HESS EPISODE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 141, 16 May 1941, Page 5

HESS EPISODE

RELEASE OF NEWS

PREMIER EXPLAINS DELAY (United Press Association.—Copyright) (Rec. 12 noon) RUGBY, May 15. (British Official Wireless.)

Questions were' addressed to Mr Churchill in the House of Commons regarding Rudolph Hess and, replying'to a question as to why the Minister of Information did not take steps to anticipate the Gorman broadcast alleging that Hess was insane, the Premier said : It may be as well that Hie Minister of Information did not do so, as the suggestion lias since been refuted.

Replying to further suggestions that it was unfortunate that 48 hours were allowed to elapse before the news was given and the Germans wore thus allowed time to publish their versionMr Churchill said it was not unfortunate, but if it had been it would have been unavoidable. Wc had established that a man had landed, but we only had evidence which, wliilo il was most interesting could not be considered concl usivc.

"I immediately sent up an official who knew the Deputy-Fuehrer and who spoke, to him in good German, in fluent German." Mr Churchill added. "While that was proceeding, the German announcement came out about the insanity of Hess and his flight. By that time what had hitherto been surmise' emerged into definite certainty.

STRONG BRITISH BROADCASTS LONDON, May 15. British propaganda broadcasts to Germany, which have been almost continuous since Hess's arrival, took on a sharper tone yesterday. This is what the Germans are being told: "We always knew your gang was a pretty rotten crew, corrupt and without solidarity. What has happened has confirmed our view. We arc very glad to have your number three in our hands, but we are not being fooled into relaxing our bombing or the war effort generally. The German war machine has got to be smashed. We are treating Hcss merely as a Nazi who saw the writing on the wall and got out while the going wa.s good. Hess knows what Germany's capacity is. He knows Hitler's plans. If you knew as much as Hcss you would probably also get out if you could.'' A 8.8. C. official said that all this and much more is being hammered home to the Germans 10 times a day. "We arc giving the Germans every fact we have, because we know t»hey will be listening," he said. I

THE FIRST SYMPTOM

NAZI PARTY DISINTEGRATION. 1 (British Official Wireless.) RUGI3Y, May 14. The Times, in a leading article, says that out of the group which has sur-1 rounded Hitler, Hess is perhaps the i only one whose loyalty to Hitler was, unalloyed by any suspicion of self- J seeking and into wdiose relations with the Fuehrer an element of personal devotion appeared to enter. But the; precedent of June 30, 1934. showed that no friend, however intimate, would be j spared once he had been frank enough; to criticise or oppose the supreme will! of the Fuehrer. | "The assassination of Roehm and the gratuitous thoroughness with which his memory was besmirched has left aj lasting scar even on the by no means delicate susceptibilities of the Nazi/ leaders, and such a blow to their per- J sonal confidence could hardly be retrievable," the newspaper says. "They; were taught a lesson from which Hess' —one, no doubt, among many—appears to havo profited. "The rift on the surface docs not j imply that the rottenness has yet; spread through the whole structure;! but questionings will not be so easily': silenced in the ranks of the party, and j still less easily in the country as all whole. ... It would, however, be j. wholly misguided to suppose that his | flight' opens up the prospect of any' easy break in cohesion of the German 11 political machine—still less of any j I slackening of German military effi-' 1 ciencv. When the history of the war j J is written this event will be marked as i the first sympton of a cohesion that : < was sapped and a confidence mortally I i shaken."