FASCIST INTERNEES

Evening Star, Issue 24003, 30 September 1941, Page 8

FASCIST INTERNEES

SECRET OF PEEL CAMP ESCAPE TUNNEL TO BEYOND THE WIRE (Rec. 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 29. A sentry at the Peel internment camp discovered the secret of the escape of three internees. It was a tunnel burrowed from the centre of the camp to a field. The 'burrowing must have occupied weeks, but. the men avoided detection by distribnt'ng the evacuated earth throughout the camp. The tunnel is now sealed. Fighting broke out between the internees last night, and doctors treated the injured this morning. Demands are growing for much sterner measures, and the Governor of the island informed the Peel Town Commissioners that steps were being taken for the better protection of townspeople. The camp authorities announced the curtailment of visits from internees’ wives, and a weekly 10s limit for parcels for the internees. [Planes and patrol boats, sweeping miles of sea, recaptured three British Fascists who escaped from the Peel internment camp on the Isle of Man on September 17. They crept into town at night and boarded a motor boat. The engine was out of action, so they rowed toward Ireland until a trawler sighted and reported them. A riot broke out at the camp the following night, when 600 Fascists demanded the return to camp of the three captured escapees, who had been put in a hut in the camp prison. The demand was refused. Three rioters were put in prison, and the others then attacked the guards with stones and bottles. The scenes continued through the night until the rioters were tired out. The guards stood with loaded rifles, but under Home Office orders were not allowed to fire unless men were caught getting through the barbed wire, which none attempted to do. The residents of Peel were unable to sleep owing to the noise.]

POSITION AT CHANGSHA CITY STILL IN CHINESE HANDS BITTER STREET FIGHTING CHUNGKING, Sept. 29. A Chinese army spokesman said Changsha was still in Chinese hands on Sunday night. A few Japanese broke into the city on Saturday night, but were annihilated in bitter street fighting. Japanese troops are being held several miles north of Changsha. The Central News Agency reported that a fierce new battle started on Saturday and continued on Sunday on the whole northern Hunan front. The Japanese South China command has announced that the Japanese are advancing into north Kwantung with little Chinese resistance. The Domei Agency states that the successful conclusion of this advance has given the Japanese control of the entire length of the Canton-Hankow railway. It is ’believed the Japanese are planning the biggest offensive since the fall of- Hankow, aimed at severing South China into two sections lying east and west of the Canton-Hankow railway.

BATTUE RAGING FURIOUSLY (Rec. 11.3 a.m.) CHUNGKING, September 29. The Chinese military spokesman claimed that the Japanese lost 20,000 men of 80,000 in the fight for Changsha, which, he said, was still in Chinese hands. The battle is raging furiously. The Japanese are held about seven miles off. OXFORD GROUP LEADER MR A. P. HERBERT'S CRITICISM “ NOT A TRUE FRIEND OF BRITAIN " (Rec. 12.45 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 29. Mr A. P. Herbert has sent Mr Ernest Bevin a secret document about the Oxford Group. In'his letter to Mr Bevin, Mr Herbert said: “I believe that Dr Frank Bucliman is not a true friend of Britain. The document is not the only ground for this belief. If I am right, there is a widespread organisation in Britain under his influence, and perhaps his orders may, in circumstances not difficult to imagine, he a danger to the State. A peacey move blessed by Buehman and spread in perfect good faith by his numerous popular followers might have a deadly effect. Ido not suggest that they are not true patriots, hut the more innocent they are the more dangerous they may be.” Referring to Mr Bevin’s refusal to exempt Oxford Group evangelists from military service, Mr Herbert says that until members of the group disown Bnchman thev deserve and should receive no special consideration from the State. LORD MAYOR OF LONDON SIR JOHN LAURIE NOMINATED (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 11.3 a.m.) RUGBY. Sept. 29. _ Lieutenant-colonel Sir John Laurie was nominated at the Guildhall to-day to be the next Lord Mayor of London. [Sir John Laurie is a director of public companies, and is a partner of Laurie, jlilbank, and Co. He has been an alderman and sheriff of the City of London, and is prominent in volunteer circles.]