Sept. 15.
The announcement by the German high command that open towns, villages, and hamlets in Poland would "henceforth be bombed, and shelled "in order to crush the i¢e being offered by the civilian popu-Was nol unexpected. What is more, It bears out the weighty indictment which Mr. A, J. Drexel Biddle, U.S, Ambassador to Poland, has formulated in a' telegraphic x port to Washington, in which he states that the German air force was taking advantage of every opportunity "without regard to civilians." He backs his allegations by citing number of instances, including the bombing of a suitably-marked hospital train in Wat saw carrying wounded soldiers, the destruction of a sanatorium involving the deaths of ten children, and the bombing of a refugee train, 'They' are but a few, but suMeient to show that the German high command despairing now of carrying through a lightning campaign in Poland, and offering the Allies peace upon the new basis thereby established, are seeking now to break the morale of the Polish people by indulging in an orgy of frightfulness. Dreadful as It may sound, this coming out into the open by the German'high. command is one of the most hopeful signs which have been manifested since the commencement of hostilities, for so long as the German army leaders were satisfied with the way things were progressing, they could rea sonably be expected to observe whatever de-conoies there still remain in war, These they. have now thrown to the winds, and, if into that act is read the admission that the German army has found Poland a harder nut to crack than was at frst believed, an explanation, anda plausible one at that, is found this latest announcement, The position in Poland is now revealed in its true light, and the swift German advances of last week have been shown to be more spectacular than real. Warsaw has not fallen, and the Polish armies in Poznia, which the Germans ¢onfidently claimed had been surrounded, have cut their way out, and the weather, and Polish mud are rapidly coming to the aid of the invaded country.
Hence the Schrecktichkeit! The threat which thas also been issued in Germany that, should Great Britain proceed with the blockade, which despite German assumption of nonchalance is undoubtedly worrying the Reich, 3,000 German aeroplanes would bomb British harbours will leave the withers unwrung. Threats of this sort will most certainly not, cause the Allies to relinquish a weapon which the Germans dre using themselves in their at tempted submarine blockade of the Britis Isles, and when it comes to bombing, that game in which more than one can' play at any time, Harbours are legitimate targets in any event, but the bombing of open towns. for the sole purpose of destroying civilians only call forth the strongest condemna-It is all so futile, If the Germans could have learned anything at all, they must certainly have had it brought home to them. through the technical assistance which they rendered General Franco in Spain, that the continuous bombing of the civilian populace of such a city as Madvid did nothing to break the morale of the people. For practically three years'the people of that city wer subjected to continual bombardment, und yet history shows that, despite the hammering they received, Madrid, and Mts people stood out to the very last. As a_ psychological weapon the aeroplane in war is being vastly overrated by the German high command. It does not strike home that fear which it is believed at first it would, but serves to inflame resentment and consequently the will to resist.
Nazi nes will undoubtedly
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.