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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23504, 15 November 1939, Page 11

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TWO GERMAN SHIPS INTERCEPTED BY NAVY CREWS TAKEN PRISONER By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received November 14, 8.50 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 14 The Admiralty announces that the Hamburg-Amerika steamer Mecklenburg, .of 7892 tons, and the Hamburg-South-Amerika steamer Parana, of 6038 tons, were sunk by gunfire from British warships. The Germans abandoned their ships. The Admiralty communique adds that the Navy intercepted the Mecklenburg and Parana. The crews abandoned their ships, leaving them in a sinking condition. The warships picked up the crews and then sank the vessels by gunfire to prevent them being a danger to navigation.

A message from Iceland says the radio picked up an S.O.S. from the Parana, which reported she had been attacked by a British destroyer.

The Berlin radio reports that German submarines off the west coast of Spain sank a British ship of 14,000 tons by gunfire. The ship was actually the 1346-ton steamer Ponzano. The German statement of the tonnage was erroneous. The three passengers and the crew were rescued by a trawler. A Japanese ship is reported to have sighted the submarine, and also intercepted an S.O.S. message stating that the ship had tried to avoid the submarine. It is authoritatively stated in London that submarines sank only the 961-ton steamer Carmarthen Coast during last week. The Paris newspaper L'Epoque says the German Navy prepared bases and stored food and fuel for raiding units at the Azores, where surveying was carried out for months under the guise of ordinary naval visits.

The Berlin morning newspapers publish a list of 34 British and French passenger ships and freighters which have been armed for defence against submarines, and declare these will be treated as warships and attacked without warning.

LOSSES AT SEA MERCHANT SINKINGS TOTAL TO DATE NOW 120 MORE GERMAN CASUALTIES Merchant shipping casualties contained in cabled advices received yesterday brought the total reported losses for the war to 120 ships, of an aggregate gross tonnage of approximately 485,000. Messages received in the past week show that Germany has lost three ships of 18,972 tons gross, while Britain has lost the same number of ships, of a total tonnage of only 10,152. There have been no French or neutral sinkings. The loss of the passenger liner Sirdhana, of the British India Company, by a mine at Singapore on Monday was a feature of the week's casualties. The Sirdhana is the second ship sunk by mining at Singapore. The first was the Norwegian motor-ship Heogh Transporter, which struck a mine at the entrance on October 3 after ignoring naval warnings and sank. Britain has now lost 58 ships. The tonnage of one is not available, but the aggregate for the remainder is 251,940. German losses specified in cabled advices comprise 15 ships. The tonnage of ships named, which does not include several unnamed vessels, is 81,000. This figure will also be increased by other sinkings. Only four named cases of scuttling have been announced by cable, but a British official message received early this month stated that the actual number was eight. Tn view of these facts, any figure at present available of German casualties and tonnage will underestimate the correct position. The other belligerent Power' to lose ships is France, with six sinkings aggregating 44,846 tons gross.

NEUTRAL VESSELS OVER 80,000 TONS SUNK (Received November 14, 7.30 p.m.) British Wireless LONDON, Nov. 13 Neutral countries to date have lost over 80,000 tons of shipping. The heaviest losers have been Norwegian shipowners, with nine vessels of an aggregate of 20,000 tons; Greece has lost four vessels, totalling 19,455 tons; Denmark, three, 12,558 tons; Sweden, seven, 11,110 tons; Finland, five, 8746 tons; Belgium, two, 8202 tons; the Netherlands, two, 8387 tons.

POST FOR LITVINOFF FOREIGN AFFAIRS BUREAU COMMUNIST PARTY EXECUTIVE MOSCOW, Nor. 13 The former Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, M. Litvinoff, has been appointed Chief of the Foreign Affairs Information Bureau of the Central Executive of the Communist Party.

INDUSTRIAL TRUCE BRITISH COAL MINERS LONDON, Nov. 14 Representatives of miners and coal owners meeting nt Manchester decided that there will be no strikes and lockouts in the Lancashire and Cheshire areas during the Avar and for six mouths afterward.

CZECH FACTORIES IDLE SHORTAGE OF MATERIALS (Received November 14, ,9.30 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 14 The Paris radio says that 6000 workers in the tcxtilo and rubber factories in Bohemia and ■> Moravia have been rendered idle and the factories are closing down owing to a shortage of raw materials.

By special arrangement Router's world service, in addition no other special sources 0/ information, is used in tho compilation of the oversea intelligence published in this issue, nnd all rights therein in Australia and New Zealand are reserved. Such of the cable news on this page as Is so headed has appeared in the Times and is cabled to Australia and New Zealand by special permission. It should be understood that the opinions are not those of tho lime« unless expressly stated to be so.