Evening star., 1939-09-03
German Naval Attoche Here
Recalls Seo-Roiding Exploits
The Emden Was Ace
Of Vessels Preying
On Merchantmen
~ the Associated Press.
"Emden at Penang!'

q score OF allied war vessels tc
change their course. A new hunt
was on for the most famous o1
German wartime sea-raiders, the
commerce-destroying light cruiser
Emden.
Memories of that early morning at
Penang, of the chase that followed
of the Emden's bitter end on an
Indian Ocean beach, brought to the
eyes of the taciturn German naval
attache here last week the glow of
youthful adventure.
Vice Admiral Robert Witthoeft-
Emden, the attache, was Oberleuten-
ant lieutenant, junior grade) Witt
hoeft, the Emden's chief torpedo Of
f1cer on her 30,000-mile cruise of
terror off the coast of Asia.
Sank Is Merchantmen.
A gray-eyed pleasant man of So,
Witthoeft would pass for an Ameri-
can business man. A bit weather.
beaten, yes, but that might come
from golf There is nothing about
him of the devils that British ship
ping circles thought he and his
fellow officers were Is years ago.
The reason they thought that, the
admiral calmly related, was that the
Emden sank Is British merchant
men and two allied men-of- war
within three months and five days.
In addition, it captured five other
commercial vessels which either
were released or converted to Ger
man use.
But remember this" the one time
raider added in his guttral English,
mot one life was lost aboard all
those merchant ships"
That brought on the story of how
the Emden took her prizes-a story
much the same as those of other
famous German raiders, Count
Felix Won Luckners Seeadler (Sea
Eagle, the converted Hamburg
America liner Kronprinz Wilhelm,
the cruiser Moewe. the Wolf. Those
raiders and others less publicized
sent half million tons of British
shipping to the bottom. Won Luck
ner alone was credited with causing
a s25,000,000 loss to the Allies.
Emden Set Pattern.
For them all, the Emden set the
pattern. She captured her first
prize, the Russian liner Rjasan, on
the day England declared war on
Germany, August 4. 1914.
A few days later. her crew had
rigged up a false face for the we'll
known Swan of the East" as the
sleek 3,600-ton cruiser was known
up and down the China coast.
Out of canvas and lumber, they
built sham funnel that could be
set on her afterdeck to make the
Emden-a three-stack ship-resem-
BILE four-funnelled British cruiser
then operating in the same waters.
Working by day and by night. she
would sneak close to a merchant
steamer, run up her German flag
and signal: Stop. Silence your
radio"
If the ship kept moving, the EN-
den fired shot or two over her
bow, Every time, the merchantmen
obeyed.
Took Food and Supplies.
Then we sent prize crews
aboard the admiral related. Re
moved the captured vessels crew to
one of our auxiliaries (the Emden
nearly always had a collier or some
other friendly ship following herr
and took what we wanted"
eve took food and all kinds of
supplies-and SOAP" he added,
chuckling that often the grimy Off
GERS and men were badly in need of
the latter commodity.
After the Emden's cutters had
taken off the last load of supplies
Literature concerning the Emden's
exploits say there were sometimes
coops of chickens. often cigarettes
and whisky in addition to more pro-
saic items) the Germans opened the
seacocks of the captive vessel, set
off few explosive cartridges and
abandoned ship.
If there was any delay in the
sinking, the Emden fired few shells
into the wavering hulk. There must
be no tracks to tip off enemy war
vessels that the raider was near.
Sometimes the Emden left the
steamship lanes far at sea to run
close in shore. Once she shelled
oil tanks at Madras, India, Wit
thoeft said.
Destroyer Keeps Bad Watch.
Then there was that day at Pen
ang-October %, 1914.
Witthoeft said the Emden moved
into the 1,000-yard wide mouth of
the harbor-"it was like a sleeve
at first dawn. The goal was the dis
abling of war and merchant vessels
docked at the tiny island off the
Malay states.
"A French destroyer was keeping
watch for us, we later found out"
Witthoeft related. but a very bad
watch it was. Nothing tried to stop
us
Through the dim light, the Edmen
elgnCeQ Ine russian cruiser JemtS-
chug at anchor. Sneaking to within
a few hundred yards of its prey, the
German fired one, then two tor
pedoes. Both hit. There was a ter
rifle explosion aboard the Jemts-
chug.
In the harbor come suddenly to
life, a French destroyer far down
the sleeve" blazed away, but her
shots fell short. In no danger from
that quarter, the Emden crew was
startled by billows of smoke at the
harbor entrance.
Fearing a trap, she turned and
headed straight at what she be-
lieved an enemy warcraft. It
turned out to be a small civil boat.
but the Emden was near the harbor
entrance and decided to keep going.
Outside she met the lookout, the
French destroyer Mousquet, en-
gagged her and sank her, hesitating
long enough after that to pick up
81 survivors. Another French
destroyer, the Fronde, trailed her
AWay but the Enden nlo1lched