The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-12-15
Shattered Bodies Of
German Dead Buried

Then she would face the guns OF the
British death watch.
Fourteen bus loads OF men from
the Graf Spec accompanied the
bodies to the cemetery. There was
TO have been q parade through the
city but It was understood that
Uruguayaf1 authorities decided
against II, TO avoid possible incidents
The newspaper La Manana had
commented on the battle:
1.-THE result OF the action can be
regarded as one Of the most brilliant
successes Of the allied arms In the
present war;"
Fortune continues to favor the
seamen Of powerful Britain" said
FL Debate.
The Germans themselves, taking
privately, said II was the presence
Of three cruisers which made them
seek safety. They could handle two
they said, but with three they had
to concentrate their fire on two OF
them and leave the third to batter
them.
Ten black shirted Fascists marched
of the nearby italian ship Neptunia
aand saluted rigidly as the Graf
Spec funeral procession moved of
There were Uruguayan and German
odicials, the German minister and
his embassy stair, officers Of the
Graf Spec and 800 men Of the Ger
man ship In the procession.
A detail Of 70 Uruguayan maritime
police fired single round In honor
Of the dead as the cortege moved
of.
Five thousand watchers applauded
The crack 10,000-ton eight-inch
gun cruiser Cumberland and other
units were reported to have REIN
forced the Ajax and the Achilles In
their death vigil.
Reports came from Capetown
South Africa, that the British battle
cruiser Renown, one Of handful
OF warships in the world capable Of
both outshooting an Understanding
the Graf Spec, and the aircraft car.
rier Ark Royal with 90 fighting
planes aboard, had left there De-
cember 4 and II was believed one OF
both Of them might reinforce the
death watch here.
The Uruguayaf government, with
President Alfredo Baldomir and For
eign Minister Alberto GUAM In
charge, studied the question Of the
Graf Specs status as o belligerent
ship which had sought refuge In the
neutral port Of Montevideo.
Fate Decided Today
It was indicated strongly that the
Graf Specs fate might hingle on q
report made late last night TO the
government by q Uruguaya1 naval
commission which made q two-hour
inspection Of the German ship. II
the commission holds the Graf Spec
seaworthy 1t must leave today or be
interned for the duration Of the war,
II was understood.
GUAM told the United Press, In
refutation Of some reports published
abroad, that the government had
reached no decision and was still
studying the aspects Of international
usage which might be applicable.
But the diplomatic part Of the SIT.
uation, important as II might be, was
overshadowed by the drama Of the
immediate present.
The British cruisers had steamed
slowly, their crews at battle sta
lions, hour after hour yesterday and
during last night, of the port, ready
for action II the Graf Spec made O
break.
AS they had steamed, intent only
on making sure that the German
ship never again reached the op1n
sea TO rail- Allied commerce, the
Graf Spec had taken aboard Its SO
collins and had landed eight Of the
most urgent cases among It's 90
wounded.
Bodies Holsted Aboard
Seven trucks had rumbled UP 10
the dock nearest which the Graf
Spec lay at anchor. A putting gov.
eminent tug had taken aboard the
collins In relays and taken them out
10 the German ship, where In q
poignant silence they had been
hoisted aboard.
The German authorities here
made arrangements with the Uru-
guayan government 10 land the COM
fms ct 900 o. m. GO q. m. EST
Uruguay IN hours ahead OF EST)
Seven trucks were detailed 70 lead
the funeral cortege from the docks
10 the cemetery, with government
officials and German legation at
taches and officers OF the Graf Spec
following In automobiles.
Members OF the German colony
started O fund to buy the ground
around the grave.
A big cross lay beside the yawn-
Ing grace this morning-in 0 ceme-
terry which has been used for years
TO bury both German and British
dead.
A big crowd stood near the Graf
Spec until late in the night, when
ainbulances Changed Up 10 the dock
TO received the wounded.
Eight Strctchers Lowered
Eight stretchers were lowered
from the Graf Spec onto O govern
ment tug. As II docked, one shaky
weak, German seaman walked of.
He had refused TO use his stretcher
and insisted on coming ashore url-
der his own steam. The other seven
gravely wounded, inert, some barely
conscious, stared at the crowd as
the stretchers were taken TO the
ambulances.
The chief surgeon Of the Graf
Spec, who accompanied the wound
ed TO the Pasteur hospital here, In
sisted that most Of the pocket bat
tleship's wounded had been victims
Of a yellow gas"
The unofficial charge, made by
the German legation here and by
authorized but not official sources
at Berlin, that the British ships
had used mustard gas was firmly
denied by Uruguayan surgeons and
physicians who examined wounded
man both IN the shin and ashore