GRAF SPEE'S CREW INTERNED BY ARGENTINE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 300, 20 December 1939, Page 7

GRAF SPEE'S CREW INTERNED BY ARGENTINE

Police Action On Arrival At Buenos Aires

TIGHTENING NEUTRALITY LAW

CHIEF BLAME FOR BATTLE ON GERMANY ■Ry Telegraph—Pre-s Association Gopji.ght) Received December 19, 9.35 p.m. BUENOS AIRES. Dee. IS. With the torn and twisted wreckage of the German pocket battleship, Admiral Graf von Spee, still burning 20 hours after its scuttling and occasional explosions continuing to emphasise its melodramatic end, its weary officers and crew, surrounded bv thousands of curious spectators, learned that the fate which they had hoped to escape in Uruguay had nonetheless overtaken them the moment they reached Argentina—internment. Commander l.andgsdorti’. upon arrival with his men from the other <i<b of tie- mouth of the Plata on tug-boats and a barge, said: "I am satisfied. I saved all niy men.' Commander Langsdorff plainly showed the strain of the ordeal. The crew, mainly younsrsters I- to 21. similarly showed fatigue and tension. The maritime pohne quickly surrounded the vessels on which tin' men. who limbered JOOii. arrived. A New York message says a Foreign Office announcement conrirnieß the reports ot the internment of the Graf Spee s crew. Neutrals, studying all the technical information, believe that Commander Langsdorff"s flight to Montevideo was due to a direct hit from the Exeter's Bin. guns on the forward turret. His three eleven-inch guns were put out of commission, his gunfire control installation destroyed, all food supplies rendered unfit for consumption and finally, he believed there were large British units in the vicinity. The Washinvtoti correspondent of the New A ork Times repolls that the Paii-Ameiic.in nations are discussing the laying upon Germane of the chief blame for the battle within the neutrality zone, as the Strconshalh was sunk’ and the Formosa attacked while plying between American ports. Some, including Brazil, want to ban the refuelling of belligerent warships al Pan-American ports.

GRAF SPEES CRUISE DISGUISED AS RENOWN "WE FOOLED NOBODY." SAID COMMANDER Received Dec. 19, 9.35 p.m, BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 18. Commander Langsdorff. in an interview with the Associated Press of America, said that while preying on merchantmen he once disguised the Graf Spee as the Renown, changing the superstructure and adding a dummy funnel. He laughed ruetully "But maybe the joke was on us perhaps. We fooled nobody.” The Graf Spee was also camouflaged frequently to pass a the Deutschland or Admiral Scheer. “Once we actually passed for the Admiral Scheer." he said. Commander Langsdorft admitted that he was not short of fuel when he took refuge at ?vlontevideo. "I really had enough to reach the coast of Spain,” he added. He said the draft of the Graf Spee was 21 feet, which was more than normal, when he decided to sink her in 25 feet. "That was the only thing I to do.” he added. The New York Times Buenos Aires j correspondent says that the Graf: Spec’s young crew were convinced that only the Hood. Renow n or Re- ’■ pulse could touch their ship. They [ were tjieref >re sure sh( t be embroiled in a naval action. They j were amazed to find themselves fighting three cruisers and even more j amazed to find they were -jetting the .

FRENCH PAY TRIBUTE TO NEW ZEALAND FIRST BLOW AGAINST ENEMY i A MASTER-STROKE < <>><.RATI RATIONS COXTIM E i TO ARRIVE PARIS. Dec. IS. | Paying a triouu- to New Zea'am - ; participation in the war the news-I papei Excelsior (Paris> notes that the i cruiser H.M.S. Achilles was the only [ combatant to emerge unscathed from 1 ’he fight against the German pocket L battleship Admiral Graf Spee. “New Zealanders were determined that their first stroke should be a ; masterstroke. The British colonie j and Dominions draw - oser round the ships of the Allies.” Messages continue to arrive from all parts of the British Commonwealth of Nations congratulating the captain and crew of H.M.S. Achilles on the i pait they played. < Lord Bledisloe, a former Governor- • General of New Zealand, in a cable- , gram to Defence, Hon. F. Jones, says: "Please convey to rhe Achilles my warmest , congratulations on a magnificent cx-| x ploit. The whole Empire shares in ( the pride in New Zealand sailors.” ( Admiral E. R. Drummond, who was f formerly Commander of he New Zea- ( land Division of the Royal Navy, the t first naval member of the New Zealand Naval Board, has cabled heartiest ; congratulations to the New Zealand j Naval Division. A cable was also received from Pa\- j master-Commander E. Tottenham, former Naval Secretary with head- ~ quarters in Wellington, who expressed - his respectful congratulations (> ai! on board the Achilles.

EXETER BADLY DAMAGED ONLY THREE SHIPS WERE AWAITING GRAF SPEE Received Dec. 19. 7.30 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 18. Mi. Winston Churchill, broadcasting. scornfully referring to the Graf Spec’s disregard of an honourable course of fighting to the death, revealed that the only ships awaiting her were the Ajax, the Achilles, and the Sin. gun Cumberland, which had replaced the Exeter. The Ajax Tiad two of her four turrets knocked out and the Graf Spee knew that H.M.S. Renown and Ark Royal were 1000 miles away when she sailed from Montevideo. “There is no harm in admitting now that the Exeter hore up against 40 or 50 hits, many of which were by shells of thrice the weight she could fire,” said Mr. Churchill. “Three of her 8-inch guns were smashed and she sustained nearly 100 casualties, mostly killed. Nevertheless, she remained guarding Montevideo until the Cumberland arrived.”

HITLER’S ORDERS THE REPORT CONFIRMED NAZI LEADER ARGUED FOR HOURS BERLIN. Dec. 18. The German High Command con firms that. Herr Adolf Hitler himsel ordered the scuttling of the Admira Graf Spee and says the Uruguayai Government did not allow sufneien time to make her seaworthy. “The leader and supreme com mander of the armed forces therefore ordered the captain to blow up anc destroy the battelship outside terri torial waters,” lhe statement continued. Reuters Amsterdam correspondent says Herr Hi tier ordered lhe scuttlim of the Admiral Graf Snee only aftei many hours of arguments with nava chiefs and technical experts who in si-led that the Admiral Graf Spec must not fall into British hands, a: pocket battleships have an unusually high proportion of specially designer instruments and apparatus and z number of new secrets were added this summer. Brief German Report Only 11 lines recording the fact that the Admiral Graf Spee was blown up at Herr Hitler’s orders, appeared in the first afternoon newspaper in Berlin to-day. The evening papers carried very brief messages of the Admiral Graf Spec and the man in the street is Taff led by the news, which conflicts with the announcement of a great naval victory a few days ago. Brief radio and news agency announcements puzzle the Germans, vho are ignorant of the significance >f the event or the world-wide inter?st in it. The fact that Herr Hitler jrdered the scuttling is sufficient to •onvince many Germans that this was he best course. The average feeling is summed up n the remark of one German to the British United Press correspondent: ‘I don't understand it, but I suppose t’s all right.” Government authorities refuse to upplement the news agency's brevity: 'Nothing can be said.” “Knows She Will Lose" A Paris spokesman for the French <avy said: "Germany knows she will ose, otherwise she would have allowed he Admira! Graf Spee to be interned • claim her after the war. The slight amage .-he inflicted and the inglori-

ous end absolutely endorse the British and French policy not to build similar ships.” “Incredible." exclaimed a group of Italian naval men in Rome at mid-! night when they heard the news of the scuttling of the Admiral Graf Spee. which is regarded as proof that she is more badly damaged than Berlin admitted. Naval men consider it would have been better to intern than condemn a fine ship to an ignominous suicide without a fight.