BARBAROUS WARFARE

Evening Star, Issue 23689, 24 September 1940, Page 7

BARBAROUS WARFARE

SINKING OF EVACUATION SHIP SURVIVORS' TERRIBLE ORDEAL WHOLE WORLD SHOCKED BY FRIGHTFUL DEED Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, September 23. The attack on the evacuation liner occurred about 10.30 p.m., when most of the children wore in bed. The torpedo struck the ship in the part allotted to them, killing many outright. The remainder were bundled to the deck, scantily clothed, for an ordeal of many hours on rafts and lifeboats, 'some of which were waterlogged, with high seas raging. Many, separated from their parents and escorts, slipped to death from the arms of strangers who vainly sought to shield them from the storm. Only 13 of 102 children survived the ordeal. The ship carried, besides the children, 101 passengers and a crew of 209, and of these 300 perished. The last woman to leave the sinking ship actually stepped off the deck into the sea, where fellow passengers helped her to a raft. TRIBUTE TO NAVY. All the survivors paid a tribute to the Navy. “ When we were taken on board they took off our shoes and gave us their own warm socks. We were given a hot bath, brandy, and sailors’ clothes while ours were dried.” BOY HERO. A little hoy whose heroism -was praised by all in the boat from which he was rescued was Colin Richardson, from Monmouthshire. His- cheery voice was always audible above the moaning of those suffering from exposure. A passenger said: “That boy had to watch women and babies die, and was obliged to drop bodies overboard, He stood with water to his waist, and did not once complain.” A Londoner, Mr AY. B. Forsyth, referring to the deaths in his boat, said: “ I did my utmost as each body was dropped overboard to give a Christian burial by conducting a short committal service over the water.” A lifeboat in which 32 occupants left the ship had only eight alive when picked up. Another had only 14 survivors. *

Colonel Webb, M.P., who was going to Canada in connection with the Red Cross ambulance services, went »down with the ship.

CAPTAIN LAST SEEN ON BRIDGE. The commander of the ship was last seen on the bridge shouting to everybody to take to the lifeboats. He also went down with the ship.

Roderick Maher, of Dublin, said he was ou an upturned boat from 10.30 p.ni. till he was picked up about 4.30 p.m. next day. The children who were being evacuated all came from England and Wales. .The survivors included a New Zealander, Mrs Lillian Rose Towns, who was an official escort. She was a schoolmistress in New Zealand, where she married Mr F. G. Towns, of Olaphara, an optician, who came to England three years ago. They arranged to evacuate their daughter to New Zealand. Twelve privately-evacuated children were on board the liner in addition to the Government evacuees, and six of them perished, making the child losses 89. GERMAN COMMENT BERLIN, September 23. (Received September 24, at 9.5 a.m.) Informed Berlin circles, commenting on the sinking of the evacuee ship, declared: “ It is strange that the ship supposedly sunk on September 17 was not reported lost till the night before the King’s address. It looks like efficient propaganda.” OFFICIAL DENIAL BERLIN, September 23. (Received September 24, at 1 p.m.) It is officially denied that Germany is responsible for sinking the child evacuee ship, lb was stated that no German U-boat or aeroplane was operating (300 miles from the British coast. “ The Germans attack only armed, merchantmen,” it is stated. “ That is our answer to the British report, which is a brazen lie for squeezing the tear glands of the world and contributing towards bringing the United States into the war on the British side.” HORROR AND ANGER WIDESPREAD CONDEMNATION (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 23. (Received September 24, at 9.15 a.m.) Horrified condemnation was expressed in all quarters to-day of the German submarine’s sinking, in mid-Atlantic, without warning and on a bitter and stormy night, the ship carrying children from vulnerable areas to Canada. ‘ The Times ’ says; “ Another hideous German crime makes deeper the hue of Hitler’s infamous warfare. Not even the daily and nightly occurrence in Hit Li’s programme of merciless and indiscriminate war, the descent of his aerial torpedoes in residential areas to blast people from their homes, nor any of the other examples of Nazi terrorism can deaden sensitiveness of feeling to

this atrocity of a torpedo launched through a dark and tempestuous sea.” The ‘ Daily Telegraph ’ says: * ’To realise the facts is to feel compassion for the victims, infused with a burning indignation against the perpetrators of so foul an outrage against every humane instinct.” The ‘ Daily Mail,’ after remarking that the crime stands out as a supreme instance of horror, adds that on the sea, as on the land, the hand of murder reaches out to strike at children. Among the messages received by the authorities to be passed on to the relatives of the children lost is one from the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr R. G. Menzies: ” This latest exhibition of savagery by the Nazis will steel the British people in their resolve to count no sacrifice too great in defeating the dark spirit for, which the Nazi regime stands.” INSTANCE OF WANTON HORROR ” DAY OF RECKONING WILL ARRIVE " LONDON, September 22. Child victims on the evacuation ship m several cases represented entire families. Mr Shakespeare, informing the bereaved, said: ‘‘The Children’s Overseas Reception Scheme wishes me to convey its deep sympathy in your bereavement. You courageously decided to send your children to the dominions, believing that this course was better than continuous raids. I, as a parent, realise the anguish this letter must cause you, and the great sadness brought to your home. I assure you I deeply share your grief.” Mr Shakespeare, in a statement, said; “ I am full of horror and indignation that any German submarine captain could have torpedoed a ship over 600 miles from land in a tempestuous sea. The conditions were such that there was little chance for the passengers, whether adults or children. This deed will shock the world, and is another example of the barbarous methods of warfare associated with Nazi Germany. It is comparable only with their present brutal indiscriminate bombing of women and children in London.”

The ‘ Daily Mail ’ says: “ Even aruid tho carnage Hitler is trying to causa among London’s women and children the story of the sinking of the evacuation liner stands out as a supremo instance of wanton horror. Nothing haa given the world a more vivid or mora awful example of the sort of warfare Hitler wages. Let the details never he forgotten until the day of reckoning arrives. We must ask. with parents, whether the' Government is absolutely satisfied with the arrangements for the transport of children. Are the ships, convoyed far enough to sea. Many thousand have already crossed the Atlantic safely, but more must be done to prevent a repetition of this tragedy.’t