ATHENIA SINKING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21922, 17 January 1946, Page 5

ATHENIA SINKING

DECEIT ADMIRALS ON TRIAL GERMAN WITNESS CURSED NUREMBERG, Jan. 15 The former commander of the German Navy, Admiral Doenitz, cursed a witness, Lieut.-Com-mander Karl Moehle, who commanded the Fifth U-boat Flotilla, when Moehc told the war crimes tribunal lie did not want to bo blamed for Doenitz’s order to shoot up lifeboats. Moehle, who sank 20 Allied ships during the war told the court: “When I was taken prisoner it was claimed that I was the author of tnese orders. I am here because I do nut want this charge connected with my name.' Moehle admitted passing on Doenitz’s orders to other U-boat commanders. but he claimed he did so reluctantly although he never rescued any survivors from the ships he sank. Instrument for Hitler The British assistant prosecutor, Mr. Elwyn Jones, opened the case against Admiral Raeder. He contended that Raeder’s principal contribution to the conspiracy to wage war was the building of *the navy as a formidable instrument to implement Hitler’s general plan of aggression. The prosecution introduced as evidence the minutes of the meeting on February 1945, at which Hitler considered whether Germany should renounce the Geneva convention. Raeder recommended that from a military standpoint the step was unnecessary, and that it would be better to carry out the measures necessary without warning and, at all costs, save face with the world. General Jodi concurred. Deceit on Grand Scale The prosecutor said that Raeder, in handling the Athenia case, showed himself a master of the most typical of conspirators' technique—that of deceit on a grand scale. The Nazi propagandists tried to shift the blame on to the British, alleging that three British destroyers sank the ship. The German Navy falsified its records and logbook in the hope of hiding the terrible secret. The commanding officer of U-boat 30 mistook the Athenia for an armed cruiser. Realising his error he made every effort to conceal the fact of the sinking and made no entry in the logbook and required the crew to swear to an oath of secrecy.

The prosecutor said the most elaborate forgery in the Athenia sinking was in the U-boat 30’s logbook, the first page of which showed she left Wilhelmshaven for her “waiting position” on August 22 —13 days before Britain declared war. This page was a clear substitute for several pages which ha'd been removed and all reference to the action on September 3 was omitted. Entries as to the U-boat’s position were made to suggest that the craft was well clear of the Athenia’s position on the evening of September 3. The prosecutor declared that t?.e whole Athenia story established that the German Navy under Raeder, embarked on a deliberate fraud. An affidavit from a member of the crew of U3O, Adolf Schmidt, was submitted to the court. It stated:. “After the ship was torpedoed and we resurfaced, Commander Lemp called me to the conning tower and showed me the ship which was listing. There was no warning shot before the torpedo was fired. Forced to Oath of Secrecy “Eleven days later the commander approached me and showed me a paper which he read: “I, the undersigned. swear that I shall shroud in secrecy all the happenings aboard the U-30 on September 3. 1939, and erase from my memory all the happenings on this day.” Schmidt signed the oath. Doenitz, in an affidavit read in court, said the commander of the U-30. when he returned to Wilhelmshaven, told him he thought he had sunk the Athenia. "I formed the impression that he had not taken sufficient precaution fully to identify the ship before attacking it and, therefore, placed him under cabin arrest,” added Doenitz’s affidavit. “The commander was not court-martialled because the Naval High Command was satisfied that he acted in good faith.”