HEAVY LOSSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24255, 25 March 1940, Page 7

HEAVY LOSSES

NEUTRAL SHIPS SEVEN IN TWO DAYS SCANDINAVIANS SUFFER NORWAY RENEWS PROTEST (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) ■ LONDON. Mar. 22. (Received Mar. 23, at 6.30 p.m.) ' Germany’s sea war has cost tile Scandinavian States' seven merchantmen and nearly 100 lives in the past two days. None of the ships was sunk, in convoy, The Norwegian Foreign Minister (Professor H. Koht) has again protested to Berlin. Denmark, the ' principal sufferer, lost six ships and 83 men. The public was dumbfounded as the news of one loss after another was given out;: Denmark’s losses since the outbreak of the war total 31 ships arid 334 men, and five trawlers and 30 men. Sunk without Warning ' The Danish steamer Charkov (1026 tons) was sunk off the east coast of Scotland. A Taft from the ship" was found off the Scottish coast. There was one; body on it, and there is no trace of the rest of the crew. U-boats also sank without warning the Danish steamer Christiansborg (3270 tons) and the Danish ship Svinta (1267 tons). A German plane bombed the Norwegian Torra Elise (721 tons) in convoy , off the Scottish coast on March 20 and killed three members of the crew. The ship put into a north-east coast port. The captain and one member of the crew were injured. . The Aberdeen trawler Star of Peace reported that she believed a trawler destroyed or badly, damaged a U-boat in the North Sea yesterday. The trawler bumped oyer a metal object and lurched four times. She circled the spot, but there were no signs of wreckage. German Claims A Berlin communique claims that the activities, of the naval forces against merchant shipping continue to be successful. They have sunk 32,694 tons of enemy shipping and shipping useful to the enemy during the past three days; •;