SHOTS AT CAR

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19777, 3 November 1938, Page 11

SHOTS AT CAR

SUDETENLAND EPISODE NEW ZEALANDER’S ORDEAL Shot at by uniformed Nazis in a small Sudetenlancl village and attacked in Prague by two Czech patriots who thought he was a German, Mr. T. Barton, a young New Zealander, who returned by the Aorangi from Sydney after working for two years in Great Britain, recently paid a visit to Czchoslovakia, that was crammed with unpleasant experiences. Mr. Barton went to the country at the invitation of several Czech friends who had been fellow students of his in England, and after spending two months there he was among those who were advised by the British Embassy to leave. He got a seat in the last train Germany allowed to run through into Austria. With several Czech friends, Mr, Barton went by motor-car one day to the village of Lientz, at that time being occupied by Germans. Almost the first thing they saw was the killing of the village postmaster, who had apparently refused to give up his office to the Nazis. He was killed with a blow from an iron stave by a uniformed Nazi right in front of Mr. Barton’s car. Later he saw two other Czechs, one the village burgomaster and the other a patriot, killed in the same manner. Camera Smashed by Nazi Mr. Barton said he had a borrowed camera with him, and he took pictures of the bodies. Soon afterward a uniformed Nazi saw him with the camera and, although he did not know what Mr. Barton had done with it, he tore it out of his hand, threw it to the ground and then jumped on it. Mr. Barton and his friends had to pay £5 each to the owner of the camera.

“We decided we had better leave the village,” said Mr. Barton, “but when we returned to the car we found all its tyres had been slashed. We walked four miles to another village to get some more tyres,, put them on, and then drove back to Prague. We heard a bit of noise when, we left, but did not think anything of it until vve found, that the Nazis had fired at least four shots at us. There were three bullets embedded in the heavy plush of the front seat, where I was sitting, and one in the back seat.” Attacked in Prague

When Mr. Barton was attacked by the two Czechs he was wearing a German felt hat and a German raincoat. It was because of this, he thinks, that the incident occurred. He was walking along one of the Prague streets when the men set on him. Mr. Barton said he was kicked heavily in the chest and suffered two cuts on the face, the scars of which he still bears, before he was able to explain to them that he was an Englishman. As soon as he had done so, they apologised profusely, called a taxi and took him back to his hotel, where they wanted to get a doctor to attend to him. To leave Czchoslovakia Mr. Barton had to pay double the normal fare. When he arrived at the station he found about 5000 people, he said, struggling madly to get into a train that could take only about 400 of them. Many of the women fainted and a number of people were, injured in the crush. Mr. Barton found an empty seat that a porter was keeping lor someone else. He had been paid the equivalent of an English £1 to do so, but Mr. Barton won the seat ty bribing him with £2. Although before he left England he had obtained return rail tickets for the whole journey, he had to pay double the usual fare to get a ticket for the train. His trails were not yet over. Because of the need for haste he had been unable to change his Czech money into English currency, and right through Austria and later in Italy he met a succession of refusals by banks to have anything to do with the Czech money, which was the only cash he had.' Consequently, he said, he had to go without food for several days.