Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-08-22
Out of the Night

passes and sextants. the dis
abling of compasses by
removing or confusing the
controlling magnets; bunker
fires by pouring kerosene and
water over coal. particularly
in warm weather; the saving
through of rudder chains at
sea; the lowering of tempera-
lures in the holds of ships
carrying tropical fruits, par
ticularly bananas; the appli-
cation of kerosene on cargoes
of meat and other perishable
foodstuffs: the sprinkling of
cement and water over new
machinery. motors, electric
drills, pumps. presses and
typewriters which Germany
exported in great quantities
10 South America.
Aimed directly at the
the wrecking and sinking of
ships were the instructions
which called for the soaking
of grain and soya bean car
goes with water. either by
drilling small holes into the
side of the underwater por-
ton of the vessel, or by fas-
tening the nozzle of firehose
in the opening of an airshaft,
or simply by turning the air
shafts into the wind during
rain or heavy weather. and
under cover of darkness.
Grain or soya beans, once
wet. would expand to three
times their normal size and
burst the steel decks and
TANKS even of the best-built
ship. Proposed AS the culmina-
ton of the sabotage drive was
the seizure of German ships
by their crew in the event Of
war.
Destruction OF the wireless
appartus imprisonment OF
officers as hostages. and a
dash into a neutral or a
Soviet port were the salient
directions in this program.
FALLACIOUS THEORY
The Comintern held the
theory that German economy
was weak, and that sabotage
in industry and transport,
dashed into a mass movement,
would hasten the economic
and therefore the political
breakdown of Nazi power.
The theory proved a fallacy.
But the fact remained that no
ponderouS. and erefore
highly vulnerable, organiza-
ton was required for acts OF
sabotage. One trained man,
working alone, was enough TO
disrupt the smooth junction
ing of a ship.
That the sabotage units
were not formed quite in vain
was demonstrated by events
in subsequent years. In
Puerto Colombia, the North
German Lloyd freighter Hell
goland was set afire by
members of her crew, and
mutiny followed.
The stokers OF the Bahia
Blanca. a vessel of the Ham
burg South America Line,
disabled their ship in the har-
Dor of Rio de Janeiro. Near
Pernambuco. an act OF sabo-
tage caused a fire in the
bunkers of the Sac Paulo, of
Hamburg. The fire raked the
ship for five days.
The Chinese seamen aboard
the German wheat ships Nine
burg and Anatolia mutinied
off Buenos Aires. Aboard the
Hamburg A erica liner
Leuna, where stokers and
coalheavers were Communists,
the leader of the Nazi ship
group vanished without a
trace in the Indian Ocean.
ORDERED TO PARIS
In the first days of June, |
was ordered TO Paris TO at
tend the World Congress
against fascism as delegates
of the workers of Hamburg"
and as representative of the
Seamen's international.
The train 10 Paris was
crowded with delegates from
many lands. They all had the
same destination, but all of
them pretended not TO know
each other until the express
arrived in Lille, the first safe
station after the crossing of
the Franco-Belgian frontier.
The Care du Nord of Paris
swarmed with the runners OF
Roger Walter Ginsburg. our
central liaison agent in the
Seine city.
One Of them escorted me TO
my quarters. 22l Rue Etienne
arcel in Montreuil, an
eastern suburb. 1t was the
home Of Nomrade Beaugrand,
a member of the chamber OF