TRAITORS TRAPPED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20385, 23 October 1940, Page 12

TRAITORS TRAPPED

BRITISH “FIFTH COLUMN” HUNDREDS IN PRISON PLOTS NIPPED IN BUD LONDON, Sept. 15. British officials are confident they have cleansed the country of “fifth columnists”—-the pernicious evil whici helped Nazi Germany beat Holland Belgium and France to their knees. There are a large, undisclosed number of potential “fifth columnists” in prison now, but authorities are no. being lulled into any false security. An army of undercover agents re mains on guard against any attempt by the subversive elements to re-form their ranks again and menace British security from the inside. The problem was a serious ana menacing one as late as three month, ago and full details of traitorous activity will not likely be disclosed until after the war. However, here arc three examples of the diversifiec forms it took: Investigators found that confidential diplomatic reports on British officia: affairs, which were being transmitter in code known only to embassies o. friendly nations, were reaching Berlin. Plot Was Uncovered The embassy in a nearby neutral country was one of the relay point:, for the diplomatic reports. At leas, two men, one of whom was connecter with the embassy of a friendly power, are now in gaol as a result of the plot A neat trick to direct enemy plane: to a munition factory was discoverer by the vigilant Royal Air Force. Rec tile roofs put on a row of houses purchased in the first month of the wa. by a reputed Netherlands concern were pleasing and innocent looking tc civilians’ eyes. But Royal Air Force officers discovered that they formed a mammoth red arrow, visible from the air, pointing towards a munitions plant. Officials knew that for a short time Germans were aware of signals used by British planes to identify themselves as they passed over the home coast. Knowing these signals, enemy bombers might have been able to fly inland to their target without being molested by anti-aircraft fire or Royal Air Force fighter hornets. It soon was discovered that a few persons on the ground were signalling the British code to Nazi airmen with coloured lights. Such signallers now get their mail in gaol, and it is believed “lift! columnists” now at large are “small fry.” Chain Writers Included Among them are distributors ot chain letters which asked people tc “Join the peace chain. Revolt againsi Mr. Churchill and save Britain from destruction. If you want to stop the war, copy this without your name and post it to six people.” Other small fry traitors try to strike up conversations with strangers in' hotels or parks and sow the seeds ol Nazi propaganda. They use such ridiculous arguments that Hitler’s humanitarianism is shown by the fact that Germans machine-gunned women and children and other refugees in France and elsewhere in an effort tc end the war quickly. They insist that the massacre of refugees did not cause as many deaths as would be caused in a war lasting as long as the first Great War. Purveyors of such buncombe usually collect a bloody nose.