ADMITTED BY BERLIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 60, 8 September 1941, Page 7

ADMITTED BY BERLIN

PLEA OF SELF-

DEFENCE

'U.S. SHIP ACTED.FIRST 1

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) NEW YORK, September 7. An official announcement in Berlin admits that a U-boat fired two torpedoes at a destroyer of unknown nationality in German "blockade waters" at 2.29 p.m., on the day of the attack on the American destroyer Greer. The torpedoes missed their mark, after which, it is said, the destroyer dropped depth charges till midnight, but without success. The announcement added that the destroyer had attacked the. U-boat, action of which was justified on the ground of self'defence. The attack against the U-boat, it said, proved that President Roosevelt had given orders to the United States navy to shoot, and' that he was '. trying to provoke incidents to force the American people into the war. \ According to the latitude and longitude given in the Berlin statement the i attack on the Greer occurred about 220 miles south-west of Reykjavik, Iceland. ' " .'■.'■;

The United States Navy Department announces that, notwithstanding the German contention, , the initial attack was made by the submarine.