"Britain's economic war. against the Reich," the Berliner "Nachtausgabe" recently announced, "has forced Germany to become the prorector of the freedom of neutral countries." How this "protection" operates in practice is indicated by the following examples.
On October 1 the Belgian steamer, Suzan, was sunk by a German submarine, The captain and crew took to the boats, and some time later were picked up by a British destroyer. When they arrived in Brest they stated that they were fired on without warning, the first shell being a miss, the second carrying away the wireless apparatus, The day before, the Danish steamer, Vendia, was sunk by a German submarine off the Scaw, the north-emmest point of Denmark An-Other Danish ship, the Svava, was near-by when the attack took place, The captain reported that, after "an enormous explosion" amidships. the Vendia broke in two, the stern half sinking in a few minutes while the fore half was still floating.
"Only a Few Seconds"
A warning shot was fired, but according to the Vendia's survivors, "there: were only a few seconds between-the warning and the sinking."
Eleven lives were lost: and the captain of the Svava, when he arrived on the scene in a lifeboat to pick survivers, was told by the ssu e- commander that word must be mentioned ofthe sinking until we reach port, otherwise we would not reach port at all."
This attack was justified in a Gcrmin Admiralty statement, on the ground that "the Vendia attempted to ram the submarine, and is therefore, guilty of a hostile action." In fact, the statement continued, the Air-Conditioned! Telephone 38484
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.