BRITISH TROOPS RAID SARK

Southland Times, Issue 24870, 9 October 1942, Page 5

BRITISH TROOPS RAID SARK

EVIDENCE OF GERMAN CRUELTY (8.0.W.) RUGBY, October 7. ' A Combined Operations Headquarters communique tells of a raid on the Channel island of Sark which throws into grim relief German methods of the wholesale deportation of forced labour from occupied territory. “A small scale raid was made on Saturday night on the island of Sark, states the communique. “It was one of many such operations which are successfully and frequently carried out and about which nothing normally is said. But, since the enemy from ulterior motives, has announced the raid with the addition of inaccurate details the facts are now given. “The purpose of this raid was to obtain first hand information concerning reports of ill-treatment of the population. As a result of the raid these suspicions have been confirmed by the seizure of a proclamation signed: ‘Knackfuss, Oberst-Feld Kommandant.’ This states that all male civilians not born in the Channel Islands or not permanently living there between the ages of 16 years and 70 years have been deported to Germany with their families. TWO MEN COMMIT SUICIDE “This deportation occurred last week at the shortest notice. Nine hundred men have been conscripted from Guernsey, of whom 400 are still to go, and it is expected that there will be more from Jersey than from Guernsey. Eleven Sark men were warned to go last week, but two committed suicide. “The total British raiding force consisted of 10 officers and men. There were no casualties. Five prisoners were taken, but four attempted to escape and were shot. The other man confirmed the deportations and said that they were for forced labour.” The Dame of Sark (Mrs Sybil Mary Hethaway), who has complete magisterial and legislative powers in Sark, is reported to have been deported to a German concentration camp last year as a reprisal for youthful islanders harassing the Germans.

GERMAN__THREAT PLACING PRISONERS IN CHAINS (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, October 7. A German communique, after revealing that a small British party raided Sark on Saturday and tied up German prisoners, announced: “From noon tomorrow all the British officers and men captured at Dieppe will be put in chains, this measure to remain in force ontil the British War Office proves that in future it will make true statements regarding the binding of the German prisoners or that it has succeeded in having its orders carried out by the British troops. Henceforth all British terrorists and sabotage troops and their accomplices who do not behave like soldiers but like bandits will be treated as such and ruthlessly mown down wherever they appear.” ■' The communique adds that 16 British fell on a German working party at Sark, consisting of one noncommissioned officer and four men. The British tied up the Germans in their shirts with very strong cords and prevented them putting on more clothes. The British led the Germans to the beach, and when the prisoners resisted this improper treatment the British killed the noncommissioned officer and another man with bullets and bayonets and wounded a third. A sapper who escaped confirmed these facts. TREATMENT OF GERMANS This statement has been swiftly countered by the War Office with a categorical denial of the allegations which include a statement that the German prisoners taken in the Dieppe raid had their hands tied. The British statement says: “Inquiries were instituted after the Dieppe raid. All German prisoners brought back to Britain were interrogated and unanimously declared that they had not had their hands tied and had been given humane treatment. This statement can be proved by the German protecting power and any of the prisoners can be seen by representatives of the German protecting power to confirm this. The evidence the enemy has adduced rests on his own unsubstantiated assertions. If the German Government carries out the threats mentioned in its communique the British Government will have to consider its future action.” “The German statement that British prisoners taken at Dieppe will be placed in chains is regarded in London as a piece of pure blackmail,” says the diplomatic correspondent of The Times. “The statement is obviously deliberately drawn up in such a way that makes it impossible for the British authorities to comply with the stipulation before noon tomorrow; There is no reason to suppose that the enemy will not repeat such tactics whenever it suits him to do so. It is, therefore, not a matter for argument. The British conscience is clear. We are content to base our case on the human® treatment we accord war prisoners, to which Germans captured at Dieppe all paid tribute. War prisoners in our hands total 23.000 Germans and 262,000 Italians. Ninety thousand British prisoners are in German hands and 25,000 in Italian hands.”

PRAISE FOR BRITISH AND U.S. PLANES Service On Arctic Front (Rec. 7.25 p.m.) LONDON, October 7. Paying a tribute to the part played by British and American planes in the defence of Murmansk, Major Oleshkovsky, writing in Soviet War News; says the Russian engineers have quickly adapted Hurricanes, Tomahawks and Airacobras for Polar conditions. The Hurricanes have been given heavier armament and the Airacobras lightened fox - greater manoeuvrability. « Foui’ hundred German planes have been shot down on the Arctic front in a year. The Luftwaffe ace, Schaschke, who shot down 94 planes in various countries, and Willi Pfenger, the renowned German aerobatics • instructor, who was credited with 36 air victories, were both shot down on the Arctic front.