HELL SHIP ALTMARK

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 66, 18 March 1940, Page 8

HELL SHIP ALTMARK

THE DAY OF RESCUE

SPIRITED BOARDING ATTACK

"NICE LITTLE SCRAP"

(By Air Mall, from "The Post's" London Representative.) LONDON^ February 20. "It was great fun/ was the only comment made by Lieutenant-Com-mander B. T. Turner, who led the Cossack's boarding party, when pressed for details about the first lively minutes when the British sailors stormed the Altmark to release the prisoners in the holds.

This light-hearted spirit of the Navy in tackling the, Nazi ship was also evident among the men. As the prisoners were coming out of their dungeons a marine with" a tin hat, rifle, and bayonet, leaned out of one of the bridge windows. "Coo» blokes," he beamed, "I've captured the ship." "A nice little1 scrap," was how A.B. Jack Hunt, aged 19, described the exchange. "There was a spot of, shoot- j ing as we clambered over the side. The Germans were running around shouting, then some of thenr came at us. A big German with bare feet made for me. In the struggle my rifle fell overboard. I just pitched in with my fists. He bumped his head on a lifeboat and passed out. "It was close hand-to-hand stuff all the time. You just had to use what you had and make the best of it. One of our chaps had a Boy Scout's knife. When the Germans saw they hadn't a chance they just caved in. The biggest thrill was when we got those boys from below decks. They just went delirious with delight. ]•■ ; , THE ALTMARK'S ALIASES. William Wheeler, a New Zealander, and R.N.V.R. gunner of the Doric Star, says that the Altmark used at least two aliases during her cruise. When he was first taken on board she was disguised as a Norwegian ship, , and bore name Sogne. A month ago the Germans changed the name to the Cherique, and hoisted the Stars and Stripes.

"The captain," said Wheeler, "was a vicious type who deliberately gave us a rotten time. Some of the seamen and naval ratings were good to us. One was sentenced to 40 days in the prison cell on bread and water for helping a prisoner to drop a,message in a bottle overboard, and another was punished for giving us a bit of tobacco. If anyone wanted to do us a kindness it had to be done secretly. One of the German sailors who used to give us cigar.ette stubs told us in whispers that he •did not'agree with Hitler or with the treatment,we were given, and that he was a merchant seaman just like us. "We were only allbwed on the fo'castle head in batches of 15 for 15 minutes every other day.v Wheeler continued, "and! there, were "always eight or nine armed guards watching us. , There were small guns on the bridge,, and there seemed to be plenty of rifles and machine-guns. On one occasion a wooden screen . accidentally fell while prisoners were on deck, revealing the muzzle of an unsuspected gun. We realised then that it was no. Use trying to rush thi? bridge. They would have*shoV us down trouble. .-A ?jGerman_ seaman told me they intended scuttling the Altmark if accosted by a British gunboat on the high seas and we, the evidence, would go down to Davy Jones like rats in a trap." ■ : ; >. '•' ;. ■■■ -..■' ■'■-■■ ; CALLOUS CAPTAIN AND OFFICERS. Victor Robinson, a member of the Doric Star crew, said the captain of the Altmark was so brutal that he gave his petty-officer carpenter 21 days' punishment for telling the prisoners what had happened to the Graf Spec. One of the Altmark's officers told them: "We will tell you nothing but what is bad news for you." William Curtis (Doric Star) was in. the Graf Spec when they sank the Tairoa. "We did not do any work," he said. "For a long time we got no cold water. Sometimes we got.washing water. The Germans cannot getj any praise from me. They behaved very badly. The skipper was a tyrant." After his trying experience of being confined to a section of the ship under hatches he could scarcely believe it was true when he was ordered to go on deck. Then he realised that Bri- j tish sailors were in command-

"I thought the ship was. being followed," said Curtis, "and I remarked to my mate that something must be going on because the ship was stopped for about four hours. We were all battened down and then the ship shivered and shook. lS I thought she was ashore. A boarding party then came aboard. AH the Germans were bad. They showed no sympathy or kindly feelings. The captain of the Altmark openly declared That he had no feelings for the British whatever, and the crew followed his" example." i GRAF SPEE RUSES. According to a Doric Star seaman, the Graf Spec flew the French . flag when she captured the Trevaniori, and, then broke the German flag. He de- '' clared that an aeroplane on the Graf Spec had British markings. The Graf Spec changed her name frequently. When the Doric Star was sunk the raider was known as the Deutschland. Victor Robinson (Doric Star) referred to the doctor in the Altmarfc as one of the few decent Germans on board. The doctor apologised for not having any medical supplies. "Once when he was alone with us he remarked in broken English: 'War is war. Your good luck is our bad luck, and your bad luck is. our good luck.' He did his best for us."

John Quigley, a tall, bearded seaman from the Tairoa, said the first thing they knew of their rescue was when they heard a voice: 'Any Englishmen here?' They .shouted *Yes,' and immediately came the cheering words, •'Well, the Navy is here.' We all then cheered as loudly as we could." Quigley revealed that the Germans were apparently hoping to send the prisoners to the bottom of the sea. "The Germans," he said, "had their boats over the side, but they left timebombs for us." ./

"Thank God!" said Alexander Grant, one of the crew of the Tairoa, as he stepped ashore. After their rescue by the British destroyer they had smelt fresh air for the first time for three weeks. "The conditions on board the Altmark were terrible," he said. "For two days we were completely deprived of water. In the Tropics the heat was intense and we suffered agony. Some of the British seamen were put into solitary confinement for three whole days because they had wristled or had been singing.

"The crew of the Altmark did everything they could to break our spirit. The food was a nightmare. We had one loaf of brown bread between four men to last us a whole day. Our only exercise was half an hour's walking on the deck in the morning, and we were even deprived of that when it was discovered that one of the prisoners had thrown an SOS message overboard." TOOK. CAPTAIN'S DAGGER. When 26-year-old Andrew Whelaii, \ A.8., Tairoa, arrived at his home in j Npootlei, toe showed an ivory and gold-i

wrought dagger which had belonged to the Altmark's captain. Whelan said: "After we were released I rushed to the captain's cabin to get a last look at him. I stepped over the bodies of three Germans and found a British officer holding* him at pistol's point. He had disarmed him, and the dagger lay on the table. I picked it up in case the German might get a notion to use .it again." . . Whelan will be married shortly. He. was due in England at Christmas time when the wedding should have taken

place. ' l Frank Hill, Melbourne, fireman from the Tairoa, referred to a German sailor who had befriended English prisoners being shot by one of his own officers from the bridge. "We were kept in separate companies about the ship," he said, "and to prevent us coming out on deck the Germans not only locked the door of the hatch, but bound it round with wire hawsers. The first thing we knew about the approaching rescue was the sound of shots. Then a German pumpman, who had been good to us, came to the bulkhead, took off the wire ropes, and opened the door. 'Englanders,' he shouted, 'a warship is here. Come up.' Before any of us could get through the door a German officer on the bridge drew his revolver and shot the man through the thigh. He fell to the deck bleeding, and I. just stopped long enough to ask if I could do anything for him. "The Navy men were having a brisk scrap with the Altmark fellows round the bridge and on the forward well deck. We heard a shot, and others coming from the engine-room, but the Germans did not attempt to stand up and fight. It was a hit-and-run affair along the deck and round corners, and it was more like a rat hunt than anything."