WILL NOT BE DRAWN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20073, 20 October 1939, Page 9

WILL NOT BE DRAWN

BRITISH ADMIRALTY DISPOSITION OF FLEET FALSE' GERMAN CLAIMS (Eloc. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 9 a.m. RUGBY, Oct. 18. It is pointed out in naval circles here that the repeated German allegations of successful action against units of the British Navy, while intended to hearten neutral States’ opinion, are designed no less io elicit information on the whereabouts of vessels which have been falsely stated to have been attacked or sunk, and so satisfy the curiosity of the German naval command about the disposition of British battleships, battle-cruisers and air-craft-carriers.

This thirst for knowledge, which would be useful to the German Navy in its war upon Britain, is observed not entirely without professional sympathy by British naval men, but they have not the slightest intention of issuing it, and it is beginning to be understood by the public and the press here that this very proper determination should be taken into account in criticising the reserve shown by the Admiralty in face of repeated enemy allegations and boasts. It is realised that the Admiraltydoes not propose to be drawn into more than a bare denial of these recurrent, baseless German claims, because it knows that their real purpose is to seek to force it into a fuller substantiation of its denials. Such substantiation would at once dispose of the German stories and convince neutral nations, but whatever form it took it would risk placing in the hands of the Gerrftan Naval Intelligence the missing pieces of the jigsaw that Germany .so badly wants to complete.