HESS WENT TO SCOTLAND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 119, 20 June 1941, Page 4

HESS WENT TO SCOTLAND

RUDOLF HESS, according to the Lord Provost of Scotland, flew from Augsberg to Scotland for the purpose of 'having a talk on peace proposals with a certain group. ' That is the genuine truth. I understand that Hess was quite annoyed because he was taken prisoner, adds the. Lord Provost. With every respect to this high municipal dignitary of Scotland, his explanation is too romantic to be accepted without further confirmation. Hess commenced his flight from Augsberg, which is in Bavaria, so he was compelled to fly for the greater part of his journey over German territory. The flight was a long one, extending some 800 miles, and Hess is reported to have claimed he affixed an auxiliary fuel tank to his machine, this tank being jettisoned while crossing the North Sea. Hess left no word behind him providing an explanation of his conducts and so the authorities were at first unaware of what had happened to him, and at all times knew nothing concerning his motives for making this remarkable trip. So bewildered were the German authorities that they had to fall back on the outworn explanation that Hess was suffering from a mental and nervous breakdown. Had Hess not been acting under difficulties he would have chosen a more suitable airfield than Augsberg from which to commence his hazardous flight, and he would have left behind him some evidence of the bona fides of his intention, that is, from the Nazi Party standpoint. Such evidence would have enabled him to return to the Reich, were he so minded, without being suspected of treasonable behaviour and would have enabled the Nazi propagandists to have handled the situation with some measure of sureness. As it was the Reich authorities were unsure of themselves and did not know what to say to explain the flight away. While it is still a mystery why Helss flew away from Germany, it is clear that he did so secretly, thereby breaking the cardinal principle of Nazi faith, which is implicit obedience to the Leader of the Reich