German troops are now all over Austria. They crossed at Passau at 5 30 a.m. yesterday, and some time later troops came in at Scharnitz, and at eight o╒clock at Salzburg. Excellently equipped troops with fine physique, they marched into Innsbruck and pushed right to the Italian frontier. By noon to-day German troops had arrived in Vienna in motorised columns. Endless chains of armoured cars, tanks, motor-lorries were driving through the Ringstrasse. Large crowds lined the streets and cheered.
The sky yesterday was darkened by many squadrons of German aeroplanes, dropping messages such as ╥The National Socialist Germany greets the new National Socialist Austria.╙
HITLER ON AUSTRIAN SOIL
The troops from Passau arrived yesterday afternoon in Linz, and soon after the news was spread by wireless that Herr Hitler was coming to Linz.
Herr Hitler was last in his native country in 1923, and according to reports he was visibly moved when he crossed the frontier at 3 30 p.m. at Brannau, on the Inn River, which is his native place.
In Linz he was received by Dr. Seyss-Inquart, who pointed out that the Germans had now found each other and that they were finally united and that they would cling together in every fight as one people. After difficult years the people were now free for ever. Article 88 of the Peace Treaty which prohibited the union of the two countries was no longer valid. The army had marched in to prove this German right before the entire world.
Herr Hitler stayed the night in Linz, and this morning he visited the village of Leonding, where he meditated before the grave of his parents.
He visited the village where he spent his youth until the age of 18. At the house where he lived his former guardian, Herr Mayerhofer, received him.
In the afternoon he returned to Linz and visited places he knew in his childhood and also the school he attended until 1903.
MANY ARRESTS IN VIENNA
Many members of the former Government have been arrested. Dr. Schuschnigg, who was believed to have fled to Hungary, is under detention in the Belvedere Castle in Vienna.
Frau Dollfuss and her two children managed to reach Bratislava and are now in Budapest. The former president of the Pan-European Association, Count Coudenhove Kalerghi, is also in Budapest. Herr Zernatto, former secretary general of the Fatherland Front, has succeeded in reaching Bratislava.
There have, of course, been many arrests in Vienna and in the provinces especially of former Government officials. For the last three days many persons have tried to cross the frontiers, but have been prevented, partly by the authorities on the other side of the frontier, who are reluctant to let in further refugees.
