DETENTION OF DIPLOMATS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23538, 16 January 1942, Page 9

DETENTION OF DIPLOMATS

—* — ACTION TAKEN BY MEXICO

MEXICO CITY, January 14. The Mexican Foreign Office has decided to send German and Japanese diplomats to the United States for detention. It is explained that this is an appropriate counter-measure for the treatment of Mexican diplomats in Germany and Japan. An authorised source has declared that Nazi agents are smuggling quantities of arms into Mexico from the Linited States across the' Texas border. Mexico’s limited border forces have found it difficult to check smuggling and the solution was to block them at the sources. It is alleged that the Spanish Ambassador at Washington is co-operating with Axis agents in the United States and Latin America. BRITISH NAVAL LOSSES FANTASTIC AXIS CLAIMS 5,225,000 TONS OF ENEMY SHIPPING SUNK LONDON, January 14. So fantastic have been Axis claims about British naval losses that if their figures are true, Britain is now fighting with a minus navy. German and Italian official sources claim to have sunk or seriously damaged, from the beginning of the war to the end of last year, 44 capital ships. 20 aircraft-carriers, 158 cruisers, 178 destroyers, and 95 submarines. The Royal Navy entered the war with 15 capital ships, seven aircraftcarriers, 62 cruisers, 185 destroyers, and 58 submarines. Thus, for some time, the Royal Navy has maintained control of the seas with minus 29 capital ships, minus 13 aircraft-carriers, minus 96 cruisers, and plus seven destroyers. These figures, it is pointed out, include only those officially claimed by Rome or Berlin, and do not take into account Japanese claims. British Admiralty figures of enemy losses, on the other hand, are not issued without careful checking. German and Italian shipping sunk by Britain up to the end' of the year totalled 5,225,000 tons, exclusive of that sunk by the Russians. PRISONERS SET TO WORK REPAIRING BRIDGES IN MALAYA SINGAPORE. January 14. British and Indian prisoners captured by the Japanese are being used to repair bridges blown up by the British in their retreat from North Malaya, while Japanese guards stand by with ''Tommy” guns. The correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain states that this item of information was brought to the British commanders by an Indian commissioned officer, who returned yesterday to British headquarters after a six days’ journey from a point where a Japanese tank assault broke the British line. The Indian officer escaped with a large number of companions, but he was forced to leave them behind when, through exhaustion, they were unable to carry on. He struggled through the jungle, keeping a long way from the roads, and spent the nights with friendly Tamils, Indians, and Malays, from whom he bought Malay clothes. Later he was seized by Japanese soldiers, but when he pretended innocence, they released him after taking his money and watch. He entered Kuala Lumpur boldly and found the town iull of Japanese soldiers, who were looting the shops. The Indian officer stole a Japanese soldier’s bicycle and rode off at top speed. Eventually he reached the British lines.