GERMAN THREAT TO BRITAIN

Southland Times, Issue 24055, 20 February 1940, Page 5

GERMAN THREAT TO BRITAIN

The German Press and radio take up the cry “a protest is not enough and threaten Britain with the worst possible disasters as reprisals They declare: “No State is neutral which tolerates such a monstrous crime. A quick decision is necessary; delay is dangerous. Norway must repair the damage done.” Field-Marshal Goering s Essener National Zeitung says: “Even after such an incident a neutral can take effective steps to obtain satisfaction, but Norway is not neutral if she disposes of such a crime with a lame protest. CONCEALED GUNS Evidence, in the meantime, piles up that the Altmarck was by no means a peaceful merchantman. A member of the Tairoa’s crew said that a friendly German unlashed the hatch when the British warships appeared and an officer on the bridge shot him. He added: "There is no doubt that the Altmarck was built specially as a naval supply ship. She had collapsible munition racks and could easily have carried two years’ stores.” A New Zealander, William Wheeler, R.N.V.R., a gunner on the Doric Star, said: “There were small guns on. the bridge and plenty of rifles and machine-

guns about. On one occasion a wooden screen accidentally fell, revealing a muzzle of an unsuspected gun. We realized it would be hopeless to attempt to rush the bridge as we would be shot down without trouble.” Another member of the crew said that there were no lower decks on the Altmarck, the whole carrying space being ammunition tanks. A member of the crew of the Tairoa said: "It is absolutely untrue that the ship was searched at Bergen." Other rescued seamen declared that they put out the Red Ensign from a porthole during the stay in Bergen and created such a terrific din that it was incredible that they were not heard. It is revealed that “ a tall young officer with a ready smile” led the boarding party on the Altmarck. He leapt from H.M.S. Cossack waving a revolver and shouting “Come on, follow me.” Sailors clambered aboard, and then 30 members of the Admiral Graf Spee’s crew, who had been guarding the prisoners jumped overboard, scrambled to high rocks and began shooting blindly in the direction of the British boarding party. They hit one man in the shoulder. It was then that the British fired in retaliation, killing and wounding several.