POISON GAS LIE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20075, 23 October 1939, Page 9

POISON GAS LIE

NAZI REPETITION ALLEGED POLISH DUMPS BRITAIN DENIES SUPPLY CHARGES UNSUPPORTED (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Roc. 9 a.m. RUGBY, Oct. 20. Copies have reached London of the pamphlet circulated by Germany in neutral countries, repeating the baseless charge that Britain supplied Poland with the poison gas for use in the war.

According to the German story, on the evening of September 8, a company of German sappers were removing barricades at a bridge on the outskirts of Jaslo in Galicia. An explosion is said to have occurred resulting in four sappers dying and 10 being injured—their death and injuries being attributed to mustard gas.

On October 12 the Germans issued a statement that the poison gas, which they claimed had been used by the Poles, had been supplied by Britain. This charge was immediately categorically denied by Britain, which stated on the evening of October 12: “No gas in any form whatsoever had been supplied at any time to Poland by Britain.’’

Repeated Denial,

Notwithstanding the denial, the German official wireless station continued to broadcast this lie. The British denial was accordingly repeated in identical terms on October 15. This German fabrication continues to be maliciously disseminated by wireless and pamphlet.

The Germans say that on September 23, after the capture of Oxhoeft, near the Gdynia ammunition dump, they discovered a store containing a considerable quantity of rfiines, each holding 221bs. of mustard gas. Subsequently, they claim, in an arsenal near Gdynia, “in which deliveries of ammunition by Britain shortly before the war were stored, several thousand mustard gas mines were found among the war material supplied by Britain.” The Germans, in recent broadcasts, make the further claim that they have found in various parts of Poland, depots of mustard gas mines marked on the bills of lading showing that they emanated from the store near Oxhoeft. None At Any Time. The War Office, with a full knowledge of the facts, once more repeats that no gas mines were shipped from Britain "to Gdynia at any time. Though the German wireless station on September 16 announced that German sappers had been .killed or wounded by poison gas on September 8, and though the discovery of the gas dump at Oxhoeft was said to have been made on September 23, it was not until October 12 that the accusation was made that gas had been 'supplied by Britain. Though a Swiss doctor and an American journalist testified as having seen German soldiers in hospital in Galicia suffering from poison gas, there is no testimony whatever supporting tlie alleged discovery of a dump or dumps near Gdynia.