COWARDLY ACT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 301, 21 December 1939, Page 7

COWARDLY ACT.

TRAWLER ATTACKED.

Merciless Machine-Gunning And Bombing. SKIPPER'S GRAPHIC STORY. British Official Wireless. (Received 1.00 p.m.) Rli(jßY, December 20. The recent German campaign of bombing and machine-gunning unarmed trawlers and small rishing vessels, which is creating considerable indignation here, is generally considered to have resulted from the failure of the German endeavour in the illegal mine-sowing campaign and in all other forms of sea warfare.

Skipper J. M. Hall, of the trawler Isabella Greig, gives an account of how his ship was bombed and machinegunned by a German aircraft last Sunday —an example typical of many such cowardly and merciless attacks.

"Our trawl was down," he said, "when two aircraft, which I recognised as twinengined Heinkels, were sighted, coming from east-south-east."

The trawler's crew of 10 took cover. The aircraft came on, flying low, and passed one on each side of the trawler, the rear gunners firing their machineguns. Altogether they circled the Isabella Greig eight times with their wing tips nearly touching the water as they turned.

"Besides machine-gunning' us," he said, "they dropped between 15 and 20 bombe. During one short respite the crew started to lower their boat, but the aeroplanes returned and opened heavy fire, wounding two men."

The skipper, meanwhile, with great difficulty had managed to get off a distress signal.

Finally the boat was lowered and put into the water riddled with bullets, and the water barrel was punctured. The? crew took two wounded men with them and abandoned the ship.

When the boat was 500 yards away from the trawler, which was" still afloat, the aircraft returned and opened fire on the boat, luckily without result, and dropped three more bombs.

British aeroplanes then appeared and the Germans made off in the direction of home. The trawler was entirely unarmed and was flying the British mercantile flag and engaged in fishing.

The German aircraft gave no warning whatever before opening fire, and ha.l apparently flown 350 miles from Germany for the set purpose of attacking Scottish fishermen. r

Evening papers gave details of further similar outrages. The trawler Trinity was bombed and machine-gunned in the North Sea yesterday. The survivors, while escaping from the sunken ship, were machine-gunned in the water by Nazi bombers. Two of the crew were killed an<l one wounded.

Last night the German announcer brazenly admitted air attacks on 24 defenceless fishing vessels and tried to excuse them by describing the vessels as warships and naval auxiliaries.