MAN-HUNT ON

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21590, 28 November 1941, Page 6

MAN-HUNT ON

ESCAPED GERMANS PICKED MEN IN SEARCH ARMY ASSISTS POLICE FLIGHT WAS WELL PLANNED (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Friday No car has been reported stolen from the Petone area, but there are indications that one or more of the three German escapees from Somes Island might have got clear of the district by train, and the country for a radius of 100 miles is being subjected to an intensive search by bands of picked men. In districts which do not come under the direct control of the Wellington authorities, the police and others have been sent descriptions of the men and are carrying out inquiries as part of a carefully prepared scheme. The police are not alone in their efforts, the army authorities having thrown numbers of men into the search and co-operated with the civil authorities in the hunt. “We expect the public to notify the nearest police station should they see anybody answering the description of these men anywhere along the highways or under suspicious circumstances,” said the Commissioner of Police, Mr D. J. Cummings, today. Recalling that two of them are of very powerful build, he added that the best plan would be to keep the men under observation until contact was made with the authorities. Description of Three The men are Hans Finke, bom about 1911, sft. 7in. in height, with dark complexion, brown hair, blue eyes, thick lips, pointed chin. Carl Oscar Schroeder, bom about 1918, 6ft. lin., fresh face, fair to reddish complexion, fair hair. Frederick George Theodor Strewe, 6ft. lin., fair complexion, fair hair, blue eyes. Finke has a scar on the right forearm and may be wearing grey or blue clothes. Schroeder is understood to be tattooed on both arms. Finke is a journalist. Schroeder, a seaman, and Strewe, a cheesemaker, lived in Auckland before they were interned and Strewe’s wife is living there. Finke is known all over New Zealand. He is a single man and has moved about a good deal. Improvised Oars The men got away in a dinghy belonging to the Agricultural Department, which retains a caretaker on the island, and used improvised oars, which had apparently had been prepared and secreted beforehand in preparation for the escape. The oars belonging to the dinghy were still safely under lock and key when the escape was discovered. The other men were locked in their compounds as usual at 9 p.m. on Wednesday. When the roll was called at 10 p.m. the names of the men now at large were answered. The compounds of all sections of the aliens on the island are surrounded by barbed wire fences Bft. high, the only unwired sections being hign locked and barred gates. The night was particularly dark and would have assisted their escape. There is evidence of most careful planning. The island is under constant patrol and lookout, and doubtless by some means or other the movements of the guards must have been closely studied.

Speak English Well All three men have been on the island several months. They speak English well and are dressed in ordinary clothes. It is probable that they have money. It is thought they may try to pass themselves off as Scandinavians. The fact of a seaman being included an the party would indicate that nothing was being left to chance in the journey across the harbour. The dinghy in which they escaped was found on a beach near the Petone woollen mills today and the improvised oars a short distance away. One of the men is a German Jew. The compounds are under constant guard and the possibility cannot be overlooked that the men were actually at liberty somewhere on the island before the compounds were locked and that their names were answered at roll call by others. During the afternoons those interned are allc wed a good deal of liberty and there would be ample opportunity for the men to plan their escape. First Missed at Reveille Guards move round the island throughout the night. Their duty posts are connected with one another and the commandant’s quarters by telephone. The naen were first missed at reveille today, about 6 a.m. With improvised oars the trip from the island to where the dinghy was found would have taken an hour to an hour and a-half. If the men made the shore at Petone about midnight last night there would have been ample time for them to communicate with friends, if they had any, and be assisted on their way out of Wellington. Specially selected police officers, including those with knowledge of aliens, are engaged in an extensive search in the Wellington district. Police officers elsewhere, in possession of full descriptions of the men, are also on the look-out. No small craft are missing from Wellington harbour and the possibility of the men having put out to sea in a stolen craft has been disposed of.