Evening star., 1942-06-05
BY LOUIS p. LOCHNER,
Wide World

NEW YORK, June 5.-For tne
foreign correspondent stationed in
Germany during the present war up
to Americas entry into it, one of
the most dramatic moments came
on that night in August, 1899, exact
ly one week before hostilities with
Poland opened, when suddenly all
connection with the outside world
was broken of.
For weeks and weeks we had been
expecting der Tag"
Our Berlin Office had sent Angus
NJ. Thuermer to Gleiwitz, near the
Silesian-Polish border, because we
knew the staff headquarters for the
army which was to march into Pol
ish Upper Silesia to be located there.
We tried also to send Edwin A.
Shanke into East Prussia to cover
expected developments there, but
he was refused permission to enter
the area. Thuermer, incidentally,
was allowed to remain only long
enough to see the war start; then,
too, he was politely bowed out of
Silesia.
Communications Cut.
Then came that fateful night in
August. Our long distance wires
were in full operation as members
of the staff telephoned stories on
the tense situation to London. Our
teleprinter was grinding out copy
to our relay point in Amsterdam.
Suddenly, in the midst of a SEN
tence, sharply at pm, both the
telephone and the telegraph stopped
short.
We were cut of from the outside
world by orders of the military! We
looked at each other in dismay. For
q journalist there is no more terrify-
ing moment than that of not being
able to get his copy out.
It proved later that some one had
slipped. Originally the war was to
have started week earlier, 1t seems
The military censorship department
had been given orders to interrupt
communications as of that earlier
date. Then, when Hitler decided
to postpone action for a week, no.
body thought Of issuing new in
structions to the censors.
No newsman gives up without first
trying every possible avenue of
transmission. Within the next 10
minutes we had telephone calls in
for practically every capital in
Europe, hoping that somehow,
somewhere we'd get through never
theless. In vain. The telephone
operators invariably came back with
the stereotyped information, There
Is a temporary disturbance in the
line"
One Circuit Overlooked.
Then came a lucky break: Across
the street from us, in the Offices of
the French Havas news agency with
which Associated Press for years
exchanged news, the direct wire into
the Paris headquarters of the agency
had not been cut. An oversight, but
one which proved of incalculable
benefit to us.
Our Havas colleagues permitted
us to file our copy into Paris. To
the amaZement Of the Germans,
America next morning had a fun
story of developments In the war
that didn't come of as scheduled.
They couldn't imagine how we had
done it. We used the incident to
emphasize how stupid 1t is to try to
isolate Germany from the world.
BY the time the war really started
a week later, a control system was
officially set up, amounting to sort
of honor system of self censorship,
under which we were able to get out
news until the day of our arrest and
tnternment December II, 1941.
The night of May 9, 1910, will also
hnger in my mind as dramatic
one. It was the night before Hit
ler's armies inundated Holland and
Belgium and began to pound re-
lentlessly at the Magniot Line. 1t
50 happened that on that evening
the christening of little Hohenzol-
lern Prince Wilhelm Heinrich,
second son of Prince Louis Ferdi-
nand, of Ford fame, took place. cThe
prince once worked in the Ford
factory
The first dramatic moment came
when the late Danish Minister in
Berlin. Herluf Zahle, who had been
sent by the King and Queen of Den
mark to represent them at the
christening, tried to tell Prince
Louis Ferdinand something about
the German invasion of Denmark.
He could not go on. The aged dip
lomat broke down in tears.
Crown Prince Doubts Attack.
Later In the evening Grown Prince
Frederick Wilhelm, grandfather to
the young baptizee. sat down in a
corner to chat with Mrs. Albert
Schrader. wife of the then Ameri-
can naval attache in Berlin, and my
wife. Both expressed their fear
that on the very next day the great
offensive in the west would begin,
and that neutral Holland and Bel
gium would be the victims. Schrader
and I both had absolutely reliable
information. and our wives knew
what they were talking about
The Grown Prince since the be-
ginning of the war had lived in Sc
clusion. a virtual hermit, at Cecilien-
hof Castle on the outskirts of Pots
dam. He simply would not believe
the ladies. I am sure he was sim
cere about 1t. The two women chal-
lenged him to a bet, but he replied
CALAMITY that he could not expect
ladies to pay bet that he felt sure
they'd lose.
That was one of the strange things
about the war against Holland and
Belgium: Practically every foreign
correspondent in Germany knew it
was coming, yet very few Germans
Observation-Disclosures HdIESSSHEa