THREAT TO SHOOT

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21214, 10 September 1940, Page 7

THREAT TO SHOOT

OFFICER IN TOWER -BECAME A NUISANCE” COURT-MARTIAL EVIDENCE (United Press Asn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 9 “He became a nuisance, like many people with courage who want to go and fight,” said Field Marshal Ironside, on behalf of an officer who was being tried by court martial. Major A. D. Wintle, M.C., was charged with feigning defective eyesight; assaulting Air-Commodore A. R. Boyle; and with producing a pistoi and threatening to shoot Boyle, also saying that certain Ministers and officers should be shot. Wintle pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Field-Marshal Ironside, former Chief of the General Staff, gave evidence for the defence. He said he was introduced to Major Wintle last December by Lord Birdwood. Wintle’s chief anxiety seemed to be to get into the firing-line. Wintle, who was in the cavalry, said to witness, the latter added. "I want to get into the infantry. I’m a bit of a Prussian.” Witness said: “I told Wintle he must be patient. It is not easy to find jobs for people of that rank. I’ll put it quite plainly —he became a nuisance because he wanted to go and fight.” Officers Should be Shot At the opening of the court martial the prosecutor said that Wintle, in an interview with Air-Commodore Boyle, named three or four Ministers who, he said, should be shot. Wintle added that all officers above the rank of group-captain should be shot or shot out. The prosecutor added that Wintle told a colonel that he consciously limited his vision when his eyesight was tested, because he wanted to get out of the British Army and join the French Army as a liaison officer.

Air-Commodore Boyle, he proceeded, refused to give Wintle an aeroplane to fly to Bordeaux, whereupon Wintle pulled out a pistol and said that he would show how earnest he was by shooting off one of his fingers. When Boyle did not seem impressed Wintle pointed the pistol at him. Wintle obtained an interview with Field-Marshal (then General) Sir Edmund Ironside and place his information before him. Excited and Voluble Air-Commodore Boyle, in evidence, said Wintle came to the Air Ministry on June 17 and asked for an aeroplane in which to fly to Bordeaux. He said he alone could induce the French authorities not to surrender the French navy and air force. "I told him,” Air Commodore Boyle said, “that he must not assume he was a heaven-sent missionary, and urged him not to be a fool. He was excited and voluble, and threatened to blow off one of his fingers with his service revolver as a demonstration of his sincerity. “I fold him not to be theatrical, whereupon he pointed his revolver at me and said: ‘l’ll shoot you, too!’ Eventually he was persuaded to go away.” Wintle, giving evidence in his defence, said he visited France and made contact with the French Air Staff last November. He also lunched with General Gamelin, French Com-mander-in-Chief. His conversations had made him uneasy about the French Army, and he decided to fly to France and do his utmost to bring back to England part of the French Air Force. Wintle denied threatening AirCommodore Boyle, to whom he had said: “The truth about German rearmament was suppressed for years by heedless politicians, who should be shot.” Plea for Defence Mr J. D. Casswell, K.C., in his address for the defence, said Wintle had enjoyed the confidence of the French Army and Air Force more than any other British officer, and was merely trying to help his country. For that he was willing to risk a reprimand. Early this year, counsel added, Wintle was ordered to act as a draftconducting officer to Palestine. This was a terrible disappointment. Being depressed, he thought that the Army had no more use for a man with such bad eyesight. He applied to the Army Medical Board, and decided to let it know for the first time how bad his eyesight really was. He had not ever knowingly pointed a pistol at Boyle.

Defendant was acquitted on the first and third charges. Sentence on the second count was deferred. He was subsequently released from the Tower of London, where he had been detained. Given the key of his quarters and told to come and go as he pleased, he walked out, went to his club, and took part in cocktail parties. However, he said: “I have decided to stay in the Tower because I like the place, and the tramp of soldiers’ boots is the kind of musio I find pleasant.”