The Frenklin Times PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOON. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1940 THE NAVY AGAIN

Franklin Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 20, 21 February 1940, Page 4

The Frenklin Times PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1940 THE NAVY AGAIN

Office and Works: ROTTLSTON STREET, PUKEKOHE. ’Phone No. 2. P.O. Box 14. “We nothing extenuate nor aught set down in malice."

AN electric shock has been imparled to the sea-war routine by a momentous decision of Iho Admiralty. n, was such a decision as needed a man of Mr Churchill’s mettle. He had before him two questions: ( 1) Whether the fugitive German steamer Altmarck, located at last in Norwegian territorial waters, carried British prisoners captured by the Admiral Graf

Spee, now sunk off Montevideo? (2) Whether, assuming an aflimrative answer to above, the British Navy would he within international law if it hoarded the Aitmarck and took the prison-

ers away? A man of aeiion, if satisfied that the prisoners were really present on the Aitmarck, might he expected to take a hold course in answering the second question: and a First Lord of the Admiralty possessing Mr Churchill's calibre would not easily he deterred by juridical doubts. Pul, first of all. he encountered a check in his search after the primary facts, for the Norwegian officials who inspected the Aitmarck at Bergen reported no indication of the presence of prisoners. On this negative representation. the British destroyers, after entering Norwegian territorial waters, withdrew, leaving the Altmark sheltering in a fiord with a dead end. But after dark the destroyer Cossack, with Captain Yian, re-entered the fiord and approached the Aitmarck lo find out at first hand whether the piisonors were aboard. And he found what he expected to find —British merchant seamen prisoners to the number of over three hundred. It seems that the Nazis on the Aitmarck had bluffed the credulous

Norwegian inspecting officers - at. Bergen by racing the steam winches to drown the noise of cries by the prisoners, should the latter lie able to make any cries. The new situation created 'by I lie arrival of the Cossack was met by an attempt of the Aitmarck to ram her, and by gunfire directed a gain si I lie Cossack's hoarding party, hue lwen!y-iive of the Cossack's men V'ilii revolvers and cutlasses overcame or over-awed about a hundred of the Nazi guards and German crew, and rescued llieir comrades. There were e .number of German casualties and some German deaths, followed, of course, hv an anti-piracy protest from the Berlin pirates. Ilow Norway and international sea-law lit in with the new situation is slid a mailer of douid. but is is quite clear that Mr Churchill, undeceived by I lie Norwegian inspection reports, knew what Captain Yian was going' lo find, and determined to take the bull by the horns, or, at tiio very lensi, to piuek Ihe fail feathers of Ihe German eagle. The Aitmarck "a filthy ship,” the released prisoners say —was left in the ford by the Cossack, with most of the German view stilt aboard; Britain, taxing Norway with a failure in neutral duly, lias asked that the Aitmarck he interned. After futile lying, the Nazis now have been forced lo admit that

she : s a German naval auxiliary, carrying; men armed with pistols. The British add that she has on hoard leadiine-guns and two pom-poms. Included in her complement were some former Admiral Graf Spee ratings, who escaped over Hiei Aitmarek's stern on to ice and reached the shore, from which they opened rifle fire at the fossae k men. Yet Hie German radio has been disseminating flic lie dial the Aitmarck is an unarmed merchant ship. Gonsidering Ihe reaction which Hie

«Mssack's arlion musl have in the Americas, where I!iere is an inchoate plan to create a neulral war-free zone three hundred miles wide. United Stales Press opinion is important.. So far it seems to be non-committal on I internalioual law issues: but the “New York Times,” while affirming' that there are misgivings in Washinglon. admits Hint if the Altmarck is a naval auxiliary cruiser.' there is “con-

siderable .justification for the British action.” II is I rut:, as a London Sunday paper says, that when Jlitter, “the relentless murderer of Ihe high si. as." screams for legal protection foi

his ocean-going gaolers in territorial waters, it is ‘time lo laugh”: but American views of neutrality are an-

oilier matter. Admiral Sir Roger Keyes is no .jurisl, hul lie is one of the most intrepid men of action that the 1914-18 war produced, and he applauds “the Admiralty's refreshing acceptance of responsibility" as expressed in Mr Churchill's direct order

o the Cossack. .Moreover, Sir Roger Keyes holds that in international law 'a belligerent person is a free man f his captor rulers a neutral port”; for which reason the Norwegians

should be glad Iha I I lie Cossack opened their eyes. Mr Churchill’s recent broadcast emphasising the moral obligations of neutrals will be froslr in mind. These are the days when Hiller remembers that lie named and black-listed Mr Churchill, for the purpose of keeping his pet enemy out of office —hut with the opposite result. —Evening Post.