ADVENTURE IN A GERMAN RAIDER

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 234, 1 July 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

ADVENTURE IN A GERMAN RAIDER

The Heroic Story/Of A Captive

“The Cruise of the Raider Wolf” by Roy Alexander (Sydney: Angus and Robertson),

This is indeed a war book, in spite of the statement to the contrary appearing in the preface, and it is a very fine one, too, There is no reason why a prisoner-of-war should not write a war book, even though it is all about his career during his captivity. Tills story is one of adventure in a German raider after the author, with the rest of the crew of the steamer Wairuna, had been captured by the German raider Wolf, commanded by that very efficient naval officer, Captain Nerger. The captain of the Wairuna ran into a trap laid by the raider, In spite of the warning from one of his juniors he '.persisted in running close alongside. Then there was a whirr as the raider’s seaplane flew low overhead and commanded, by means of a dropped message, the captain not to touch Ills wireless and to heave-to. In a few minutes an armed party boarded the steamer and the crew was transferred to the raider. They were then introduced to their quarters: “Down the ladder we found ourselves in the ’tween decks (the upper part of the hold) with a mob of about a hundred men round us wanting news of the outside world. The prisoners were of all types of seamen—white, black, brown, and brindled. Most were almost naked in the Clammy heat, but some were still wearing shabby and ragged uniforms.” For the next nine months the author lived in that hole. Suffering there was, but the author does not dwell unduly on that. Men died, scurvy and many other diseases broke out. The food at times was little more I han slow Starvation diet. It all depended Whether the raider was able to capture any ship and transfer its coal and food. Fourteen ships were mined, and about 17 captured, robbed, and sunk. The holds Where the prisoners lived were crammed with hurpan beings. The raider was laying mines, and it requires little imagination to realize What would have happened to the prisoners if the Wolf had been shelled by a Warship, that is, till the last of the mines had been dropped into the Sea to carry out its sinister mission. The author gives full praise to the captain for his bravery and determination. One has only to know that he travelled 60,000 miles alone. He left Kiel, rounded Iceland, then south to the south of Africa, up to Colombo, Bombay, and south again round the south coast of Australia. He then sailed north round the east, coast of New Zealand, laid mines at North Cape, then down to near Wellington, then west, and laid mines at the south-eastern corner of Australia. lie then went south-east toward New Zealand again, then north round the New Hebrides, round the north of New Guinea and west to Java, further west toward the east coast of North Africa, then down on the homeward journey round Africa, up again toward Iceland and then down the coast of Norway, slipping past the British Navy, and back into Kiel—a very wonderful and brave journey. Captain Nerger was no publicity seeker and perhaps on that account soon afterward slipped into obscurity. His adventures cheapen the better-known, but infinitely inferior, Voyags of Count von Luckner. The book is well and modestly told. The spirit of endurance, fortitude in times of sheer agony, are ail there. The author omits all attempts to emphasize the horrors, the filth and depravity associated with the nightmare that took him nine months to endure. It does not exaggerate the position bystating shortly that this Story is an heroic one told by a hero. It should be read widely. <