BRITISH DIPLOMAT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20259, 29 May 1940, Page 7

BRITISH DIPLOMAT

PRISONER OF NAZIS MINISTER IN DENMARK LONDON, April 12. The rapidity of the Nazi invasion of Denmark inevitably resulted in Mr. Howard Smith, C.M.'G. British Minister in Copenhagen, and members of his staff being made prisoners by the Germans. It was surmised in London that they had no time to leave Denmark before Copenhagen was occupied. To make a Minister prisoner is a breach of international custom. It is thought, however, that Mr. Froward Smith and his staff may be released later. It is also believed that they are not likely to be interned. Enemy diplomats under international diplomatic procedure are usuallv allowed to go free. In the case of Mr. Gordon Vereker, who was captured in the Baltic, the German authorities behaved correctly in releasing him. “More important to a diplomat than any such personal question is the necessity for seeing that no confidential documents fall into the hands of the enemv,” said “Peterborough,” in the Daily Telegraph. “Apart from the files of despatches, the lists of contacts and the code books are of vital importance. “Should the key to a cipher—which looks like a numerical diet-, ionary—fall into enemy hands the whole cipher must toe scrapped and a new one made. This posts from £4OO to £BOO. Most of the diplomatic missions possess several ciphers. “It is therefore of the utmost importance that all these documents should be burnt at the first serious threat of danger. It is a ticklish problem for even the most dkperienced diplomat to decide ‘when or not to burn.’ In the old days of slow-moving armies it was easier. “Today, with early morning Blitzkriegs, it is less simple. _ If the responsible diplomat burns his papers on what proves to be a false alarm he will have ‘blinded the eyes’ of his mission and wasted public money —the bugbear of the civil, servant. If he does not burn his papers in time he may allow valuable secrets to fall into the hands of the enemy.” It is believed that Mr. Howard Smith was able to destroy all the legation papers before the Nazis reached Copenhagen. He has been British Minister to Denmark since October, 1939.