Evening star., 1941-09-07
Submarine Acted
In SeIf-Defense,
Germans Assert
Fy the Associated Press.

Ey tho Associated Press.
BERLIN, Sept. ga German
submarine fired two torpedoeS
at the United States destroyer
Greer, a German communique
acknowledged today, but it de-
clared that the American war
ship was the aggressor and acted
on orders of President Roosevelt
who, it alleged, is trying Ito
incite the American people into
war against Germany"
According to the official German
version. the destroyer attacked first
in Icelandic waters which the Ger
mans have declared to be inside
their blockade zone and the U-boat
commander, not knowing the de-
stroyer's nationality. acted justi-
fiably in exercise of the primitive
right of self-defense.
The communique, issued through
D. N. B. (official news agency, To-
Gated the opening clash about 200
miles southwest of Iceland and de-
scribed the encounter as lasting al
most II hours.
Pursued Till Near Midnight.
Shortly after noon last Thursday,
the statement said, the submarine
was attacked" and almost until
midnight the destroyer chased the
U-boat and dropped depth bombs.
According to the communique, 2
hours and minutes elapsed be-
tween the time the destroyer at
tackled at 12:30 pm. and the U-boat
discharged two torpedoes at 2:3S
pm.
The German statement conclud-
ed:
IF the American naval sources,
namely, the United States Navy
Department. claim that the attack
was started by the German U-boat
the purpose of such an assertion
can only be to give at least an ap-
pearance of justification to the at
tack by an American destroyer on
a German U-boat in violation OF
neutrality.
Provocation Charged.
THE attack itself is proof that
Mr.. Roosevelt, contrary to MS
claims. has already, at an earlier
time, given general orders to Ameri-
can ,cestroyers not only to report
the position of German ships and
U-boats in violation of neutrality
but, beyond that, to attack them.
''Mr. Roosevelt, in this way, Is
trying by all means at his disposal
to provoke incidents in order to
incite the American people into war
against Germany"
The communique, ending TWO
days of official silence, acknowledged
that the submarines torpedoes went
wide of their mark. On the other
hand. the submarine was able to get
somewhere for her commander to
report.
Situation Seen Explosive.
There was some disposition In
informal comment in Berlin, there
fore, to question whether the episode
would aggravate relations between
Germany and the United States.
However, some sources regarded the
incident as loaded with dynamite.
Subsequent events established that
the warship must have been the
Greer and that point no longer was
subject to dispute. But the COM
munique said that at the time "the
German U-boat was not in posi-
ton to determine the nationality
of the attacking destroyer"
1t was not stated precisely why
the submarine, despite daylight
hours. could not determine that
the destroyer was American.
Incident Within War Zone.
Anyway, it was contended, that
was beside the point in view OF the
assertion that the U-boat was being
attacked. Besides its defense of the
submarines conduct on that score,
the communique pointed out that
the incident occurred in water pro-
claimed by the German government
as a war zone and that the sub
marine commander properly could
have presumed that the warship
was British.
In the Wilhelmstrasse view, there
fore, it was asserted, Germany was
confronted with a deliberate effort
to provoke an episode which would
incite a war fervor in the American
people.