HC Deb 08 February 1944 vol 396 cc1635-6W
Mr. Molson

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Warfare what materials Germany has been seeking to import from the Far East by means of blockade runners.

Mr. Foot

As hon. Members are aware, four German blockade runners bound from the Far East to European ports have, during the last six weeks, been sunk by Allied Naval and Air Forces. The cargoes of these four ships consisted of, approximately, 16,000 tons of rubber, approximately 10,000 tons of tin, smaller quantities of edible oils, gum, resin and quinine, and consignments of wolfram which may have amounted to as much as 1,000 tons. I have also received information that before the Italian Armistice a number of Italian submarines were withdrawn from operations and specially adapted by the Germans for the carriage of cargoes from the Far East. The quantities of rubber or tin which could be carried in these craft would be so small in relation to the enemy's requirements as hardly to justify such an undertaking. It is therefore highly probable that the intention was to provide a more regular and safer method for the importation of wolfram.

Forward to