NAZIS’ INHUMANITY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21207, 2 September 1940, Page 9

NAZIS’ INHUMANITY

ABUSE OF RED CROSS NEW PROPAGANDA DODGE THREAT OF REPRISALS (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 1 A British official wireless message says the German proposal that a number of fast motor-boats bearing the Red Cross should be allowed the freedom of waters over which an almost continuous battle is being fought is regarded in London merely as an attempt to obtain both a military and propaganda advantage by a specious argument of a variety to which the whole world is now well used. Although there have been plenty of cases of individual chivalrous acts by German soldiers, there have been equally many of the reverse. The German High Command has never yet appeared to have humane convictions of war unless a material advantage could be obtained thereby. The unrestricted submarine campaign and the use of gas are wellknown examples of German disregard of conventions in the last war when an advantage could be gained. It is felt that the latest suggestion is only the reverse side of the same attitude of mind. Many German pilots are brought down over the sea unhurt or slightly wounded. Their return to the German air force, suffering, as it is, from a lack of highly trained personnel, would be an obvious advantage to the Nazis. The experience of “Red Cross aeroplanes” has already shown that rescue is not the only purpose to which such craft are put, and it Is clear what use motor-boats would be to the German command if they had a free passage in waters in which, without the protection of the Red Cross, they could not exist. “Dictates of Humanity” It is expected that much play will be made by the Nazi propaganda machine with the British “refusal to honour the dictates of humanity.” The world will, however, remember that Nazi propaganda forgot the deliberate bombing of hospital ships at Dunkirk after a notification that they were coming into harbour for the sole purpose of evacuating wounded had been given over the wireless by the British naval commander, the machine-gunning of nurses as they were getting into boats from sinking ships, and the machine-gunning of British motor launches employed in picking up German air crews—and will give to German propaganda the weight and value it deserves. An authorised spokesman in Berlin stated, with reference to the British Note regarding Red Cross ships:

“It is obvious that the British desire to make sea rescues impossible. Therefore, the German armed forces will know how to answer such a challenge.”