The Waikato Times WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1940 “SINKING ON SIGHT”

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21209, 4 September 1940, Page 6

The Waikato Times WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1940 “SINKING ON SIGHT”

By good fortune and efficient precautions by the British, a ghastly tragedy was averted when a German submarine torpedoed a British liner conveying over 300 children and a large number of adults to Canada. If the Germans had had their way the whole ship’s company would have gone to the bottom of the sea and this foulest of all methods of warfare would have been credited by the Nazis with another triumph. Possibly the submarine commander was not aware that hundreds of refugee children with their nurses and escorts were aboard the ship, but the order is to “sink on sight” without regard for the safety of civilian lives involved. The whole incident, although it ended much more happily than might have been the case, is strong indictment of the Nazi system. In accordance with the accepted rules of warfare a merchant ship should not be sunk until provision has been made for the safety of lives on board. But Germany has repeatedly ignored this and every other rule designed to impart a little humanity into the ghastly business of war. In view of this fact it would be interesting to know how the submarine commander would have acted had he known beyond doubt that women and children were aboard the skip. It is natural to desire to see a little chivalry even in a deadly enemy, but the Nazis have only themselves to blame if they go on record in history as conscienceless and bloodthirsty fighters. It must be remembered that every merchant ship attacked on sight by a submarine is the potential conveyer of women and children. Germans know it, and still they carry on their fell work. In contrast with this “sink on sight” policy, Britons will always remember with pride that a British submarine refrained from releasing a torpedo that would have made an easy victim of the great German liner Bremen in the early stages of the war. The Bremen would have been a great prize for the British Navy and her loss would have struck a heavy blow at the Nazis, yet there is not a man or woman in the British Empire who is not supremely glad that the British submarine commander allowed that great ship pass unharmed into the safety of a German port. By sinking her Britain would have struck an effective blow at the enemy but would forever have suffered a sense of humiliation and shame as a result of the deed. Unfortunately it is not so in Germany. There the High Command showers congratulations and honours upon the U-boat commanders who can claim the greatest number of sinkings, regardless of the crimes involved. This is a shocking commentary on the state of the whole German nation. It is useless to plead in the Germans’ behalf that the common people are not aware of the horrors perpetrated by their leaders. They know full well that total war has been ordered and that ghoulish brutality is being practised on the land, in the air and at sea. The responsibility for the war itself and all its horrors is upon the people who have allowed themselves to be led into this criminal assault on humanity. And against their name history will place an indelible black mark.