WAR SENSATION: HESS DESERTS NAZI PARTY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24606, 14 May 1941, Page 7

WAR SENSATION: HESS DESERTS NAZI PARTY

DEFIANCE OF ORDERS CRASH LANDING IN SCOTLAND BLOW TO GERMAN PRESTIGE (United Press Association) .""''■'■.■ (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Rec. 11p.m.) LONDON, May 13. One of the most sensational developments of the war was revealed in an announcement made yesterday from No'. 10 Downing street stating that Rudolf Hess, who has been Hitler's right-hand man since the earliest days of the Nazi Party 18 years ago, had landed in Scotland. It was disclosed in London that Hess flew to Britain in defiance of Nazi orders and that he brought no message. His dramatic hop was made to escape from his country. - The Berlin radio, after long silence on the point, later admitted that Hess had landed in Scotland, and it gave as an explanation that he thought he could come to terms with Britain. It is presumed in London, however, that his flight was the sequel to a series of disagreements with other leading Nazis. It is explained that Hess chose to come to Britain because if he had gone to a neutral country he would have placed himself in imminent peril of death at the hands of Nazi agents. He was removed to-day from ;.'•„ >;the hospital at Glasgow, to which he was first taken, to a secret retreat. be treated as a Prisoner of war. The Berlin authorities have been trying to explain his flight by hinting that he is mentally unsound, but an examination by British M -doctors to-day showed that he was sane and in perfect health. The fanescape to this country has been revealed in a ■:l • S of dramatic r^-:-^/,%e: -tS :: announcement from No 10 Downing street is as follows: '}"Rudolph Hess has landed in Scotland in the following circumstances:—On the night of Satur,r diy, May 10, a Messerschmitt 110 was reported by our patrols to have crossed the coast of Scot--7 = ..- ] an( 3 and to be flying in the direction of Glasgow. Since a Messerschmitt 110 would not have fuel to return to Germany, this report was at first disbelieved. Later on, however, a. Messerschmitt 110 crashed near Glasgow with its guns unloaded. Shortly afterwards a German officer who had baled out was found Avith his parachute in the neighbourhood, suffering from a broken ankle. He was taken to hospital in Glasgow, where he at first :./gave-his name as Hornj but later on declared that he was Hess. He brought with him various photographs of himself at different ages, apparently in order to establish his identity. These photographs were deemed to be photographs of Hess by several people who knew him personally. Accordingly an officer of the Foreign Office closely acquainted with Hess before the war has been sent by aeroplane to. see him in hospital." Frank bewilderment is expressed here at the terms of a German broadcast giving an ac.count of the strange disappearance of Hess and a presumed aeroplane accident. The Deutschlandsender station, broadcasting in German for Germans, said: " Party authorities stated that party member Hess, who had been expressly forbidden by the Fuhrer to use an aeroplane because of a disease which has been progressive for years, in contradiction of this order had been able to get hold of a plane recently. Hess. started on Saturday/May 10, at about (5 p.m. from Augsburg on a flight from which he has not. returned up to now. A letter which he left . unfortunately showed in its confusion traces of mental disturbance, which justifies the fear that Hess was the victim of hallucinations. The Fuhrer at once ordered the arrest of the adjutants of Hess, who alone knew of Hess's flight, and in contradiction of the Fuhrer's ban, of which they were aware, did not prevent the flight nor report it at once. The National Socialist Movement unfortunately under these circumstances assumed that Hess crashed or met with a similar accident. LURID LIGHT ON NAZI REGIME The facts.that a deputy specially chosen by Hitler should be suffering from "a disease which has been progressive for years," that he should be watched by "adjutants," and should justify the fear that he was the "victim of hallucinations," seem to throw a lurid light on the Nazi regime, " even," .as one commentator phrased it, "to the presumption that Hess's hallucination might have taken the form that Germany could not win the war." , : ;...".•"..':'■.''-'" Rumours were circulating in London that Hess had brought peace proposals, but not with Hitler's backing. It is.suggested that there is a cleavage in the German Cabinet with Hess representing one faction. Hess's flight must have tremendous repercussions in Germany, where he is not only powerful but immensely popular. Berlin's attempt to anticipate the news by alleging mental disorder does not hold water. •■ ■:-' The Daily Telegraph says that Hess was considered sufficiently sane to make one of the-principal speeches ! as April 20. Hess's last public address was 7 at a Messerschmitt aeroplane factory at Augsburg on May 1, when he paid a tribute to German industrial leaders and workers. V There is every reason for concluding that the flight was deliberate," says the Press Association, "and significantly Hess chose an aeroplane which would not carry enough petrol to take him back. It requires all one's faculties to fly a fast fighter, and hallucinations are not associated with piloting such a machine. The possession of photographs for identity purposes also indicates that Hess ; knew what he was doing and where he was going. It does not require much imagination to picture the tremendous problems and embarrassment now besetting the Nazi hierarchy with so close a confidant of Hitler as Hess in Britain. If the assumption that the flight was deliberate is correct, and it fits, all the known facts, then," says the Press Association, "it indicates a grave crack in the Nazi regime." There is no reference anywhere to Hess having a companion, and there is also some mystery concerning the point of departure. If it was Augsburg the flight to Scotland would be over 700 miles, which is beyond the reported range of a Messerschmitt 110. PLOUGHMAN'S STORY OF LANDING Hess landed on the Duke of Hamilton's estate, at Strathaven, Lanarkshire. A ploughman, .-- David McLean, found him,lying injured in a field and assisted him to a house, where he talked to mother and sister for nearly an hour until he was taken away by officials. *' £ : " I was in the house," said McLean, " when 1 heard a plane roaring overhead. I then heard a crash and saw the plane in flames in a field 200 yards away. I grabbed a hay fork, hurried to the scene, and saw a man lying in the field with a parachute nearby. He smiled as I assisted him to his feet and thanked me. I could see he had injured a foot, so I helped him to the house. ..:.,<- .".Word was immediately sent to the authorities. The airman told us he left Germany four hburs previously and landed because nightfall was approaching. He said he was unable to find a suitable landing ground, so he stalled the machine over open country and jumped out. I could see from the way he spoke that he was a man of culture. His English was very clear, and 'le understood all we said to him. He wore a magnificent flying suit, a gold watch and a gold identity bracelet. '<»<-- "He did not discuss the journey, and seemed most confident that he would be well treated. His only anxiety was for the. parachute, saying, 'I should like.to keep it, .for I think I. owe my -■life to it.' He would not tell us who he was. We assumed that he was just another German /airman. When officials arrived he •smiled and held out his arms, at the same time assuring them that he was unarmed."