German Methods

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 139, 29 June 1937, Page 5

German Methods

-PreaB Association.)

PATROL OFF SPAIF Menacing Attitude Towards Loyalist Ships SHELLING OF PLANES

SB y 'I'Megrapk-

WELLINGTON, Last Nigfit. Gtermnny's position in the Spanish confiict is tbrown interestingly into re)ief by Mr A, O, Wainwrght. an English business man who was rbcently in the Mcditerranean enoeayouring to stfalghten ont the tangle some oi his firm's interests have svffiered. as a result of the Mr Wainwright, who came out to Austraiia and New Zealand by way of a Dutch aeroplane, was in tfiq Mediterranpan at the end pf last month and declares that as far as he can jndge there has been a persistently provocative attitude adopted by the German patrolling squadron. "I was, 1 must own, very surprised at the claims which were made by Germany in the Deutschland ease," said Mr Wainwright. "It was clear tp me from my observalions and from neutral observers that something of the sort must Gecur soone'r or later, but the attitude taken up by Gerinany struck me as very curious in the light pf the facts.

*.• l'nese are (and I should remark fhat I served against the Eussians with our expeditionary force after the world wgr afid am by no means biased in my putlook on the Spanish business) that the Germans had been bebaViug in whai I can pnly call a most prpvocative way, Thpir sfiips wero suTPPScd to be neutral in their aftitude, they werei patrolling, if wPUld g®em, tq kqep supplies of fnaterials and mep from reacfiing bpth sides, yet they w ere very menacing in thqfr attifudp tpwajds qny loyalist > ships thpy mighf encounter, and wjen [ Fe&tipg tfigy invariab^ pr ajmost in- . varia.bly, picked out a" rebel pprt tp ' enter and tie "uj* or ailchQr. Breaches of Neutrality ' "Nqt only did they do this, bat j fhey would " enter rebel ports which Were not pn their patrolling area at all 1 —their stretch of the coast, from Capo Gata to Cape Dropesa, covered only loyalist territory. "And, as a crowning factor, while in these ports they would object to Span1 ish aeroplanes scouting overhead, "and , shortly before the Deutschland incident Admiral von Fesphql, in cprnmapd qf thp Ggrprian squadron in ihe Mediferranean, infqrmed the Valeneia Government that if any Spanish loyalist 1 planes flew over his ships he would shell them. The Spaniards naturaliy resented this; they took up the attitude fhat the German ships were violating the international agreenient. calling for them to operate ten miles ont, and that by taking up this stqnd fhey were actually protecting the rebcls, since no, Spanish aeroplane would be able to fly ever any pai't in whiph a German warsliip lay. 4 4 Afid, as a inatter of fact, 1 helieve fhqy (did shell some Spanish macfiines the day before the Deutschiand incident, a fact which makes it appear very possible that the bombing of the German ship was merqly the momentary and un- „ derstandable (though unfortunate) anger of some airman at Jeing shelled by a ship he was leaving alone. "The submarin$ incident is all the more mysterious because, from thq parr tienlar inquiries I made about, tfig Spanish fleet and the, reasons for iis comparative. inactivity du4ng the war, the submarines held by thq GQvqrnmenf (fifteen ira all) have noit been out of pprt for the exce.llent reaspn. thqf there is no ono tp operate them, Nq Submarine Qificers Left / "Most qf thq officers were killed when the revolution first broke out and there wero not enough technicians left, or men to train them, to take out the highly technical craft. The whole fleet has suffered from lack of navigators and gunnera and has performed so indinereUtiy that on the occasion when vessels have left port they- have been torced to seuttle home again before the qttacks of rebel airmen, ' f The Spanish loyalists claim, too, tha,t Italian and possibly German submafines have been laying in wait ofi the coast in the hope of finding a target in some of the Valeneia navy which might venture out. again. Therq have been constant assertions by Valeneia that merchant ships and some of the lesser ships of war (the mosquito fleet) have been suhk by torpedoes, assertions. which are always countered by the auggestion- that the damage was done by mines. "Still, from what I saw and learned it is diffieult to visualise a Spanish submarine qperating on the qther side qf the Mediterranean and taking repeated siipts at a German cruiser The only credible thipg about it is that, after repeated attempts, the submarine shpuld have missed the target. That is qxactly what one would expect from Spanish sgilors qf either side."