The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1940-02-20
SAILORS KILLING
NOT JUSTIFIED
CONTINUED from Page y

vance that in case of attack by a
British warship it would be useless
for the Altmark crew to fight and
that any reports that the Germans
had fired on the Cossack seamen
were sheer lies"
Weichert then took up the inter-
view, saying that the first sign of
trouble came on the afternoon of
Feb. Is, when the Altmark was well
inside Norwegian waters and was
escorted by two Norwegian torpedo
boats, and three British bombing
planes few over, diving low so the
pilots could see the ships name.
Shortly afterward we saw on the
horizon British cruiser Of the Au-
rora class, with five destroyers,
which continued to move closer,
eventually entering Norwegian wa
ters."
He said the destroyers Ivanhoe
and Intrepid moved along side the
Altmark. The Intrepid got between
the Altmark and the shore and
tried to force it out to sea. The
cruiser signaled the Altmark to steer
westward. The Altmark ignored the
signal and the Norwegian gunboats
warned the British to keep away.
Weichert said the Intrepid moved
closer and its sailors tried to board
the Altmark.
1--WE saw them wearing steel he'll
NETS and gas masks and carrying
rifles, revolvers and hand grenades,
waiting to board u.s." he said. pre-
viously the Intrepid had fired a
warning shot at us but we paid no
attention to it. Captain Dau finally
made into Joessing Fjord. AS we
turned sharply to swing it, the In
trepid had to break away to prevent
us from crashing her. We entered
the Fjord and the two destroyers
stayed outside. The Norwegian boats
put themselves between us and the
British ships. The rest of the after
noon was quiet"
At 8 p. M, he said, searchlights
were turned on the Altmark A ship,
later proved to be warship, was
steaming into the ford
1.-THE Norwegians remained quietly
where they were and we thought it
must be another Norwegian warship.
This warship signaled us, DO you
need pilot?' we signaled, What
ship are you?' 1t did not answer. We
started toward the Norwegian tor
pedo boats which did nothing while
this strange destroyer which we then
saw was British, signaled us to
'heave to or we will open fire"
The Cossack came alongside and
the British swarmed aboard, he said.
They ordered the German officers,
hands up" and herded them into
the bridge house.
1--WE saw English sailors armed
with automatic pistols shooting in
discriminatory at members of our
crew who were completely unarmed
since there were absolutely no arms
on board the Altmark. The English
appeared very young and very nerv-
GUS, shooting whenever they saw
anyone move. our belief was that
they were afraid we would blow up
the ship at any moment"
He said the entire boarding Incl
dent lasted an hour and the Cossack
moved away as soon as the British
prisoners were aboard.
The Altmark today was guarded
by the Norwegian mine layer Olaa
Taygvaso. Her crew was not permit
| ted ashore. Although her stern was
beached and her propellors DAM
aged, the crew believed she would
be ready to resume the dash to Ger
many in few days.
Six of the seven dead from the
Altmark were buried yesterday al
the village Of Hauge. Wreaths were
sent from Adolf Hitler, German For
eign Minister Joachim Won Ribben-
trop and other Nazi officials.