent months may be shunted from heavy guardianship over the
Suez Canal (2), through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, pledged by Turkey (4) as open to England and
France in time of war, to a landing in Rumania (3), then into Poland from the South. Italy’s lagging per
mits France to free troops guarding the Italian frontier (5) and to hurl her entire strength against Franco-
German frontier (6). England is expected to shuttle planes from London (7) over Germany to Poland,
bombing on the way, and that France would shuttle-bomb Germany from her airports in Central France (8).
Britain’s Fleet Establishes
Speedy Blockade Os Germany
London. Sept. 4. —(AP) —Britain’s
o ighty fleet took up battle stations
to i ,y to enforce a blockade of Ger
ii'-my a in the last year, while the
gum of her French ally were roaring
on the western front.
A the reformed British cabinet
hurriedly adopted far-reaching war
r ‘i' ; '.-ui < . and a high war command
v -"' appointed, the French were re
perted to have begun an offensive to
1 • ‘ German pressure on Poland,
i- operation was concentrated
Danish Town
Is Attacked
By Bombers
C openhagen, Denmark, Sept. 4.
( d J ) [’he Danish radio today re
ported a high flying airplane of un
identified nationality had dropped
’•' o bombs on the Danish seaport
Gv.n of Esbjerg, on the west coast
0i 'Litland, killing at least two per
:' i|! rhe report raid a three-story
pu: t > ,ont house had been demolish
ed by the bombs.
L. . bodies have been taken from
| lK ' reckage thus far. One victim
V;;i - : o woman.
( J ' ‘g, 140 air miles from Copen
' P' K • a seaport from which many
(l ’ f and other shipments are made
, ! li( radio report said it was not
j l r,-bother the bombing was de
or accidental.
01 hM \x BOMBING PLANES
• LYING TOWARD ENGLAND
.1 -n-idam, Sept. 4.—(AP) A
‘ r *ands radio announcement to
u£n '- aid that German bombing
had been seen flying west
“ti erlands territory. The Ger
' ! i • ;;(-s were reported sighted
, t > towns in Friestland pro
and farther west over the Isle
(Continued on Page Five)
Hntiirrsmx Slathi Siapatrh
ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN THIS SECTION OFNORThCAROLINA AND VIRGIN!/? 1 *
in the Belfort region north of the
three-sided border between France,
Switzerland and Germany.
Germany apparently was to feel
the might of Britain’s navy as its
first taste of warfare with the nation
whose sea power was overwhelming
in the World War 25 years ago.
The British home fleet was in fui*
mobilization and its ships at their
battle stations, evidently to enforce
a blackade of Germany.
British Admiralty orders for con
Bremen’s Fate Is
Yet Deep Mystery
New York, Sept. 4.—(AP)
The whereabouts of the Bremen,
$30,000,000 pride of the German
mercantile fleet, was a mystery
in shipping circles today.
A broadcast report that the lux.-
ury liner had been captured by
a British man-of-war was of
ficially denied by British gov
ernment sources. Some au
thorities hazarded a speculation
that she had headed for a neu
tral port, possibly in South
America, after sailing from here
last Wednesday.
Departure of the steamer was
delayed 40 hours by a search for
war munitions by United States
officials. When she left, the Bre
men carried no passengers, but
was manned by a crew of 908.
She was stocked with food
supplies for as many as 1,500
passengers, and carried a full
fuel supply.
iOscdhsih
FOR NORTH CAROLINA.
Partly cloudy tonight and
Tuesday; showers in the moun
tains tonight and on the coast
Tuesday; slightly cooler in the
northeast portion Tuesday.
HENDERSON, N. C., MONDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 4, 1939.
trol of contraband and searches of
ships indicated Britain’s blockade of
Germany was put into force quick
ly following the declaration of Prime
Minister Chamberlain yesterday that
a state of war existed between Bri
tain and Germany. The state of war
began at 11 a. m. (5 a. m., eastern
standard time) when a British ulti
matum to Germany to call her armies
out of Poland expired without an
answer from Berlin.
Japan Waits
Somebody’s
Proposition
Tokyo, Sept. 4.—(AP)—A foreign
office spokesman indicated today
that Japan is holding the door open
for possible participation in the Eu
ropean war.
Observers believed the government
was delayed action in the hope of
an offer, obviously from Great Bri
tain, whereby the war in China
could be liquidated quickly in re
turn for Japanese assistance.
While the cabinet sat in extraor
dinary session, the spokesman said
the government’s official attitude
will “be decided in due course.” The
government at present is .following
developments, he added, and its de
cision “will be known in a few days
or a few months.”
Carefully phrasing his replies, the
foreign office spokesman declined to
answer the question of whether this
meant that Japan might. fight. He
said the question of whether Ger
man ships would be allowed the free
dom of Japanese ports would be an
swered when the official attitude
was determined.
Meanwhile, the Japanese press ad
vised complete isolation.
Fuehrer Is
Relying On
‘West Wall’
Departing for Polish
Front, Hitler Assures
Western Army Whole
Strength Soon Will
Be Sent There for
Operations.
Berlin, Sept. 4. (AP) —Adolf
Hitler, relying on the Siegfried line
of fortifications in the west to “shel
ter and defend” Germany against
Britain and France,-joined his troops
oh the eastern front today to direct
the drive to conquer Poland, and
thus “burst open the ring laid around
Germany.”
Declaring that “Germany will
never again capitulate,” Hitler left
behind him an assurance the task
of subjugating Poland will take “only
a few weeks” if the western army
does its duty in holding off Poland’s
two allies.”
“Then,” he added in a special mes
sage to the army facing France, “the
strength of our entire 90,090,000
stands behind you.”
Hitler departed to take personal
command of Ihe forces fighting on
the Polish front, some 12 hours after
he had rejected the ultimatum pre
sented by the British ambassador,
Sir Nevile Henderson, demanding the
withdrawal of German troops from
Poland.
Smothering
Shelling Os
Danzig Near
Danzig, Sept. 4.—(AP) —The Dan
zig populace was cleared out of all
territory adjoining the Westerplatte
ammunition dump today, apparently
in preparation for a smothering bom
bardment of the little Polish garrison
(Continued on Page Five)
German Freighter
Seized by British
In South America
Montevideo, Urguay, Sent. 4.
(AP) The Uruguayan coast
guard headquarters here said to
day the German freighter Olinda
had been captured by the British
cruiser Ajax and not sunk, as
earlier reported.
First reports that the Olinda
was sunk came from the British
tanker San Gerardo, which
brought the Olinda’s crew to
Montevideo. The Olinda is a 4,-
576-ton vessel operated by the
Hamburg South American Line.
Italian Liners To Sail,
Pointing To Neutrality
Rome, Sept. 4.—(AP)—Added in
dication of Italy’s intention to remain
neutral in the European war was
provided today in the announcement
that Italian passenger lines would
resume their sailings in a few days.
The announcement was made even
as indications were heard freely that
Italy’s neutrality would be short
lived.
Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo
Ciano was understood to have given
assurances to American Ambassador
Destroyers
On Guard In
Rescue Work
Only Reported Dead
Are Those Killed by
Torpedo Explo
sion; Germany
Claims F.hip Struck
British Mine; 311
Americans on Board*.
London, Sept. (AP) —The
ministry of information, an
swering German allegations
that the sunken liner Athenia ’
had struck a floating British
mine, said “no British mines
have been laid in that area”
(off the northwest coast of
Ireland, where the Athenia
went down).
A German news agency re
lease, given out here by a
member of the German diplo
matic staff, vigorously denied
that Germany was responsible
for the sinking of the liner.
The release included this
statement: “We can only say
that, in accordance with the
definite instructions cl the
fuehrer, the German armed
forces are doing nothing con
trary to international law and
treaties signed by the Reich.
The way in which the report of
the sinking has been circulated
can only be regarded an at
tempt to influence American
(Continued on Page Five)
U. S. Envoy’s
Villa Bombed
Near Warsaw
Warsaw, Sept. 4.—(AP) —The
United States ambassador to Pol
and reported to the State De
partment in Washington today
he believed the bombing of his
villa in a Warsaw suburb yes
terday was deliberate.
The ambassador, Anthony J.
Drexel-Biddle, Jr., said the Ger
man plane, which dropped six
bombs on his and adjoining
villas, loosed its cargo at a low
altitude just before it came out
of a power dive. One of the
bombs wrecked a nearby villa.
Windows in the Biddle house
were shattered, but members of
the household escaped unhurt.
Biddle said incendiary bombs
fell on the villa grounds, but
failed to explode.
The ambassador had leased the
villa when war appeared im
minent to enable his staff and
family to rest and so work could
continue when Warsaw proper
was bombed.
William Phillips that Italian ships
would start their schedules again.
Ciano said liners which had been
held in their home ports for the last
week intended to depart within two
or three days. This was considered
in foreign circles a sign that Italy
not only intended to stay out of hos
tilities, but expected that France and
Great Britain would continue to
maintain normal relations with her,
in spite of her military alliance with
Germany.
PUBLISHED EVERY AFTERNOON
EXCEPT SUNDAY.
France Moves Fast
To Lessen Pressure
On The Polish Army
Land Offensive Launched Near Swiss Border
Where Burgundy Gate Opens Into Germany
Through Vosges Mountains There.
Paris, Sept. 4. (AP) —France opened land, sea and air
operations against Germany today.
The war ministry announced the nation’s full forces went
into action in a campaign to relieve German pressure on France’s
eastern ally, Poland
Poles Retire
In Face Os
Reich Might
Withdrawal in One
Place Admitted, But
Polish Cavalry Re
ported to Have Re
captured Some Points
And Entered Ger
many,
Warsaw, Sept. 4.—(AP) —A com
munique from the Polish general
staff today announced withdrawal of
Polish forces from Czestochowa, a
town of 120,000 in southwest Poland,
after a strongs offensive by greatly
superior German forces, using tanks
and heavy artillery.
During the struggle for the town,
20 miles frpm the border, there was
a sharp conflict between Polish
planes and a German armored unit,
(Continued on Page Five)
Neutrality
Decree For
U. S. Coming
Washington, Sept. 4. (AP)
Proclamations by President Roose
velt declaring neutrality and (in
voking the neutrality law will be
issued within the next 24 hours, the
White House announced today.
State Department officials, mean
while, said they were looking into
the facts regarding the sinking of
the British liner Athenia, which had
several hundred Americans aboard,
(Continued on Page Five)
Labor Day Deaths
In United States
Have Reached 216
(By The Associated Press.)
The United States counted its
Labor Day week-end dead on the
highways and in domestic
tragedies today while Europe
counted hers in the zones of war.
With the third day of the long
week-end yet to run its course,
at least 216 persons were dead,
140 traffic accidents, 36 by
drowning and 40 by shootings,
falls, suicides, struck by lightn
ing and from miscellaneous
causes.
North Carolina had one fa
tality.
8 PAGES
TODAY
FIVE CENTS COPY
On the western front, it was re
ported in corridors of the Chamber of
Deputies, a French land offensive
was concentrated in the Belfort re
gion, where the Burgundy gate cuts
across the Rhine into Germany, just
north of the three-cornered border
between France, Switzerland and
Germany. The Burgundy gate is a
valley running northwest between
the Soges mountains and the Alps
and into Germany’s black forest.
Details of any attack to crack Ger
many’s vaunted “west wall” fortifi-
Heavy Firing Near
Belgian Frontier
Brussels, Sept. 4. (AP)
Heavy gunfire from the direc
tion of the German border, rem
iniscent of 1914, was heard to
day in Luxembourg. The firing
began early this morning. Steel
plants and furnaces along the
frontier were shut down as a
measure of preeaution.
Meanwhile, King Leopold 111,
ruler of this small country, took
personal command of the army
and the cabinet was reorganized
in an attempt to maintain neu
trality.
cations across from France Maginot
line were withheld.
The air force was understood to be
cooperating with land forces, while
the ileet held battle positions in the
western Mediterranean.
Authorities started emptying Paris
hospitals for military use. The first
night of France’s state of war with
Germany had passed without word
of the firing of a shot.
Jap-Soviet
Peace Move
At Moscow
Russian Sources Say
Soviets Will Never
March Into Battle
With Germany; Will
Aid Both Germany
And Her Enemies.
Moscow, Sept. 4.—(AP)—Negotia
tions have begun for settlement of
the “undeclared war” between Soviet
Russia and Japan on the Outer Mon
golia-Manchoukuo frontier, it was
understood unofficially today. The
belief was that a fresh approach to a
settlement had been made yesterday
when the Japanese ambassador call
ed on Foreign Commissar Molotoff.
Russia also had an attentive ear
for the echo of cannon beyond her
western frontier, although sources
close to the government emphasized
the Soviet intends to remain neutral.
(Continued on Page Five)