Russia, Ally Of Allies, Convoyed Nazi
. Cruiser Through Aretie lee Paek
To War On Shipping In Paeifie
(By Jim G’. Lucas)
• Scripps-Howard.Staff Writer)
WASHINGTON. — “Neutral”
Russian icebreakers in 1940 con
•voyed a German auxiliary cruiser
through the Arctic Ocean to th *
Pacific where it sank eight Allied
ships—one off the Panama Canal
—and shelled British installations
on Nauru in the Gilbert Islands.
^ according to captured German
documents.
The documents have just been
translated.
The German cruiser was the
Komet. Her Soviet escorts were
the Stalin, the Lenin and the Ka
I ganovich, all icebreakers. The Ka
ganovich was named lor Lazar Ka
ganovich, a member of the polit
buro.
The report of the Komet’s com
mander, identified us Rear A i
miral Eyssen, contains a graphic
word picture of souring Soviet
Nazi relations under the Hitler
Stalin non-aggression pact signed
with the invasion of Poland a year
earlier.
Sarcastically, Admiral Eyssen
refers to the “still neutral, or more
co rrectly, neutrality-simulating,
Soviet Union.” He was convinced
the Russians planned secretly to
desert him in the ice fields. Ac
cordingly, he took Arctic sleds,
Arctic tents, cooking equipment
* and skis, hoping to survive. He re
ported to Hitler months later that
he succeeded despite—not because
of—help he got from the Russians.
Russian Aid Enabled Komet
To Get Through
Nonetheless, Admiral Eyssen’s
report reveals “neutral” Russian
ice pilots guided ' the Komet
through the ice from Matochkin
Strait northeast of Murmansk to
the Kara Sea; that the Stalin and
the Lenin then e-corted her to a
point 4000 miles northwest of the
Rering St aits. Here the Kagano-'
vich picked up the Komet and took
her to within 400 miles of open
T ( tuck
ih ■ ice several times and was
freed by the icebreaker Kagano
vich,” the admiral reported.
Four hundred miles from his
goal, A imiral Eyssen ;aid Moscow
ordered him, through the skipper,
of the Kaganovich, to turn back ba
c use. American ships w’ere in the!
Bering Sea “and must not learn
that a German ship had passed
through the Siberian Arctic route
with the aid of Russia.”
“I received this communication1
calmly, without revealing any ex
citement or disappointment,” he j
boasted in an article published by j
a German military journal in 1
April, 1943. “But within me it had
the effect of a bomb.
Suspicions of Soviet
Race Through Mind
“As in a motion picture unwind-1
ing at lightning speed, everything ,
W’hich had happened since her j
,<the Komet’s* departure from ai
German port raced through my |
mind—the evasive procrastination j
of the Russians, the hide-and-seek i
and endless waiting, the inferno of
1 an arctic storm among crushing
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"IT PAYS TO
ADVERTISE"
Proof of the Nome Nugget’s cir
culation and value of advertising
ihe two factors which brought
several letters to Andy Anderson
during the past week. All were
concerned with property, business
possibilities and investments here.
California, Montana and Washing
ton were the States represented.
floes ... it had been clear to me
for a long time that the Soviets
had promised their support only
uacuu.se they hoped to dupe Ger
many through their ‘generosity’
. . but that they hud never seri
ally thought a German ship;
uuid use this generosity and actu
.l!y conquer the Siberian pass-1
age.” j
Two years later, with Russia in
\\ Admiral Eyssen was able to
conclude that the Soviets took his
ship into the Pacific to sink Brit
ish shipping “to conceal the prep
arations for war which they had
for a long time been forming in '
co-operation with the British.”
Preparations for the Komet’s
trip through the ice began on July
3, 1940.
The Russians notified Admiral
Eyssen to be at a point off the
large island of Novaya Zemlya in
the Barents Sea on July 15. 1940.
He recorded weeks of time-kill
ing delays.
rinauy. the Russians radioed
that the Komet should proceed at
once to Matachkin Strait, where
the Lenin was waiting with new
instructions. But there was no
Lenin in sight off Matichkin Strait.
Admiral Eyssen sent a Russian in
terpreter ashore to a small settle
ment. The boat returned with two
Russian ice-pilots who complained
they had been waiting a week for
the Komet and had just received
instructions to return.
Admiral Eyssen told Hitler he
“did not let them bluff” him. He
“proceeded in haste” with his ice
pilots aboard until he ran into a
thick barrier of pack ice and was
unable to move.
He radioed to the Lenin and the
Stalin for help. But he got only
evasive raio messages from the
Russian icebreakers.
Sailor's Luck Aids
German Admiral
I The German proceeded on his
own. The Lenin radioed that “she
could be called on for assistance
pass through the difficult Vilkit
J sky Strait. When <we> had sailed
into the Laptev Sea, the icebreak
ers Lenin and Stalin finally hove
j into sight.
The Komet stuck fast in the ice
i several times and had to be freed
by the icebreaker Kaganovich.
When the Kaganovich turned
back n Sept. 1, 1940, Admiral Eys
sen proceeded on his own, * and
reached the Bering Sea, where he
said, “the Komet (previously dis
guised as the Steamship Donau>
was changed into an auxiliary I
cruiser and commenced her op
erations.” t
“At the end of 1941, the world
heard that a German auxiliary
cruiser had successfully shelled
oil and phosphate storage depots i
on the island of Nauru (in the;
Southwest Pacific), and that fur- i
thermore this warship had sunk,
many enemy vessels in the Pacific, |
Indian Ocean, South Atlantic, off (
the Panama Canal and the coast j
of Africa. Everyone racked their j
brains to figure out by what route
this German cruiser could have !
penetrated to the Pacific at all.” i
if the ice should be too heavy.” j
But, Admiral Eyssen said, “the ■
Komet had sailor’s luck.”
“By the light of the midnight |
sun,” he said, “she was able to!
Legal Blanks at The Nng«*-t e'f>* '
Labor Secy. Asks
Congress To Raise
Minimum Wage
(Continued from Page One)
sacrificing this basic standard of
our labor legislation. Should the
time come when a serious unem
ployment again threatens our eco
nomic structure, we shall be grate
ful for ... a law which will serve
to prevent the anomaly of men
walking the streets begging for
work while other workers are be
ing forced to work long and bur
densome hours.”
While culling for a new <5-cen:
minimum, Schwellenbach saiti -
dustry committees operating un
der the law should be given an
thority to reduce wages for p:.:
ticular industries to 05 cents an
hour whenever necessary to cop -
with “special situations.”
The secretary said the 40-cent
minimum was not intended ‘‘to be
a final goal” and that changes in
wage and price relationships since
1938 have made it “clearly obso
lete.”
Contending that the amount of
money involved in a boost to 75
cents would represent only one
per cent of the nation’s wage bill,
Schwellenbach added “the econ
omy of our country can absorb
with ease” such an increase.
Iloosen ife ln> ifed
To Royal Wadding
WASHINGTON </P)—Mrs. Louis
Guerrieri. 32-year-old mother of
four children, is pretty excited
about the afternoon party she’s
going to tomorrow.
Tho party is in London and it’s
being given by Princess Elizabeth.
Mrs. Guerrieri is a part-time
seamstress. A few weeks ago she
took >orne green taffeta she had
her elf, made ♦
dress of it, and sent it to the Brit
ish Prince s! whi > marry 1
Philip Mount batten Thursday.
“I read that clothing -.vas being
curtade.l in England and that her
highness’ wedding would not he'
elaborate,” she said.
Back came:
1. A thank-you note from Eliza
beth's first lady-in-waiting.
2. An invitation to the afternoon
party at St. James’ palace.
Mrs. Guerrieri had planned to
pass up the party until the Wash
ington Post heard about it. Now
the Post is going to pay for the
trip.
Mr. Guerrieri will take care of
the children while his wife is
away.
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