Paris, Nov. 18.
MILITARY communique issued here today says there was nothing of importance to report on the front during the night. Yesterday German aircraft flew over French territory, the statement adds.
It is learned here that all R.A.F. machines taking part in a reconnaissance flight, carried out yesterday over north-west Germany, returned safely to their base. Air-raid alarms were sounded in the south of France yesterday, lasting from 9.30 until 11.10.a.m., and in Marseilles from 11.35 until 12.25. A second alarm was sounded in the same region at 2.15 p.m. Anti-aircraft fire was heard at a distance. A German aeroplane flew over the Annecy region (Upper Savoy) during the day.
"To attack or not to attack is the question keeping Herr Hitler awake at nights," says M.
Charles Morice, military correspondent of "Lo Petit Parisien" today. "The instructions the Fuehrer has given the General Staff appear to be ready and waiting," he adds.
"As to what has caused German inaction there are many theories: domestic trouble, disagreement between military chiefs, bad weather, an armament plan. They are all possible and one can also think that the prophet of Berchtesgaden is waiting for a miracle, But in time of war miracles can only happen when armies are fighting—Battle of the Marne for instance.
"We must thank the present situation which enables us to bring to perfection our war material" declares M. Morice. "By next spring we will have reached an unrivalled degree of strength. It is to prevent Germun attacks that the strong French military formations holding the front between the Rhine and the Moselle send out scouting and reconnaissance expeditions several times during every 24 hours, Yesterday several of these elements met small German formations on the same mission. They clashed several times east of the Moselle, but nothing serious happened land the German patrols had to retreat under our gunfire, We are ready to spend the winter in inactivity and if the war plan obliges us to live three years in shelter, in order to curb our enemies, we prefer that rather than let one Frenchman be killed unnecessarily. This is also the outlook of front-line soldiers."—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.