TRICKING THE ENEMY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 2, 2 December 1931, Page 11

TRICKING THE ENEMY

LOSS OF THE AUDACIOUS. CONCEALING THE NEWS. How “Jacky” Fisher convinced the Germans early in the Great War that the new British battleship Audacious had not been sunk, when in fact she had, is disclosed by Mr It. D. Blunienfeld, chairman of the London Daijy Express, in “All in a Lifetime,” a new book published in London. The Audacious struck a German mine in Lough Swilly in October, 1914, but nothing was said about it in the newspapers. Mr Blumenfeld qoutes a confidential notice that was issued to the newspapers by the press censor next day earnestly requesting them to make no reference to the disaster. He then says:—“The battleship sank in full view of other vessels, among them the Atlantic liner Olympic, containing hundreds of alien passengers, some of whom took snapshots of the sinking battleship and of the rescues by other vessels. The liner was bound for New York, and in due course some of these photographs were printed in the American newspapers. In the meantime not a word was printed in Europe. The Germans knew nothing of it. The British editors who knew did not tell. Presently, by the usual Scandinavian roundabout route, the New York newspapers containing the tell-tale photographs reached the Germans', but they did not believe it. They ‘knew better,’ and this is why—because within an hour after the sinking of the Audacious, Lord Fisher at the Admiralty and Admiral Sir Percy Scott had seized the old White Star liner Majestic, lying iii Harland and Wolff’s yard at Belfast, put' 24-hour working crews in her, and in a few days transformed her upper works into an exact reproduction of the Audacious.” Mr Blumenfeld adds:-—“When _ the Germans received what they believed to be spy-produced photographs of the Audacious lying ready for deadly action at Lough Swilly they knew certainly that someone in America had been' hoaxed by the false photographs of her sinking. They did not learn the truth for many months.” The Audacious story is included in a chapter of the first part, headed

rather ironically: “The Freedom of the Press,” in which Mr Blumenfeld tells how the newspapers fared at the hands of the censor, with numerous official notices' issued by the censor warning the newspapers not to publish news which it was considered might be useful to the enemy. One of the most amusing instances is “The wail of an assistant-editor who was debarred by the censorship from telling the thrilling story of an air raid.” This is the “Wail,” written by the late Mr H. B. Tourtel, and left over by him for Mr Blumenfeld. It is dated September 9, 1915, and runs:— “We brought out the first edition under fire—Zepps all round us. The first bomb seemed to fall in St. Bride Street, but it was just behind the Old Bailey’. The sky is lurid with leaping, blazing red flame masses. Four great fires within sight of the subs.’ window. Our airplanes are up after them. We can see them clearly. And the great tragedy—we can’t print a word.”