A STRANGE REUNION.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19814, 30 December 1929, Page 14

A STRANGE REUNION.

Q-BOAT AND U-BOAT SKIPPERS.

THE CAUSE OF PEACE. '.FECX 'v* -'*■-■ ..o?.a£3rO.>CD£:<T. LONDON. November 21. A U-boat comrv.ander and a. y-boat t*iei hare hron t ralernbing on .the plauonn « a League ot Nation* Union matins at Heading. These are Carv.a.n Ern-- retired ccm-ir.a'.-.d-r of U-boat V2 aiul his old oti'-my. Commander Norman Lev.--. KX. ... The b/vu Hull -it Heading, capable of lidding IH.-tivv._r: t«<> and three thousand peoph- ; *> to accommodate the gr..,; .. rowd- who cr.me to hear the mo seamen. Captain Ha-hag-i). u :tii hU •■!>>'- ?* 1 ■ ide by --i'h- with Commander and Mrs L.-wi-'ni the platform. He wa~ givwi ku fucliu-ia-ti. reception when he rose to ."-peak. An international note was struck i'v the' audience singing firsih. Ffziidi and thon the German National Ai>then>. Captain Hasbagen •Aid: , , . Commander Lewi- v.-a- Kind enough to pav me a vi-it in U-.J-J. 1 asked him to spend the three following weeks with me and T r.w at raid ho could n. r bnr accept. At first we were at a !o- toi- word-. Commander Lewis, sidewav-. -aid: "'Do you capture the .-aptains of a!! the steamers xen sink:-" '•.No." f replied, 'tt o>pend-> ut>'i" the circumstances. T *rc." lie .said, -lulling, "only the nice ones." <o wc ie.in.ed to understand and iv.pert euci. other. We had been nelun.g tor tfv flag, and the honour of our countries. We parted at Heligoland, and Commander Lewis gave me a whisky flask fti a token of the- peace treaty we had concluded.

A Dream Come True. Perhaps the most thrilling moment ii> an evening full of interne interest was when Commander T,ewis thanked h)~ war-time captor for his chivalry and fair play, and turned to Captain Hashaaeitauu shook him by the hand. He said ; "To-tluv a dream haa come true. Rather more than twelve years ago I was standing on the deck of a German U-boat. I had seen my ship sunk like :v steel coffin, and 1 felt very friendless. But I found a friend, for the commander or' boat <i2 —one of the most famous of U-boat captains—though a formidable foe, was a fair cue, and endowed with chivalry, tanplay, and humanity.''

Submarine Brutalities. A correspondent contributes an article to tho "Sunday Dispatch" i» which he describes the reunion of the two skippers in a London restaurant. This and the peace meeting at Reading has called fortli a protest from a Liverpool woman who lost two sons at sea from a submarine attack. She writes in the "Daily Express," voicing hpi- protest, and the "Express,'' in a leading article, has this to say: — "It is true that heroism and sportsmanship have no nationality. But is that consideration to be the final arbiter'- The German submarine service supplied one of the most terrible epi«odes in the history of war. Its brutalities shocked the conscience of humanity. We who have survived the war would be renegade both to the past and the future if we lacked the courage to state those facts, even to-day, openlv. and fearlessly. '■Lee us acknowledge the brave and < chivalrous acts of individual men like Captain Ernst Hashagen. but let u= avoid the 'jolly good fellow' attitude. Captain Hashagen did his duty in an infamous service. As a civilian and a hrave man he is welcome, but as one of the murderous underseas personnel r>f the German Navv both he and .l« s friends must understand that the title U-boat commander carries in this country a bitter and ineffaceable association."