Evening star., 1940-10-27
Empress Of Britain
Left Sinking After
Bombing, Nazis Say
Liner Declared Founderine
After Being Abandoned
By Her Crew
By the Associated Press.


BERLIN, Oct. 26-The Empress OF
Britain, majestic Canadian Pacific
line Flagship which carried King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth
home to Britain from their North
American trip in 1899, was reported
in informed German quarters to have
been bombed and left in sinking
condition North of Ireland today.
German combat planes" attacked
the liner in the waters which Ger
many has proclaimed as the scene
of total blockade, these sources as
serted. BY forenoon, it was stated,
the crew had abandoned the ship
and she was laundering.
The German high command made
no mention of the Empress Of
Britain, but it did say that planes
and long-range guns had dispersed
three conveys of the British Chan
mel coast and that shells from the
French shore had landed among a
concentration of ships at Dover. One
merchantmen off the East English
coast was hit squarely by bomb
and appeared to be total loss, the
communique said.
Germans Resume Raids.
Both German and Italian planes
raided London overnight in rolling"
attacks, other German sources said,
and the high command itself re-
counted numerous hits" on rail
and industrial districts east of Bat
tersea Park, on the south bank OF
the Thames in London, where the
great Battersea power station is
located. The Germans resumed the
raids today
Nazi sources said a German
bomber in surprise attack this
afternoon had dropped several
bombs on a chemical works near
Birmingham; that there were re-
sultlng explosions and fires. and that
factories in number of British
centers were set afire or heavily
damaged by explosives
The Germans said Fridays attacks
on London and the southeast of
England were carried out by light
combat planes under Field Marshal
Kesselring, and that II British
fighters were destroyed to 9 for the
Germans.
New FOur-Year Plan.
On the home front. Adolf Hitler
ordered Reichmarshal Hermann
Goerlng to start second -four
year plan and adapt it to the needs
OF war. He told Goering the first
1our-year plan, intended to make
pre-War Germany f-sufficient.
was a great success.
On the diplomatic front. Germans
waited patiently for some inklng of
Hltler's round of conversations with
the chiefs of state of France and
Spain. Authorized spokesmen said
merely that tho axis was moving
directly toward its goal of putting
Europe on its feet"
Commenting on President Roose-
Velts recent communication to the
French government in regard to
the French-German negotiations
and their effect on American in
terests. Spokesman expressed in
credulity that Americans who
speak so much of keeping to the
Western Hemisphere would mix in
an entirely different continent"
The British Admiralty declined
comment on the Empress of Britain
report. The Empress, displacing
42,348 gross tons and one of the
10 largest ships ever built, earlier
IN the year had carried Australian
and New Zealand troops to combat
zones. along with the Queen Mary.
the Mauretanis, the Aouitania and
the Empress of Canada and Asia.
There has been no indication.
however. of the manner of her
service in recent months. and she
last was reported seen on June |
with half dozen other convoy ships
at Freetown, Africa.
She was launched in 1880 and
cristened by the Prince of Wales.
now the Duke of Windsor. She
set several records for the South
hampton-Quebec run and made
world cruises in the winters, up to
the outbreak of war, when she was
camouflaged and, esumably,
armed
Her fittings rivaled other super
liners in luxury, and included
Pompeiian swimming pool and
full-siZed tennis court.