STORIES BY SURVIVORS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21226, 24 September 1940, Page 6

STORIES BY SURVIVORS

KILLING OF CHILDREN TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES (United Press Asn.—Elec. Tel. Copyiiglit) LONDON, Sept. 23 “ We had no warning, and after the attack the ship listed heavily,” said Mr W. B. Forsyth, of London. “ There were casualties almost at the start, and the darkness added to the difficulties. The children behaved magnificently, and obeyed every instruction. How the boats remained afloat I do not know. Rain and hail followed.” Some of the children are believed to have been killed by the explosion, and many others lost their lives when boats were swamped. A woman who believes that she was the last to leave the ship said she put two of her three children on a raft. It floated clear, and then she jumped and managed to land on it. Later her 11-year-old daughter was washed off, but a man put her back again on the raft. The third child was also saved. This survivor paid a tribute to the courage of Mr Eric Davis, who was on his way to Singapore. “ The liner was heeling over, and it looked as il' she would fall on us,” she said. “ Mr Davis, swimming with one arm, pushed the rafe clear just in time.” In Water Up to Waists “We had been five days at sea when we were torpedoed,” stated one woman survivor. “ I was sitting knitting, and I understand the torpedo went through the children’s quarters. We went to the boats and they were launched all right, but one came down on top of another.” This survivor said the boat she was in was partly filled with water. They were in the water up to their waists for 18 to 20 hours. “ Mother, my brother and I were on the same raft with one of the ship’s engineers, and were the last to get away,” said a nine-year-old girl survivor. ‘‘We were the only party in which everyone was saved. For some hours we were tossed about. When we stood up we were blown down by the terrific wind. My mother and I were worried about my sister, but she turned up in a warship.” Survivors in one of the boats were rescued when someone put up a piece of cloth on an oar and naval men saw it. The survivors included a New Zealander, Mrs Lillian Rose Towns, who was an official escort. She was a schoolmistress in New Zealand, where she married Mr F. G. Towns, an optician, of Clapham. Mr and Mrs Towns came to England three years ago. They had arranged to evacuate their daughter to New Zealand. Went Down With Ship Colonel J. Bald win- Webb, Conservative M.P. for Wickin, Shropshire, who was going to Canada in connection with Red Cross ambulance services, went down with the ship. The commander of the ship was last seen on the bridge shouting: 44 Everybody take to the lifeboats.” He also went down with the ship. The five children on one London family. whose home had been bombed, all perished. The father, who is aged 42 years and who fought in the last war, has now joined up again to get his revenge for what he calls “ this cold-blooded murder.” The survivors have been landed at a west coast port. The little handful of children are well and in good heart. Two of the children in the torpedoed ship were on board the liner sunk in the Atlantic last month, which was also carrying evacuated children, all of whom were saved.

THE WORLD SHOCKED

HORROR AND INDICATION NAZIS’ BARBAROUS METHODS INDISCRIMINATE BOMBING (United Press Asn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 23 The chairman of the Children’s Overseas Reception Board, Mr Geoffrey Shakespeare, said in a statement to the press: “I am full of horror and indignation that any German submarine captain could torpedo a ship over 600 miles from land and in a tempestuous sea. “The conditions were such that there could be little chance for the passengers, whether adult or children. This deed will shock the world. It is another example of the barbarous methods of warfare associated with Nazi Germany and is only comparable with the present brutal and indiscriminate bombing of women and children in London.” Sympathy With Parents Mr Shakespeare has sent a letter to bereaved parents stating: **The Children’s Overseas Reception Board wishes me to convey its deep sympathy in your bereavement. You had courageously decided to send your children to the Dominions, believing this course better than the continuous raids. I. as a parent, realise the anguish this letter must cause you, and the great sadness brought to your home. I can assure you I deeply share your grief.” The Daily Mail says: “Even amid the carnage Hitler is trying to cause among London’s women and children, the story of the sinking of this liner stands out as a supreme instance of wanton horror. Nothing has given the world a more vivid and more awful example of the sort of warfare Hitler wages. Let the details never be forgotten until the day of reckoning arrives. -We must ask. with parents, whether the Government is absolutely satisfied with the arrangements for the transport of children? Are the ships convoyed far enough to sea? Many thousands have already ciossed the Atlantic safely, but more jnust be done to prevent a reptition oi this tragedy.”