BREMEN IN RANGE OF TORPEDO

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 69, 14 December 1939, Page 10

BREMEN IN RANGE OF TORPEDO

Report From British Submarine LINER NOT ATTACKED Respect For International Law Dy Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. LONDON, December 12. An Admiralty communique states that a British submarine reported that the German liner Bremen passed within torpedo range on her way to Germany. The rules of sea warfare, of course, precluded the submarine from torpedoing the Bremen without warning. A naval expert explains that international law prohibits the sinking of a merchant vessel without warning and without making provision lor those aboard reaching safety in open boats.

The Bremen was possibly too far from land for those aboard thus to reach safety. The submarine could not accommodate them, and, moreover, could not take a ship of such size as a prize owing to her speed. Finally, the Bremen was armed. The action of the submarine in not torpedoing the Bremen contrasts with German violations of international law. The enemy does not hesitate to torpedo even neutrals, leaving passengers and crew to their fate. The Hamburg correspondent of the British United Press says he has been reliably informed that the Bremen docked" at Bremerhaven. The German official news agency announces that the Bremen has arrived safely in German waters. It admits that "a British submarine approached the Bremen within torpedo range in the North Sea, but says the submarine was forced to submerge by a German aeroplane, which was not convoying the liner. “It was just the submarine’s bad luck that the plane happened to see her,” states the official news agency. A German High Command communique says: “A British submarine tried to attack the Bremen in the North Sea. One of the aircraft sent to protect the Bremen forced the submarine to submerge and thereby attack on the Bremen was prevented.” This differs in important respects from the German news agency statement.