NAZI BRUTALITY

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20912, 18 September 1939, Page 8

NAZI BRUTALITY

PLUNGED WORLD IN WAR BRITAIN’S FIGHT FOR LIBERTY MESSAGE TO GEIRMAN PEOPLE (Official Wireless) (Received Sept. 18, 1 p.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 17 The text of the second and third of the leaflets distributed by the Royal Air Force aircraft over Germany was issued by the Ministry of Information tonight. The second, as already reported, contained Mr Chamberlain’s broadcast remarks to the German people on the night of the outbreak of war. The third reads as follows: “Despite the efforts of all men of goodwill to avert catastrophe the Nazi Government has plunged the world into war. This war is a crime. The Germans, who are logical people, should make a clear distinction between the pretext on which their leaders started and the principles that have compelled the British and French democracies to defend Poland's independence. "From the start the British Government declared its belief that there was nothir.ij in the Polish question to justify a European war, with all its tragic consequences. Destruction of Independence “The Munich settlement was fololwed five months later by the brutal destruction of Czechoslovakia’s independence hv your leaders. If Poland were not to go the way of Czechoslovakia we had to insist that peaceful methods of negotiations should not be paralysed by threats of violence and any settlement should safeguard the vital interests of Poland and should be honourably carried out. “If the Chancellor of the Reich imagined that the fear of war would Induce the British Government to betray the cause of Poland he made a fatal mistake. It is not Britain’s way to break her pledged word, and, more than this, the time has come to call a halt to the rule of brute force which the Nazi Government wishes to Impose on the world. “In precipitating this war he has come up against the inexorable will of the British Government, hacked not only by the whole resources of a united British Empire, but also by an alliance of great Powers to maintain unimpaired human liberty and the rights of a free people to a free existence. Mediation—Not War “Up to the last moment the Pope, the President of the United States, and the King of the Belgians, speaking for Belgium, Holland. Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, turned to your Nazi Government and besought Germany to choose a way of mediation rather than that of war.” Cannot Win the War “You go into this war isolated from the commonwealth of civilised peoples and having the support of nobody but Communist Russia. You cannot win this war. You are confronted by far greater resources than your own. For years the iron censorship and the widespread system of espionage have prevented you from knowing the truth or speaking your mind about cruelties and injustice perpetrated in your name. “Against you you have the united strength of the free peoples who, with their eyes wide open, will fight to the last for liberty—yours as well as theirs. “We hate war as much as we know you do. “But remember that Britain never gives way. Our nerves are tougher than yours. We shall never give up.”

PRISONERS OF WAR

ARRANGEMENTS FOR TREATMENT RED CROSS PREPARATIONS (Official Wireless) (Received Sept. 18, 3 p.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 17 It Is reported from Berne that in compliance with the 1929 convention concerning the treatment of prisoners of war, the International Red Gross Committee at Geneva has established a central office for such prisoners, which will be conducted on the same lines as that established during the war of 1914-18. The new office will be developed in accordance with the needs and requirements of the different Governments and the Red Cross organisatfons of the belligerent nations. BRITISH AIRMEN IN GERMANY CAPTURE OF KIEL RAIDERS (United Press Assn.— Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received Sept. 18, 11 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 17 An American commentator, broadcasting from Berlin details of an alleged interview with captured British Keil raiders, added that somewhere in Germany there are five other British aviators as prisoners of war, who were shot down on the Dutch border while scattering pamphlets.

THREAT TO NEUTRALS

ALLEGATIONS BY GERMANY CONFERENCE TO BE HELD (United Press Assn.—Elcc. Tel. Copyrig-ht) (Received Sept. 18. 3 p.m.) LONDON. Sept. 17 The Copenhagen correspondent of the Times slates that Scandinavian newspapers print a strong warning from Germany that the Foreign Office has proof that Britain is threatening several neutral countries. Four northern countries are meeting at Copenhagen to-morrow.