Paris, Mar. 4.
The first six months of Allied-German warfare came to an end yesterday evening and, reviewing hostilities in that period of time, French military experts emphasized today that there has as yet been no heavy fighting along the front between the Rhine and the Moselle, where the Maginot and Siegfried Lines are drawn up before each other.
In spite of the Reich's previously avowed intention to wage only "blitzkrieg" (lightning war). if war ever became necessary, the past half-year has seen only minor patrol encounters and small-scale surprise raids.
In the first few weeks of the war, before the final fall of Poland, the French Army pushed ahead to create a diversion and thus aid the Polish forces. When the need for this diversion passed, however, the French troops were withdrawn to more heavily fortified positions under the immediate protection of the Maginot Line.
On the sea, the military experts continued, the six months have told a tale of wanton German torpedooing and mining of merchant vessels in a vain effort to break the evertightening grip of the Allied blockade.
Furthermore, British submarines sank at least two German warships in the same period, and the loss of two war vessels means more to the German Navy than a similar loss does to the British Navy, the French experts pointed out.
Warfare in the air was launched with Germany enjoying temporary superiority, but as the weeks passed, despite this initial advantage, Germany failed to interrupt North Sea navigation and Allied air forces soon wiped out whatever superiority the enemy had at first.
Allied warplanes have almost always proved successful in aerial fights despite the vaunted speed and armaments of the German planes. Moreover, the Royal Air Force's recent repeated "bomphlet" and fare raids over Berlin cannot but reflect on the efficiency and power of the German air defenders, the French military observers concluded.—Havas, His, Majesty the King today bestowed on Chief Engine Room Artificer Arthur Frederick Anderson, R.N., formerly employed at the Royal Navy Office in HM. Consulate, Shanghai, the Medal of the Order of the British empire (Empire Gallantry Medal) for conspicuous gallantry during a shooting affray in Shanghai on
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