ONLY REHEARSALS
NAZI ATTACKS ON SHIPPING
Berlin Promises Spring
Offensive
United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, February 6.
A German officer, according to a message from Berlin, described the raids on shipping as a general rehearsal for a spring offensive in which swarms of aeroplanes and waves of submarines will participate to end the war in a few months.
The officer added that German aeroplanes had chased away the British High Seas Fleet, and that Hull and Newcastle were now blockaded. The Germans' determination to go on disregarding humane considerations and to continue their attacks on neutral shipping is shown in a broadcast from Berlin. Neutral ships, it was stated, would have to learn that it did not pay to go into British waters.
The inconsistency of this statement was proved by the fact that the Nazis sunk a Greek steamer on its way from Greece to the United States.
The indignation of Norwegian papers has been roused by the broadcast. They point out that when trade negotiations are in progress with Germany, Norway should take a strong line and demand guarantees against attacks on her shipping.
A message from Oslo states that “Dabgladet” says: “Norwegians feel a quivering and burning wrath about the German warfare against neutral shipping. What happens is so incredibly brutal that words cannot be found for it. The foreign Office protests to Germany in much the same terms as it protests to other belligerents about holding up ships and the examination of mails but the slaughter of defenceless sailors incites us in a way which cannot be compared with the offence taken at the other encroachments.”
The tanker British Councillor was mined and sunk in the North Sea. The crew of 45 were rescued. Six were admitted to hospital. A message from Las Palmas states that a Spanish steamer landed 54 members of the crew of the British steamer Armac Star. She is not listed at Lloyds. A message from Stockholm states that Russian bombers sank the Swedish steamer Wirgo near the Aland Islands. The crew fled across the ice and refused to take refuge on a nearby island, i
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD19400208.2.61
Bibliographic details
Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21573, 8 February 1940, Page 7
Word Count
356ONLY REHEARSALS Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21573, 8 February 1940, Page 7
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