[SFDXA] Amateur Radio from the Spratly Islands - attack!

[Bill]

/30 years ago this April ham radio was under attack:/


  Amateur Radio from the Spratly Islands

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  Failed attempt - DJ3HG, DJ4EI, DF6FK, DJ6SI - The Spratly Tagedy


    April 1983

Failed attempt - DJ3HG, DJ4EI, DF6FK, DJ6SI - The Spratly Tagedyzoom 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/jpeto_cache/dj6si(1).jpg>The first shot fell 
short, but the next shot struck the captain and he threw himself on the 
floor, although bleeding badly, as he tried to keep the ship on course. 
Baldur was also hit in the arm, and was bleeding, as was Norbert. Gero 
was in contact with another station on 20 meters, and advised him that 
they were under attack. As Gero left his position, they noticed that 
Diethelm was missing. It was not actually known if he was shot or thrown 
overboard. Their dinghy had fallen into the water, and everyone climbed 
into it, while the boat burned. The shelling continued, as they drifted 
farther away from the island. They had hoped that the message Gero had 
sent out on 20 meters had been received okay, and they would be rescued 
by U.S. Air Force planes in a few days. They believed that the Vietcong 
had shelled them, and soon discovered their dinghy had also been hit, 
but they were able to plug the hole with cloth. The bad news was that 
they had no water, and nothing to eat, and all were only partially 
clothed with no shoes. They used a small basket to catch tiny fish, 
which they ate, along with a few mussels from the bottom of the dinghy, 
but still no water. After about eight days, Gero tried drinking some sea 
water during the night, and he was dead by morning. They buried him at 
sea. Since the Spratly Group consists of so many reefs, sandbars and 
shallow areas, there is very little shipping nearby, so they had to wait 
until they got close to the shipping lanes for any hope of rescue. 
Everyone was suffering terribly from thirst - there was little hunger. 
The skipper and Norbert were both in bad condition, and everyone’s hope 
centered on a vision Baldur had had a few nights before, when he 
believed he heard a voice calling through dense fog: ‘On the tenth day 
you will be rescued.” (which later became the title of Baldur’s book) 
After several ships passed, indeed on the tenth day (April 19) they were 
finally spotted by a Japanese ship, the freighter “Linden” under Captain 
Inose. On arriving in Hong Kong, they were taken to a hospital, where 
they recovered from their ordeal at sea.

*The GDR exploits the tragedy for Cold War propaganda*
Press coverage, particularly in Germany, was heavy (see our 
documentation), and some hardliners in the German Democratic Republic 
seized the opportunity to launch an attack against their western 
counterpart. Baldur Drobnica , officially employed by the German Federal 
Republic’s Office of the Interior, was indeed working for its 
Bundesnachrichtendienst, the Intelligence Service's Section IV (Counter 
Intelligence). His occupational background - and the fact that GDR 
intelligence was aware of it - was to be “leaked” to selected press and 
political sources in the GFR, alleging that the Spratly expedition was a 
spying conspiracy operation under the disguise of an amateur radio 
activity. For that purpose, the GST (Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik) 
– the Society for Sports and Technics, (in charge of amateur radio) was 
ordered to publish a pamphlet “for restricted circulation” listing all 
accusations and suspicions. The records of this meeting, unfortunately, 
have not yet been released for public use. But there is no doubt that 
Harry Radke, a member of the ham magazine’s editorial staff, when 
ordered to author the brochure, just followed the list of instructions, 
adding more or less only ham-related terms. (See our reproduction, in 
German). Everything went as planned – even the renowned “Spiegel” 
Magazine took the bait: Under the headline "Men from the Rhine" it wrote 
in its edition of 9 May 1983: "Is it possible that a German intelligence 
officer survives ten days without water and bread? This miracle 
happened, purportedly, in the South Chinese Sea." (Read in full length: 
linkext. Link <http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-14018394.html> ) - 
After the demise of the GDR, Harry was heavily blamed and reproached for 
his participation in a shoddy propaganda war.

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Download [6.9 MB]Radio Austria's feature 10 April 1993 (German, but with 
many rare air-cuts) 24:00 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/upload/KWP-930410.MP3> [MP3 , 6.9 MB]
Download [5.0 MB]Interview, Bürgerradio Köln (German) 20:45 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/upload/dj6si_buergerfunk_kl_2.mp3> [MP3 , 5.0 MB]
Download [2.4 MB]The expedition in the grip of cold war east-west 
propaganda (German) 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/upload/radke_maer_spratley.pdf> [PDF , 2.4 MB]
Download [6.5 MB]Press clippings (German) 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/upload/spratleypress.pdf> [PDF , 6.5 MB]
Download [3.1 MB]The DX Magazine about the Disaster at Spratly 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/upload/dx_magazine_spratly.pdf> [PDF , 3.1 MB]

'Am zehnten Tag werdet Ihr gerettet' - 'On the 1oth day you will be 
rescued' -... 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8958_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>


          <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8958_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

    "Am zehnten Tag werdet Ihr gerettet" - "On the 1oth day you will be
    rescued" - Baldur...
    <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8958_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

Gero Band DJ3NG (†) 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8965_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>


          <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8965_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

    Gero Band DJ3NG (†)
    <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8965_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

Gero Band DJ3NG (†) 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8968_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>


          <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8968_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

    Gero Band DJ3NG (†)
    <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8968_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

Diethlem Müller DJ4EI (†) 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8967_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>


          <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8967_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

    Diethlem Müller DJ4EI (†)
    <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8967_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

Norbert Willand, DF6FK 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=9022_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>


          <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=9022_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

    Norbert Willand, DF6FK
    <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=9022_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

Baldur Drobnica, DJ6SI 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=9023_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>


          <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=9023_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

    Baldur Drobnica, DJ6SI
    <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=9023_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

The survivors: Baldur Drobnica, Jenny Toh, Peter Marx, Norbert Willand 
(left to... 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8966_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>


          <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8966_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

    The survivors: Baldur Drobnica, Jenny Toh, Peter Marx, Norbert
    Willand (left to right)
    <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8966_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

Souvenir from the M/V 'Linden' 
<https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8969_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>


          <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8969_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

    Souvenir from the M/V "Linden"
    <https://www.dokufunk.org/modules/viewer.php?pic=8969_EN_O&art=8919_EN_O>

https://www.dokufunk.org/amateur_radio/dxcc_entities/index.php?CID=7925&lang=EN&ID=8919

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