SEARCH OF ALTMARCK

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 February 1940, Page 7

SEARCH OF ALTMARCK

BRITISH NOTE TO NORWAY

PERTINENT QUESTIONS

FAILURE OF DUTY ALLEGED

[BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.]

LONDON, February 18. Britain has sent a Note to Norway demanding full particulars of the Altmarch incident, and declaring that the Norwegian examination of the ship was perfunctory and that Norway has failed in her duty. The Note was delivered by the Foreign Secretary (Lord Halifax) to the Norwegian Minister in London (Mr Colban). Ater pointing out that Norway must have been fully informed of the Altmarck’s predatory career as an auxiliary of the Graf Speq, Lord Hali,fax asked: — (1) Did the Norwegians most carefully search the Altmarck when she entered Bergen? (2) How was the search carried out? (3) What did the search reveal? (4) What would the Norwegians have done if they had found prisoners? (5) If the Norwegians believed that prisoners were on board why did they not detain the Altmarck and remove the sick prisoners? (6) Why were the prisoners not released or held! pending an examination of their legal position? ? ' (7) Why did Norwegian warships \ accompany the Altmarck? Lord Halifax declared that Norway had failed in her duty as a neutral. The question of the British Navy’s infringement of territorial waters was less important than the fact that 400 British subjects were kept for many weeks in conditions not fit for a dog. The German violation of Norwegian waters and -treatment of prisoners were contrary to international law and justified the British action. Mr Colban presented the Norwegian protest against the violation of territorial waters and requested the return of the prisoners, and reserved Norwegian rights.

NORWEGIAN REPLY.

(Recd. February 20, 1 p.mj OSLO, February 19.,

M. Hambro, in an interview, said; Lord Halifax’s note is based on inaccurate information. I cannot say more until aftei’ the conference with the Foreign Ministry. NORWEGIAN DENIAL. NO CALL AT BERGEN. OSLO, February 19. M. Koht, in a statement to Parliament, said the Altmarck had’ not called at any Norwegian port. A Norwegian torpedo boat stopped her putside the Trondheim, fiord on February 14. The Altmarck’s captain awaited a formal visitation, although the Altmarck being a State vessel was not bound to submit to such procedure. (M. Koyt’s reference to a State vessel presumably means that the Altmarck was the property of the German Government). The captain of the torpedo-boat (continued M. Koht) satisfied himself the Altmarck was what it purported to be. He left the ship after a perusal of the papers. The Altmarck’s captain informed the captain of the tor-pedo-boat that the Altmarck had antiaircraft guns. The ship’s papers stated similarly. As the Bergen naval men did not think everything was properly clear, another Norwegian warship met the Altmarck northward of Bergen. The Altmarck then refused inspection“with full rights.”

M. Koht explained that the Altmarck’s captain did not use the wireless after being warned not to send messages. “The British knew beforehand what he did not know —that many prisoners were aboard.” After stating that the British attack on the Altmarck gravely concerned Norway, M. Koht referred to the Ger.man protest, and emphasised the impossibility of two small torpedo-boats opposing a strong British force. Sir W. Dormer, British Minister at Oslo, had tried to defend the British action, saying the Altmarck used wireless, and had prisoners aboard. Also, that Norway allowed U-boats to operate in Norwegian waters sinking British merchantmen. M. Koht commented there was no international rule forbidding the transport of prisoners through a neutral area, in so far as the navigation itself was not illegal. M. Koht denied the British allegations that Britishers and others had been torpedoed in Norwegian waters. He said that Lord Halifax’s belief that the Altmarck visited Bergen was untrue. Commenting on Lord Halifax’s statement that a technical infringement of Norwegian territoriality was not comparable with the fact that hundreds of prisoners were aboard the Altmarck, under conditions not fit for a dog, M. Koht declared: It appears that Britain is of the opinion she can ignore ordinary international law as well as a small State, whose

only aim is to maintain neutrality. Norway cannot base rights on power, but she believed that the big Powers, as a matter of honour, would' respect the rights of the small as well as the big States. “We may have to bring the case before the League, or other tribunal,” he said. * M. Koht concluded: “We are certain that public opinion everywhere will judge the infringement of neutrality we have endured.” M. Hambro, amid general aplause,, said that Parliament and the people backed the Government. The Altmarck continues to dominate the Norwegian, also other neutrals Press. Holland has little sympathy for Norway, but condemns the British action as a breach of neutral rights. ANTI-BRITISH STATEMENT. , LONDON, February 18. The German naval auxiliary Akmarck remains, with her stern aground, under a guard of Norwegian marines. It is not known how many members of the crew are on board, as some had gone to neighbouring towns, A doctor visited the ship Mr. .C. J. Hambro, President “of the Norwegian Parliament, in an interview, declared that the British action against the Altmarck was the mos flagrant violation of the territory pl

. any neutral in this war. He said: “It is more serious than any we have experienced from the German sea wai* ' against which united neutral action will now be postponed. We were on the eve of concluding a trade agreement with Britain, but there is reason to fear that the Cossack has obtained a result for which the German Navy has been striving in vain for months — the stopping of Norwegian ships from going to England. The discussion on British and Norwegian trade and shipping has obviously entered a new stage. No official reply to the British Note has been made in Norway, but the Norwegian newspapers all follow the lines of Mr. Hambro’s comment. In general they make no attempt to answer the charges of un-neutrality against Germany. The German press and radio take up the cry “Protest is not enough,” and threaten Britain with the worst possible disasters and reprisals. They declare: “No State is neutral which tolerates such a monstrous crime. A quick decision is necessary now. Delay is dangerous. Norway must repair the damage done.” Field-Marshal Goering’s newspaper, “Essener National Zeitung,” says: “Even aftei' such an incident a neutral can take effective steps to obtain satisfaction, but Norway is not neutral if she disposes of such a crimp with a lame protest.” The next move seems to lie with Norway, first, to reply to the British complaint, and, second, to decide the status of the Altmarck, which is aground—namely, whether she is a free merchantman or whether she can be interned as a warship. The status of the Altmarck is further complicated by the news that she was flying the German naval service flag when she entered Bergen, and for that, reason she was exempt from the usual customs examination.

DANISH ATTACK ON BRITAIN.

(Recd. February 20, 1 p.m.) COPENHAGEN, February 19.

Despite the paper shortage, several extra pages were allotted in German newspapers for the Altmarck story. The Press continues to use violent language against Britain. Conferences continue at the Chancellery, with the heads of the armed forces.

The Altmarck’s first officer alleges that prisoners and members of the boarding party stabbed and tore pictures of Hitler in the mess-rooms.

The captain denies reports of illtreatment. He declares that many of the prisoners thanked him, before leaving.

WELL-ARMED SHIP.

LONDON, February 18.

Evidence meantime piles up that the Altmarck was by no means a peaceful merchantman. A member of the Tairoa’s crew said a friendly German unlashed the hatch when the British warships appeared, and an officer oil the bridge shot him. He added that there was no doubt that the Altmarck was built specially as a naval supply ship. She had collapsible munition racks and could easily have carried two years’ stores.

A New Zealander, William Wheeler, of Dunedin, who was a Royal Naval R-eserve gunner on the Doric Star, said there were small guns on the bridge and plenty of rifles and ma-chine-guns about. On one occasion a wooden screen accidentally fell, revealing the muzzle of an unsuspected gun. “We realised,” he said, “that it would be hopeless to attempt to rush the bridge, as we would be shzit down without trouble.”

Another member of the crew said there were no lower decks on the Altmarck, the whole carrying space being devoted to ammunition and oil tanks. A member of the crew of the Tairqa said it was absolutely untrue that the ship was searched at Bergen. Other rescued seamen declared that they put out a Red Ensign from the porthole during their stay in Bergen and created such a terrific din it was incredible that they were not heard.

GERMAN ADMISSIONS'.

LONDON, February 18.

Germany has now admitted that the Altmarck was an auxiliary vessel of the German Navy, and that her crew were armed. At first the German radio maintained that the vessel was unarmed, and th'at her crew had no weapons whatever. They suppressed the fact that she was a naval vessel, and there was only the barest mention of British prisoners being on board.

The Nazi Government was evidently trying to convince the world that the Royal Navy had attacked an unarmed merchantman. A German Foreign Office spokesman has now admitted that the Altmarck was a tanker which acted as a supply ship to the pocket battleship Graf Spee. According to a British Admiralty statement, two pom-poms and four machine-guns were found on the Altmarck.

BRITISH PRESS ENTHUSIASM.

RUGBY, February 19

The whole daily Press displays the news of the rescue of 300 British merchant seamen from the German Altmarck with great prominence, and comments enthusiastically on the Navy’s action, which is universally heralded as aneminently satisfactory sequel to the victory of the River Plate, which resulted in the scuttling of the Altmarck’s mother ship. The “Manchester Guardian” says: The skill and speed and conclusiveness. of the deed, and the circumstances of the unhappy seamen —one moment’ crowded like slaves in a prison ship, humiliated and ill-fed and told they were to be marched through Berlin in triumphant procession, and the next sailing home safe in a British warship—have moved people

even more than the Graf Spee vie tory.

Referring to the legal aspect of the Altmarck case, “The Times” says: “International law does not permit a belligerent to transport his prisoners through the territory of a neutral. He cannot march them across neutral land, nor 'can he convey them into or through neutral territorial waters. If a ship carrying prisoners is taken into such waters, the law requires that the prisoners be immediately released. The first duty to release them rests upon their, captors, as was clearly recognised by Captain Langsdorff of the Graf Spee, who set free his prisoners as soon as he entered Montevideo-, harbour.

FOREIGN COMMENT.

SUPPORT FOR BRITISH ACTION.

LONDON, February 19.

There is growing support, even among neutral nations, for Britain’s action in removing the prisoners from the Altmarck. The. British case is unanimously supported in the British and French press, and three leading American newspapers have justified the action.

A prominent Netherlands jurist says the Altmarck entered Norwegian waters unlawfully, and Britain . was entitled to take steps to prevent this violation of neutrality from being continued. He does not think, however, that Britain should have removed the prisoners herself. Sweden and Denmark stand by Norway in condemning Britain’s intrusion

into neutral waters. While the United States State Department declines to comment on the Altmarqk incident as American interests are not involved all . unofficial Washington opinion agrees that Britain had tenable grounds under international law to support her action. Leading jurists declare that Norway was at fault in not determining the true status - of the Altmarck and freeing the prisoners. They cited the Appam case in 1916, in which the United States was forced to free 429 British prisoners taken to Newport News on board a liner captured by a German raider.

Mr James W. Gerrard, former United States Ambassador to Germany, said: “Just suppose the Altmarck had put into New York harbour. Would we have stood for it?” The “New York Herald-Tribune” says: “There is grim humour in Berlin’s wild cries of anger and pain and the outraged moral virtue of a nation whose governors have made brute force their deity. Relatively mildly they have the tables turned. Norway, of course, is protesting with one eye on Germany, but no one outside Germany is really profoundly shocked. Many Americans are not repressing sardonic smiles at the German outcries.” '

The “New York Times” says: “Few incidents of the war have surpassed for sheer dramatic interest the Cossack’s rescue. The Norwegians’ failure to discover the prisoners is incredible, but it is conceivable that the unhappy Norwegian Government is acting under German pressure. This is the only explanation, too, for Sweden’s refusal to allow passage for foreign troops to Finland. BOARDING OPERATION.

LONDON, February 18

It is now revealed that 25 British seamen, armed with cutlasses and revolvers, swarmed across the grapples to the Altmarck, routed the Nazi crew of more than 100, burst open the shell rooms and the oil tank, releasing 400 Britons who had been herded for months in the foullest of conditions. It is learned that Lieutenant-Com-mander Bradwell Talbot. Turner led the boarding party on the Altmarck.

RELEASED NEW ZEALANDERS.

WELLINGTON, February 19

Three Nev; Zealanders, able seamen of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve who formed the gun crew of the Doric Star, are among the British seamen rescued from the Altmarck, and are safe and well in England.

They are Messrs R. J. Craig (Auckland), G. J. Lynch (Auckland), and W. M. Wheeler (Dunedin). They are now on leave and will shortly return to New Zealand. Cable messages stating that they had arrived in England and were well vzere received to-day from all three men who were among the nine New Zealanders believed to have been imprisoned on board the Altmarck. The messages were all sent from Edinburgh. “Arrived safe and well,” or “Well, arrived in Edinburgh,” were the texts of the messages. Other messages giving similar information were received from the Admiralty. Mr J. Watt, of Massey Road, Mangere, has also received a cable message from his son, Mr J. Watt, who was refrigeration engineer in. the Doric Star. His message was sent from Leith.

FINDING THE ALTMARCK.

AIRCRAFT’S GOOD WORK.

RUGBY, February 19

when I saw they read Altmarck. Of course, we know now that the German ship reverted to her own name earlier in the week. The pilot of one of our aircraft told me afterwards that he saw the Altmarck’s name on the stern below what appeared to be the Norwegian flag. “All members- of my crew saw the word Altmarck. As we swept across the Altmarck’s decks at funnel height, I could see only one man on deck.. He was hanging over the rail as if seasick, or looking for mines. There was no other sign of life aboard, and not the slightest evidence of any alarm. No shot was fired from the Altmarck’s hidden guns, but we could guess that after our three aircraft had flashed over the ship, the German crew must have, been feeling a bit uneasy. We took note of the Altmarck’s position, and having accomplished the task of finding her, headed for home.” The three British aircraft returned safely. . FUNERAL OF GERMANS

get a broadside view of her. My heairt sank when I recognised from her ]ines ; she could not be-our quarry, but 15 seconds later I spotted something else, a grey shape with funnel aft, the dis- ( tinctive feature of the Altmark. W.e flew up to her at a thousand feet and inspected her through glassQgflß a mile range. Then we turned top of her for close inspection.

“As we dived, my eyes rivetted on the stern, .searching for the name. I saw letters about a foot high. Because of the speed at which we were diving, the letters seemed to dance in a jumble. I expected that when they could be read they would spell a Norwegian name. I could not suppress

A WHOOP OF JOY

German and foreign journalists have gone to Norway by air, to attend the funeral of the Altmarck killed, and to interview the crew.

(Recd. Feb. 20, Noon). BERLIN, February 19

A former prisoner ton the Altmarck, R. Pittam, 39, of Okaihau, who was a trimmer and fireman on the Tairoa, has arrived in London. He said: “I am going to take the first ship to New Zealand to join up with the It was hell on the Altmarck. Fortyseven of us were in a small hold. The atmosphere was terrible. Once we did not see daylight for three weeks. The food was very poor. The captain was a fiend, and would have scuttled the ship, if the Navy had seen the Altmarck at sea. Then we would have been drowned like rats in a trap. The Norwegians must have heard the noise we made at Bergen.” Pittam had a night’s sleep in hospital at Leith, and received clothes and money. “I say God bless the British Navy,” he said.

TRIMMER’S GRATITUDE

(Recd. Feb. 20, 1 p.m.). LONDON, February 19

The Prime Minister has received advice from the High Commissioner that the New Zealanders from the Altmarck have reached England, “All fit and well.”

N.Z. MAN TO BROADCAST.

WELLINGTON, February 20.

W. Wheeler, one of the New Zealanders rescued, will broadcast- tonight from Daventry, following the news report, which starts at 9 o’clock (New Zealand time).

It is now possible to give a fuller account • of the location of the Altmarck by the Royal Air Force coastal command aircraft on February 16. The leader of the formation of three aircraft, which went to find the Altmarck, said: “I was roused at 6 a.m., and in the station operations room was told a very special job was in hand. When I heard the name Altmarck, I looked in Lloyd’s, but found the name was not there. I was given a verbal picture of the ship. I was told she was a 20,000-tonner of the tanker type, and that when last seen, she was painted black with yellow or white upperworks. A distinguishing feature of the ship was that her large single fmnel was aft.. We set off for the opposite coast. Visibility was not too good, but our crews had done this journey a number of times since the war began, and there was. never any likelihood of any of us wandering from our course, or losing touch for long. It later became a beautiful day with gorgeous sunshine and Mediterranean sky. Visibility increased to over >-40 nffles. “Near the coast we found the sea frozen over. It looked like pack-ice with great tracks of clear water through it, where the ice had been broken up by currents or ships. The coast of Norway was visible more than 30 miles away. We proceeded to comb most thoroughly the area from the extreme south point of Norway, northwards. Flying well outside territorial waters, I examined every mile with binoculars, then 15 miles ahead I saw a mudge of smoke, and a minute later, a ship with a black hull and cream upperworks steaming directly towards us. We swung out slightly, to

GERMANS ON JAP. LINER.

SAN PEDRO, February 18.

Thirty German officers and seamen from the Standard oil-tanker Harry C. Seidel arrived from Valparaiso on board the Japanese liner Heiyo Maru. The'y are expected to continue to Kobe to-morrow. It is reliably stated that 10 Germans from a German freighter taking refuge on the west coast are also on board. United States naval circles are surprised in view of the undertaking given by the Japanese lines not to transport Germans of military age. The Japanese liner, Ryushin Maru. advised her owners by radio that she was returning to Japan after having been searched by a warship of unknown nationality off Mindanao Island in the Philippines.