GERMAN ACTION SCORNED

Southland Times, Issue 24004, 20 December 1939, Page 7

GERMAN ACTION SCORNED

REFUSAL TO FIGHT TO DEATH BROADCAST ADDRESS BY MR CHURCHILL RENOWN AND ARK ROYAL 1000 MILES AWAY (British Official Wireless) (Received December 19, 6.30 p.m.) RUGBY, December 18. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr Winston Churchill, in a broadcast address scornfully referring to the Admiral Graf Spee’s disregard of the honourable course of fighting to the death, revealed that the only ships awaiting her were the Ajax, the Achilles and the eight-inch gun Cumberland, which replaced the Exeter. The Ajax had two of her < four turrets knocked out. The Admiral Graf Spee knew that the Renown and Ark Royal were 1000 miles away when she sailed from Montevideo. There was no harm in admitting now that the Exeter bore up against from 40 to 50 hits, many of which were from shells thrice the weight she could fire, said Mr Churchill. Three of her eightinch guns were smashed and she suffered nearly 100 casualties, mostly killed. Nevertheless, she remained on guard outside Montevideo until the Cumberland arrived. Mr Churchill paid a high tribute to the fighting of the Exeter, Ajax and Achilles—to find any more brilliant or

resolute than which it would be necessary to go back a long away in naval history. Mr Churchill said that the submarines of the Royal Navy had had the best week he could remember in this or the last war. “British submarines suffer from the serious disadvantage of having very few targets to attack,” he said. “They are not allowed by the custom of the sea and by the conventions. to which we have subscribed to sink merchant ships without warning or without being able to provide for the safety of the crews. They do not wage war on humble vessels. They do not attack humble fishing boats. They have worked for the most part among minefields and in strongly defended sectors of the Heligoland bight. It is only when German warships are sighted that they are able to use their power and skill. But the German warships do not venture out of port.” The First Lord of the Admiralty then referred to the exploits of the submarine Salmon and described them as “remarkable and praiseworthy in the highest degree.” “Now today the submarine Ursula reports that on December 14 she sank a cruiser of the Koln class, carrying nine 5.9-inch guns, although she was supported by no fewer than six German destroyers.” Mr Churchill revealed that a considerable proportion of Germany’s naval strength had been put of action in the past week. He said that, despite the mines surrounding Britain, the First Division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, escorted by the main fleet, had smoothly sailed into one of Britain’s harbours yesterday. His broadcast coincided with an almost hysterical outburst of the unjustifiable claims by Germany that the Nazi Air Force had proved supreme in largescale attacks on British naval patrols in the North Sea and in a major air battle off the Heligoland Bight. Referring to the cruisers engaged by the British submarine Salmon, Mi Churchill said that the cruisers possibly were able to reach home, but it was by no means certain in the case of one of them. “Both,” he said, “will be out of action for months. Meanwhile, the entire German fleet abandoned whatever enterprise it had in mind.” GERMAN LOSSES Continuing, Mr Churchill said: “A considerable proportion of the total German cruiser strength been sunk or put out of action in a single week—the same week in which the Admiral Graf Spee met an inglorious end. The Nazi Navy and Air Force are venting their spleen by redoubling their efforts at sinking fishing smacks and drowning fishermen in the North Sea yesterday. Today their Air Force tried to bomb unarmed merchantmen, including Italian, even machine-gunning tht. sailors on the decks. I am glad to tell you that the heat of their fury far exceeded the accuracy of their aim. Of 24 ships bombed only six small boats engaged in fishing and one coasting vessel were sunk and the bulk were not even hit by the many bombs aimed at them. These outrages are the tactics of a guilty regime feeling the long arm of a sea power upon its shoulders. Despite the German mines around Britain, the whole vast movement of British traffic is proceeding without interruption.” In a tribute to Admiral Sir Charles Forbes, in command of the Main Fleet, Mr Churchill said that the Main Fleet had been more days at sea since the outbreak than ever would be required in any equal period of modern naval warfare.