June 1, It is to be hoped that means. to ascertain the full facts of the tragedy which has resulted in the loss of 23 German sailors' lives and the wounding of 83 other mom-bers of the crew of the Deutschland will be readily available, It is not surprising that the German Govern ment takes a grave view of the incident and has considered the action which it regards as appropriate in the circumstances. The Valencia authorities appear to have claimed that the Deutschland w moving in waters either assigned to the French patrols or beyond the supervision of the Non-Intervention Committee. This claim requires verification before it can be accept ed but even if it were correct there still must be ample ground for the German Government's contention that the action of the Spanish aeroplanes constitutes gross provocation, According to the messages from Berlin the Deutschland did not fire a shot, although she preserved her "fighting power and ability to move", Her Commander must therefore have acted with great discretion and dignity in a most trying situation, There will be general sympathy with the Ger= man nation in its loss of so many gallant sons, The sympathy will be all the greater because the Deutschland was engaged in a mission of international ce-operation which had for its primary object the mitigation of the evils of civil warfare, With poignant irony will Germans view the consequences of their participation in measures derived from doctrines of which they have been the foremost critics. Great Britain has herself had to mourn the loss of life in this Non-
Intervention enterprise, but the damage done to H. M. 8. Hunter was probably due to an accident. The bombing of the Deutschland, unless the information available is grievously at fault, must have been deliberate.
It will be seen from the official Jannouncement in Berlin that British, German and Italian warships in Port Majorca were victims of bombing from Spanish aeroplanes. Indeed six Italian oMcors were killed as the result of this breach of international understanding. In consequence the Deutschland was forbidden to enter the port and lay outside in the Ibiza roadstead. This precaution now has proved vain. No-one can imagine that in undertaking patrol work for the Non-Intervention Committee the various naval commanders failed to take the appropriate steps to ensure distinction of their vessels from those of cither of the contending Spanish forees, In other words the airmen could not have mistaken the Deutschland for other than what she was, Accidents of course are bound to happen but it seems impossible that so concerted an attack as that which resulted in the killing, or wounding of more than a hundred German sailors could have been anything but deliberate, 'The possibility that the airmen' wore out of control cannot be dismissed for indiscipline has marked the operations of the Spanish Government's forces from the beginning of the struggle. Yet, executed whether with or without higher authority's approval, it is difficult to imagine 2 more insensate act of folly. If the German Government decides to (Continued on page 350.)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.