“HERR SCUTTLER!”

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20993, 21 December 1939, Page 7

“HERR SCUTTLER!”

THE NAZI METHOD DESPAIR OF GERMANY DESTRUCTION OF SHIPS

(Official Wireless) (Received Dec. 21, 1 p.m.) RUGBY, Dec. 20 The Columbus is the eighteenth Nazi merchant ship to be scuttled since the outbreak of the war. When hostilities commenced she took refuge at Vera Cruz, in Mexico. She is said to have been laden with 30,000 barrels of oil and food for Germany. In the neutral press as well as in the British papers the practice of scuttle is inevitably interpreted as indicating the German Government’s despair of winning the war.

The Daily Herald in a leading article headed "Herr Scuttler,” asks:

"Why did the Columbus send herself to the bottom? There was no neeu for it. She was in no danger of capture. She need never have left Vera Cruz. She could have run into any United States harbour and stayed there for the duration of the war and gone home after the war—if Germany had won. “This harakari policy can mean just one thing—the German High Command fears that it is going to lose the war and that at the end its ships will become Allied property.” LINER ON FIRE FROM STEM TO STERN RESCUE OF SURVIVORS TWO FIREMEN MISSING (United Press assu. —Elec. Tel. Copyrign.) NEW YORK, Dec. 20 The Tuscaloosa sent a radio message that she was heading for New York with 579 survivors, including nine women. A muster of the crew of the Columbus had shown that two firemen were missing. The liner was on fire from stem to stern and was sinking slowly when the Tuscaloosa left her. It is believed there were no other casualties. The German Legation at Mexico City, however, states that there were 630 Germans on board. Seventeen Chinese members of the crew refused to make the dash across the Atlantic, and three Italians had deserted earlier. The Tuscaloosa reported that the hull of the ship, and 22 boats from which the crew were picked up, constituted a menace to navigation. It is believed the Tuscaloosa stopped to destroy these and also to make certain the Columbus was sinking. The Tuscaloosa is due to New York at 2 p.m. to-morrow, and the Germans will be disembarked at Ellis Island. Fired and Abandoned The British Admiralty announced: "The Columbus set fire to herself 400 miles north of Bermuda on sighting a British warship. The crew abandoned her.” The United States immigration authorities say that the crew of the Columbus will be allowed to remain in the United States for a period if it can be shown that they are bona-fide merchant seamen. If they are naval men other steps will have to be considered. Since the outbreak of the war the Germans have scuttled 23 passenger and cargo ships, totalling nearly 140.000 tons.

ANOTHER BLOW

LOSS OF GERMAN PRESTIGE SCUTTLING OF THE COLUMBUS CONSTERNATION IN AMERICA (United Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyrig-fct; NEW YORK, Dec. 19 The scuttling of the Columbus and the forcing of the German motorship Arauca into port have brought the war closer to the United States than at any time since it began. Thousands of German-Americans living in New York’s "German section” gathered in bars and at street corners discussing the Reich’s latest setback. There was consternation at" the New York offices of the North German Lloyd Lines when the news was received. "Oh, my God!” said the manager, Mr John Schroeder. "It is one blow after another.” Entitled to Stay He added that as the Columbus was unarmed he believed the crew were entitled to an indefinite stay in the United States, where the line would take care of them. Asked whether they would be returned to Germany, he replied: "How could they be?” There is much speculation as to why an unarmed ship left the safety of a neutral port. The New York Herald-Tribune suggests that the most plausible theory is that the sacrifice was risked in order to refuel some important warship short of oil. The Mexico City representative of the United Press states reports are circulating there that the cargo of the Columbus included hundreds of thousands ,of Mexican shoes for the German Army, and also half-filled drums of oil, which were to be dropped overboard for submarines. Germans Lose Prestige The New York Times says in an editorial: “By this scuttling, the Germans have lost whatever prestige they may have gained by the escape of the Bremen from Murmansk.” The Herald-Tribune says: “The I liner’s fate is unmistakably ominous j news. A regime that expects to win I the war would hardly be likely to take such extravagant risks with a I costly possession that was anchored in i a neutral port, from which victory ■ for Germany would have redeemed her.”

By special arrangements Reuter’s World Service, in addition to other special sources of information, is used in the compilation of the overseas intelligence published in this issue, and all rights therein in Australia and New Zealand are reserved. Such of the cable news in this issue as is so headed has appeared in the Times and is so sent to this paper by special permission. It should be understood that the opinion is not that or the Times unless it is expressly stated to be so.