SUBMARINE PREY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20057, 2 October 1939, Page 7

SUBMARINE PREY

RED ENSIGN DEEMED FLAG OF WAR GERMAN DECLARATION ADMIRALTY WARNING AMERICAN REACTION (Reed. Oct. 2, 9 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 1. A German broadcast announcement yesterday stated that Germany now regards every British merchantman as a warship because merchantmen recently have been attacking German submarines.

Germany Is reported to be rushing submarine building, particularly the ocean-going type. It is claimed that they can be built in six months. The Admiralty quoting the German submarine threat, sent a message to all merchantmen as follows: “The announcement may indicate an immediate change in the German submarine policy. You should be prepared to meet it.”

The Washington correspondent of the New York Times, referring to the German threat of unrestricted submarine action against British merchantmen, says that similar warfare was credited largely with the involvement of the United States in the Great War. President Wilson departed from the traditional policy and admitted armed merchantmen to the United States ports without the restrictions applying to warships. The pending bill vests the President with the sole decision regarding the status of armed merchantmen. Now the German move is likely, this previously ‘unremarked provision will become a contentious point in the debate. It is quite possible that owing to the division over the neutrality question, if Germany carried out the threat there will be a movement to make more definite what constitutes a merchantman