GERMAN NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20991, 19 December 1939, Page 7

GERMAN NOTES

STORY BY CAPTAIN PROTEST TO URUGUAY NOT SUFFICIENT TIME (Un'.ted Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) MONTEVIDEO, Dec. 17 The Germans have published Notes exchanged between the commander of the Admiral Graf Spee, Captain Hans Langsdorff, and the port authorities showing that the Admiral Graf Spee had only an hour and three-quarters in which to leave or be interned. This was because a British cargo steamer had put to sea at 6.15 p.m. yesterday, thereby preventing the Admiral Graf Spee’s departure until 24 hours later. In accordance with Article XVI. of the Hague Convention, she could not sail before 6.15 p.m. today, but the Uruguayan authorities ruled that if she had not sailed before 8 p.m. she would be interned. Why Ship Was Sunk The German Embassy issued a statement by Captain Langsdorff, written before sailing, in which he protested at Uruguay’s refusal “to give time to place the ship in a proper navigable condition. In the circumstances,” he wrote, “there is nothing for me to do but sink the ship by blowing her up near the coast, after disembarking as many of the crew as possible. “Customs officers stopped the shore workmen at 6 p.m. on Saturday for several hours, and allowed them to resume work only after the intervention of the German Legation. “The Uruguayan ruling forces me to abandon Montevideo with the ship not repaired in a manner necessary for the security of navigation. To sally on the high seas would be negligently endangering the crew. I emphasise that I do not refer to the danger of enemy action, but exclusively to the general dangers of navigation.” Wanted To Stay 15 Days Captain Langsdorff’s statement revealed that he had sought to remain for 15 days. He stressed that the Uruguayan commission was convinced the Admiral Graf Spee’s engines and armaments were so little damaged that there was no fear the stay would be used to reinforce the ship’s limited potentiality. They might also have been convinced that to repair the damage to the hull was indispensable to put the ship in a condition to resist the dangers of navigation. Moreover, there was damage to the cook’s galley, the functioning of which was indispensable to life in a ship on the high seas. Captain Langsdorff concluded by admitting that Uruguayan neutrality had been violated in the last hours of the sea battle, but claimed that he had been forced to lire at a British cruiser near Lobos Island because the cruiser opened fire upon the Admiral Graf Spee. j It is reported, but without confirmation, that Captain Langsdorff telephoned to Hitler and was instructed to destroy the ship rather than let the British do so.

HUMILIATING ACT

AN IGNOMINIOUS END BLOW TO GERMAN PRESTIGE (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyrlg-lit) LONDON, Dec. 18 A high naval authority, in a statement in the Times, said the scuttling of the Admiral Graf Spee would never have happened in the old German Navy. It was more humiliating than if the Germans had submitted to internment. “To have steamed out and fought would have been magnificent,” he said. “To have been interned would have been understandable. But they have chosen an ignominious end.” A message from New York says the New York Herald-Tribune contrasts the unheroic scuttling of the Graf .Spee with the last fight of the German admiral after whom she was named, and who met his death bravely when a stronger British squadron under Sir Doveton Sturdee overwhelmed his ships off the Falkland Islands on December 8, 1914. The naval correspondent of the New York Times says: “ The scuttling of the Graf Spee is a blow to the prestige and morale of the German Navy, and "perhaps that of the nation.” Editorially, the New York Times praises the British seamanship and Uruguay’s firmness in respect of international law.

THE CREW SAFE

TAKEN OFF BY TACOMA WILL NOT BE INTERNED ARREST OF CAPTAIN (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyng-h, MONTEVIDEO, Dec. 18 It is revealed that the German liner Tacoma transferred the crew of the Admiral Graf Spee to tugs and launches before re-entering Montevideo Harbour after the sinking of the warship. The entire crew’, including the captain and officers, are in Buenos Aires, where it is expected they will be treated as survivors of a marine disaster and not interned.

The Uruguayan port authorities had radioed the Tacoma instructions to return to Montevideo immediately. When she anchored, her captain was arrested for leaving the harbour without permission. It is officially stated that all of the Graf Spee’s complement axe safe.