NET DRAWING CLOSER ROUND NAZI RAIDERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 289, 7 December 1939, Page 7

NET DRAWING CLOSER ROUND NAZI RAIDERS

PATROLS STRUNG OUT FROM ARCTIC TO SOUTHERN POLAR WATERS

NO FURTHER NEWS OF DORIC SI AR AND HER CREW

■ By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright I Received Dec. 6, 9.50 p.m. LONDON. Dtc. 5. Swift, heavily-armed British naval patrols are strung out from the Arctic Seas across the Atlantic to the fringe of the southern Polar waters and eastward to the Indian Ocean, drawing- the net closer round the German raiders, who are getting hard-pressed for an overhaul and adequate refuelling facilities, and face the severity of the advancing winter. The Dominion navies are assisting- in sweeping the seas from the African coast to the Pacific. A summary of flic latest report confirms that the pocketbattleship Deutschland lately has been operating in the northern seas, while the Admiral Scheer is in the Eastern Atlantic in the vicinity of the “deep water route” to Australia. It, is unlikely that the raiders have materially changed their zone of operations during the past few days, owing to the importance of conserving fuel and the necessity for making wide sweeps from normal waters to avoid the British hunters. The Daily Telegraph’s Capetown correspondent says there is no further news of the Dorie Star or the 61 members of her crew. It is believed she was sunk on December 2, 400 miles west of Walvis Bay. The Times’ Durban correspondent says lhe officers of the Africa Shell are Under strictest orders not to disclose the identity of raiders or the waters in which the attack oe< urred. The chief officer, Mr. Frank Masefield, detailing the attack, said: “The raiders appeared with surprising speed, tired a warning shot from three miles, swung broadside on, and lowered a boat half a mile away. The boarding party wore lifebelts and were a nondescript crowd, clad in white and blue oilskins and boilersuits. No names were on their caps. The officer spoke perfect English and ordered us to the boats. The Germans placed bombs in the ship and departed at 12.30 p.m. The foredeck blew up at 12.40 p.m., and the engineroom al 12.55 p.m. The funnel was blown into the air and there was wreckage everywhere, Our two boats were beached and we encamped near native fires. A mailplane trying over dropped a message attached to a spanner, but, it dropped into lhe sea. We swam out, but could not find it. Then we walked 25 miles io Zavora Point lighthouse and got a rescue party.” An Amsterdam message says that the Tclegraaf announces that lhe Admiral Scheer stopped the Mapia south of Madagascar on November ,16 but allowed her to proceed.