U-BOAT CAMPAIGN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23954, 1 November 1939, Page 7

U-BOAT CAMPAIGN

FURTHER BRITISH VICTIMS STEAMER AND TRAWLERS All THE CREWS SAVED (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, Oct. 30. A U-boat sunk the British steamer Malabar (7976 tons) in the Atlantic. Seventy survivors landed at a West of England port. An engineer and four lascars were trapped in the engine room and died. The Hull steam trawler St. Nidan (565 tons) was sunk, believed by enemy action, while returning from the fishing .grounds. The crew of 15 was saved. The Grimsby trawler Lynx II (250 tons) was sunk in the North Sea as the result of enemy action. The crew of 10 landed in Scotland. The Lynx, which was sunk by gunfire, is the first loss of the Grimsby fishing fleet. The name of the Norwegian steamer sunk on October 20 was Varangmalm (3618 tons). It has been revealed that the Lynx II picked up members of the crew from the St. Nidan before she also was

attacked. A submarine failed to sink her with shell fire, so put a time-bomb aboard. The submarine decamped when a third trawler, the Lady Hogarth, appeared and rescued both crews from boats. THE BRITISH LOSSES WILD GERMAN CLAIMS (British Official Wireless' RUGBY, Oct. 30. .Authoritative estimates place last week’s British merchant shipping losses at 21,000 tons. The enemy shipping captured totalled some 19,500 tons. In view of the fact that British ships sail from every part of the world and the ships of the Royal Navy are incessantly patrolling trade routes, naval circles here regard these figures as highly satisfactory. The British losses suffered are still under 1 per cent, of the total incoming tonnage. •During October, and to date, Britain has lost about 65,000 tons, compared with 156,000 tons in September. The losses in these first two months of the war roughly equal the losses of one week in April, 1917. German claims regarding successes at sea grow wilder and wilder. Besides unjustifiably claiming the sinking of numerous British warships, they claim to have sunk 475,000 tons of shipping since the outbreak of the war. Even if this includes all • the neutral shipping sunk, together with the Courageous and Royal Oak, this figure is clearly a gross exaggeration. It is considered by London naval authorities that the German campaign of misrepresentation regarding the sinking of British warships has been instituted for two possible reasons — first, it is for home consumption to hearten the people, from whom the true facts can be withheld almost indefinitely; and, secondly, in order to rouse public opinion in Britain to a degree of indignation against German propaganda that will call forth from the High Command some spectacular but rash counter-move outside the sphere of correct strategy. DRIVE AGAINST U-BOATS BRITISH SUCCESSES LONDON, Oct. 30. Naval authorities state that Britain has sunk at least 14 U-boats and six were seriously damaged and probably sunk. The navy is at a great disadvantage, as German vessels are able to hug the coast of Norway to Germany inside territorial waters. THE FRENCH LOSSES VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE LONDON, Oct. 30. (Received Oct. 31, at 10 p.m.) France lost six merchantmen with a tonnage of 41,000 in me first two, months of the war, but captured four German vessels, one of which, the Halle, was sunk by her own crew. France is employing the remainder, the tonnage of which is 19,000. The French losses are 1 per cent, reduction of the total tonnage. A FINNISH VICTIM CASUALTIES NOT KNOWN LONDON. Oct. 30. (Received Oct. 31, at 10 p.m.) The Finnish ship Juno (2345 tons) sank in the North Sea after an explosion. The survivors include five stewardesses. The casualties are not known. A number of the crew were rescued, and nine are suffering from minor injuries and exhaustion. ALGERIAN’S BRAVE ACT BRITISH PILOT RESCUED (By Radio) DAVENTRY, Oct. 31. The French and British authorities are trying to discover the identity of an Algerian soldier who a few days ago rescued a British pilot forced down in No Man’s Land. This pilot was burnt and dazed when he was brought down, but in the face of gunfire, an Algerian trooper rushed out and brought him to the safety of the lines. ARMS EMBARGO REPEAL ' HERR HITLER ANNOYED PARIS, Oct. 30. Herr Hitler was so infuriated at the repeal of the Neutrality Act that he constituted a propaganda fund to subsidise an anti-Roosevelt campaign in the United States.