London, Oct. 1.
THRILLING account of how five British warplanes on reconnaissance duty-over the Siegfried Line fought off fifteen German pursuits and fulfilled their orders by concluding the recon~ naissance flight, was given today by the Ministry of Information in a special communique. Three of the British craft were shot down, a fourth was compelled to make a forced landing and the Afth barely made its base, but the main point was that orders had been fulfilled to the last letter.
'Two German craft were shot down in the "dogfight" staged at an altitude of over 20,000 feet, The Information Ministry's communique read in full: against fifteen, those were the odds in a great air battle over' the Slegfied Line. The five were reconnaissance R.AF, planes, the fifteen were German Messerschmidt fighters, The British airmen suffered losses, but their first experience of war again showed the old fighting quality.. An order had been given to reconnoitre a particular position behind the German Line in the most strongly-defended part of the Saar. Anti-aircraft batteries put up a fierce barrage, but our aircraft went through successfully, atte, well over, he front aa French Make Gains Leader sighted the enemy. som over 20000 feet, the squadron Behind & banke of clouds same nine On West Front Sessrechmils, © They approached, axing 2000 feet higher." Away on the Parla, Oct. 2 communique tested. today, ent "another six" swooped" to the ferring. to miliary" operation," says "Reconnaissance was the work to the night was comparatively quiet be done. "Nothing must stop ie mhe There were aide and ambushes, of Various parts of the front "Tne, Prench advance during the enemy" facies were revested. Steak "he moment the lit stated, th
weekend south-west of Sairlautern formation, the Germans coneen-{Ganslouls) was on a front extending tied "mass "are on each. 'Brsh fig nile, "aesording to French aching' in turn. their method war "An important sector was se for "ized in jtail of our aircraft, eae wee dive and core
tne engle forming. te junction be" {ween the Nied and Saar Rivers, The Britih Leaders Fine Feat round te avrugged plateau dominate "intense dyhting lasted for 99 fig several towns In the Sear valley, minutes." Three "of our. machines including Saariautern, Pochten, Die: were shot down and another made fen, Roden, and Wallerfangen. forced landing, but out of the twelve "The capture of the sector enables men forming their crews, eight were the French 19 enflade the valley of seen to escape by parachute {he rims, an important fine of com munications at a Tight angle to the rear don, Teader. tion fina is jot, eae ut he flew on just the same
'Sunday was a quiet day, according "Dodging, sdestipping and bank the latest French wat communique, ing to get away from the concentrat= Weoich adds that there was artillery led enemy fre, he held his course and ring' dram both sides "east of the finished the eeonnalssanee, Meanwhile, the tall of his alt= raft, the gunner kept up a_stendy Time on Side of Allies fire," A stream of his bullets hit the London, Oct. 2 Jengine of the leading Messerschmidt, At the, beginning ofthe second ithe enemy machine swerved and: month of the War, forecasts on future "second burst into" lames" and Possibilities are united in emphasizing That time is om the side of the Allies: unset to the earth "ceping up his fire, the gunner fie waiting game, it is stressed handed further bursts tu the second the" Allie" best cts, allowing the fighter, 'With black. smoke pouring (Germans: to waste their strength on from its nose, the. craft went down Stacks on the Maginot Line, while te n'a spin. tu' al, 259 rounds of am= economic. Blockade' takes effect munition" tad" accounted for the "in this connection, Colonel Hesse, enemy losses, The thirteen Tremaine the German Beonomie. Bureau, ts ing Germans gave up the fight. auetod from a German oh publica Wounded Navigator Keeps On Tion as warning that Russi's railways ich ave smaller mileage than "The navigator, third member of France' or 'Germany ina territory the crew, kept his pilot on the home-thirteen times as rear and which are ward course although his instruments totoly inadequate even for home need were smashed and: he himself was mult seriously restelet Tussi' [wounded in the forehead, [economic help to Germany.
"The aircraft by this time was, in 'The report that' General Marl sorry case, There were 89 bullet holes in its fabric: the ailerons and Gustave "Gamelin, Commandet-in Ghiet"or the Alica Forces, is per= rudder were damaged, and both fitting newspaper correspondents to petrol tanks were burst and Nooding the inside of the fuselage with petrol 0 to the Front, caying that "itis tine land fumes. fo raise the curtain of silence, sug-"As it crossed the frontier on the ests that the Aled position may be feonsidered fairy. satlatactory.
Jway back, the engine failed. "From German, aeroplanes are. appearing starboard tank, petrol " poured through a bullet hole each time the over the Western Front in increasing, numbers and are more numerous than aircraft banked, But, by stopping It up with a handkerchief, "the pilot the Allied machines. Losses, however, fare at least evenly distributed.
Frequently British aviators, when home. was able to save enough gas to get
"The landing had to be faced with out-numbered, succeed in escaping by the retractable undercarriage jam~ feigning to be shot down, righting themselves when out of range for Jmed, Tt was halfway open and the offside tyre shot away. pursuit, "Aviation observers discuss new pro-"As the machine touched the blems presented by the heights attain-ground, it spun in a circle, cartwheelable by modern machines, which can ting over one wing, and caught on all easily climb 20,000 feet, and many fire, "The navigator was Mung out on Jor them 30,000 feet. It is not imhis' hood with his clothes on fre, possible that airmen may soon have [The gunner was jammed inside, fo be provided with alrpressure Without a thought for his own safe-cabins, as well as oxygen. ty, the navigator hauled him out and The aerial fighting in Abyssini Jsmothered his blazing coat with ba [Spain and China afford no eriterio hands," the Information. Ministry's for a conflict in which the Powers Jaccount concluded,—Havas, Jare adequately matched for both Joftence and detence—Reuter, factual front. German troops were seen to be vailable for quick trans~ French Capture Prisoners: portation to battle positions by means Paris, Oct. 2. trucks, but no sigs of reinforce-'Small scale but highly useful raids ments at the front were yet noted. and ambush attacks almed at taking Germans Merely Stalling prisoners for questioning by Intel-French front dispatches reported ligence omccrs were reported in off the Germans to be totally inactive dal French advices from the front except for efforts to parry' the local today. Scouting and aviation activity French attacks. This factor was be-continued, but no combats on the Heved to be the result of Chancellor scale of those reported on Saturday Adolf Hitler's orders to limit fighting occurred. to purely defensive operations while The French, like the British, claim-fed to have amassed an extensive col lection of photographs of the Slegoffensive. concentrates on a diplomatic
French engineering corps are feter-fried Line emplacements and German {shly consolidating the advance poslconcentration points in the rear. No tions facing the Siegfried Line as well aerial bombardments of the areas, fas scouring the area for unexploded however, has yet begun. Major con-mines. Ina section of the Warndt centrations, according to advices from Forest, three kilometres by three the front received this morning, were kilometres, mines were found, seen from 60 to 100 miles behind the United Press,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.