JAPANESE SUBMARINE

Evening Star, Issue 24265, 5 August 1942, Page 4

JAPANESE SUBMARINE

SMALL TRAWLER ATTACKED

“GOLD-BLOODIED MURDER" (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) SYDNEY, August 4. Two members of the crew were killed and four were wounded when an enemy submarine recently shelled a small fishing trawler off' the eastern Australian coast. The vessel escaped from her attacker and has reached port. This announcement by the South-west Pacific headquarters to-day is the first official indication of the presence of Japanese submarines off Australia’s eastern seaboard since June 11. The crew’s first intimation of the attack, which was made from pointblank range, was when a shell crashed through the superstructure, severing the main steam pipe. Shells continued to' rain on tho unarmed vessel. Then the submarine, realising that her victim could not hit back.j came closer and sprayed the docks with machine gun bullets. People on shore who witnessed the attack informed the service authorities and the local police, who commandeered a small craft and picked up the crew, including the two men who had been killed. The trawler was temporarily abandoned, but later another fishing vessel took her in tow and brought her to port. “ It was cold-blooded murder,” said a member of the crew to-day. “ The nets were out and we were a sitting shot. Wo had no weapons with which to fight back, no warning that we were about to be attacked, and ho possibility of escape once the steam pipe was hit.” The attack was made jn moonlight, and the submarine was of the larger, ocean-going type. She came to the surface close to. her victim, the conning tower hatch was opened, and members of the submarine’s crew tumbled on to the deck and manned the guns. Though they had the 200-tou trawler at their mercy, the Japanese behaved most brutally. While heavy machine-gun fire swept their little ship the crew could see the glowing cigarettes of the enemy gun crews. Two of the fishermen were killed, their bodies being riddled with bullets as they attempted to launch the ship’s lifeboat. Watchers on shore 17 miles away saw the gun flashes and gave the alarm. Hours later another trawler found the damaged vessel, which was still afloat in spite of havi«g been struck by 12 shells an’d hundreds of machine-gun bullets. To-day the two men who were killed were buried, and among the mourners were those of the crew who were able \ to walk.