GERMAN PILOTS REPRIEVED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 108, 24 May 1937, Page 7

GERMAN PILOTS REPRIEVED

- Press Assn.— OoDjrl*ht. .

Loyalists Willing To Exchange For Rustians TENSION IN SPAIN

To'egiaph-

^rteceivea ae, r.u p.m*) ' LONDON, May 23. The two captured German airmen, Captain Walter Kienzle and Lieutenant Gunther Schulze, have been reprieved until May 27. Negotiations are in progress for their exchange for two Busslan aviators in rebel hands. It was earlier stated that the French Boreigu Minister, M. Delbos, had sent a message to the president of the Basque Government asniug for clemency for the captive German officers, who are undcr sentenco of death on a charge oi aiding the rebellion in Spain, in order to avoid reprisals and so iv not to prejudice future exchangeu. It is reported from Bilbao that the President, Senor Aguirre, personally has sent a meesage to President ILitlor ofiering to set free the Germans who have ueen sentenced to death, tif the German personnel and aerodromes are withdrawn from the Basque front. A Berlin message states that urgent advice lias been tendered Senor Aguirre not to allow the shooting of the German uinnen. The spokesxuan aaid: "Think of what their comrades would do in revenge. It would be lnadnees for the Basques to do it." It is reported from Bilbao that a slieaf of pleas for clemency for the condemned German airman, ancludes oue from Senor Porttose'guro, the Chilean Ambassador at Berlin, to which Senor Aguirre replied expressing surprise over the world 's silence at the inl" uman bombardments at Guernica. Oaiy the >withdrawal of foreign air p^ota would avoid fiagrant crimes like ti e present. A message from Seville says that General Dellano, broadcasting, deelared that if the captured German officers were exeeuted, the insurgent troops would shoot all prisoners, even those already i«aprieved.