GERMAN HOAX

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21193, 16 August 1940, Page 5

GERMAN HOAX

PARACHUTES IN BRITAIN

EFFORT TO CAUSE PANIC THREAT OF INVASION (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Aug. 15 Troops on foot and in armoured cars and lorries mounting Bren guns are searching in the Midlands and Scor\and for German parachutists. Patrols and Home Guards from villages around a Midlands market town reported grey shapes floating from the sky at midnight on Tuesday. All the parachutes found were complete with harness and two were neatly folded. Church bells broke the silence of weeks as they tolled out the warning: “ Beware of parachutists.”

A Home Guard in the Midlands saw a parachute drop a few hundred feet away from him. He crawled under cover to the spot, but saw no trace of a parachutist. It is now believed the parachutes were dropped as an invasion hoax designed to cause panic. Authoritative quarters state that there is no confirmation of suggestions made in some localities that parachutists, using the word to mean enemies dropped as in Holland, have arrived. Indeed, it is pointed out that the parachutes found are not the type used by that kind of parachutist. The German radio today launched violent threats of invasion against Britain. The recent air raids were described as a necessary preliminary to invasion. “ Troops who go to England will comprise infantry, artillery and motorised units,” stated the broadcast. It derided Britain’s shore defences, and recalled the uselessness of the British fortifications on the Franco-Belgian frontier. Effort to Affect Morale It is understood in authoritative quarters that the dropping of a number of parachutes by enemy aircraft during the night of August 13 ’has been further investigated. A large number of parachutes were dropped in widely-separated areas. Some fell in their containers, and others landed on roof-tops or in the tops of trees. In many instances the harness had not been undone. In some places empty parachutes were seen falling and the Home Guard was on the spot ready to pick them up on landing. In addition to bags containing in.structions purporting to be operation orders, were found at least one bag dropped in a place and under circumstances which made it obvious that the Germans intended the bag to fall into the hands of the military authorities. The documents contained in these bags have been examined and clearly are not genuine instructions.

It is evident that the whole incident was organised by the Germans, partly for the purpose of spreading alarm, which it noticeably failed to do, and partly as an aid to their defeatist propaganda, which they have for a long time been attempting to carry out in this country by wireless and other means.

If any further evidence of this was needed is to be found in the false account of the affair by the German broadcasting station, masquerading as a British broadcasting station, which evidently had been prepared before the incident took place. The whole incident is considered in authoritative quarters to be no more than an effort on the part of the enemy to undermine British morale, but on the contrary it has provided the outstanding proof of the vigilance and efficiency of the organisation, including the Home Guard, designed to deal with possible parachute landings. Threat by Italians A message from Rome says that the Italian Minister of State, Roberto Farinacci, writing in the Regime Fascista, stated that Britain would be starved out by blockade before the German Army struck its death-blow. He added that preparations for the final blow, in which surprise methods would be employed, had already been completed, including the transportation of specialised equipment to the coast of France. “ England is gradually being ringed,” Farinacci said. “ The isolation of this military menace is producing fatal moral and material consequences. When this process has reached the right degree a decisive operation will be unleashed with the greatest efficiency.”