GERMAN RAIDER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21922, 17 January 1946, Page 3

GERMAN RAIDER

STORY OF LONG CRUISE OPERATIONS IN PACIFIC The German raider Orion, which sank 10 Allied vessels in the South Pacific in 1940, sailed 112.000 miles on a voyage that lasted 17 months, according to a German national magazine. A copy of the magazine was brought home recently on the Mooltan by Gunner H. R. McEvoy, of Wood street, Ponsonby, who obtained it about 18 months ago while a prisoner of war in Germany. An armed merchant cruiser equipped with a seaplane, the Orion sank several vessels engaged in the New Zealand trade not far from the coast of the Dominion. The ships sunk were the Holmwood, Rangitane, Triaster, Triadic, Triano. Komata, Ringwood, Tropic Sea, Nolou and Turakina. The raider also laid mines in the sea lanes. Captain Wcythcr, aged 42, was master of the Orion on the long cruise. It is believed ill at the ship sailed round the north o£ Russia at the most favourable lime of tile year and entered the Pacific through Bering Strait. The magazine article claims that the raider acted strictly within the bounds of the international laws governing maritime warfare. German resourcefulness foresaw everything that would be required on the voyage—except the provision of Iron Crosses for members of the crew who distinguished themselves. However a caption to a picture in the magazine states that the Germans solved this problem by making the medals on board the ship. Captain Weyther was awarded the highest order of the Iron Cross when the ship returned to Germany.