"IN A SAUSAGE KETTLE."

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 310, 29 December 1920, Page 5

"IN A SAUSAGE KETTLE."

GERMAN FIXERS PLIGHT. "* FINE SHOOTING BY-BRITISH. To Commander George yon Hase, Chief Gunnery Officer of the German bfcttle-cruiser Derfflinger, we are indebted for a remarkably clear and detailed account of the battle of Jutland, ■written from a gunnery officer's standpoint, and published recently in the "Zwei Weiseen Volker" (the "Two 'White Nations"). It is by far the 'best German account wnich has appeared of the battle, €he "Fortnightly Review." Commander Hase describes how on the morning of May 31, 1916, the German fleet pot to eea. Nothing more wee intended than a raid upon enemy and neutral commerce. 'That the ■whole British fleet was already at'sea, and, above all things, steering a course converging with our own, no one in the German Fleet dreamed, not even the Fleet Commander himeelf. -. The Germane had Iβ Dreadnought battleships and five battle-cruisers during the battle. The first ehot in the action was fired at 5 pjii., the Elbing coming under fire, which she returned. Commander ! Hase's firet entry runs as follows: — "5.5. Our light cruisers report four enemy light cruisers. Not yet to be eeen from DerfHinger." There are very important differences in the times, as noted by Commander (Hase and those given by liord Jellicoe in "The Grand Fleet," and by Commander Bellaire, in "The Battle of Jutland." At about 5.30 p.m. Deifflinger sighted the British battle-cruieers. "The small crnieens and torpedo craft had turned and sought cover behind us battlecruisers. We could make out some English light crufeers which had turned in similar manner. And suddenly I saw thro"gh my periscope great ships, dark colossi, six high, broad-beamed, giant ships, steaming in two columns. They •were still far off, but were silhoueetted clearly against the horizon, ana even at thfe great distance'they loomed maesive and imposing." FLIGHT OF SHELLS WATCHED. Derfflinger engaged Princess Royal, her opposite number, and she was four minutes in action ere she got "on" to her target, a result which Commander Haee does not regard as satisfactory, and which he explains by the fact that the officers charged with taking the ranges were too much concerned in identifying the enemy ships, and the eudden order to open fire caught them napping. Derfflinger was at first "'oversprung" as Princess Royal fired at Lutzau, while the third ship in the British line engaged the third German. This, however, did not last long. "I looked again at the gun-turrets of our opponent, and saw the guns •were directed very exactly on* us. . . Suddenly I made a discovery which set mc «in amazement. I distinctly saw by every salvo which the enemy shot four or five shots coming through the air. They looked like long black points. They grew eomewhat larger, and euddenly. Hey! Presto! they were there, and exploded on striking the water or the ship with a terrific crash. I finally could tell with fair accuracy where the shots were going to strike whether forward or aft, or if they. meant to honour us personally.". The north-west winds made the tactical position unfavourable for the British. The emoke fumes from the guns were 'blown down upon them, and visibility was less good. At 6-1" Der-, fflinger took a ship under fire, which she, believed to be Princess Royal but which, as a matter of fact, was. Queen Mary. The mistake arose from an alteration of the position of the 'Lionj which had left the line for a very short period. The duel between Derfflinger and Queen Mary lasted till 6h. 26m. l(te. TORPEDO ATTACK LAUNCHED. At 6.15 (4.16 by English accounts) a torpedo attack was launched ty the British and countered by a similar attack by the Germans. As is generally known" the two attacks neutralised one another. Meantime the action continued between DerfHinger and Queen Mary. The Queen Qlary fired more slowly, but with full salvoes. "I saw the shots coming* and I must say that the ■ enemy shot excellently. All eight shots, as c rule, were bunched together, but generally they were either too long or too short. The Derfflinger only twice encountered that hellish hail. ... -I made certain that the artillery officer on the Queen Mary was firing himself with central firing, with the famous Percy Scott firing director, for all guns were •fired simultaneously, and the ehells also struck simultaneously. . . . Hut things went badly for the poor Queen Mary. Besides the Derfflinger the Seydlitz was firing at her also." After the destruction of Queen Mary, Derfflinger once more engaged Princess Royal, her first salvo falling on thus latter ship within one minute five seconds after the last directed at Queen Mary. From 6.26 to 6.28, however, the ship was mainly occupied in beating off the English torpedo craft, which he remarks at times came hellishly near. Meanwhile the four Queen Elizabeths had come into action at immense range, and the German vessels steered a zig-zag course. At 6.48 the High Seas fleet became visible, and the battle cruisers stecml X.JC.W., taking position about seven miles ahencl of yon Scheer'e van. The ships had receive! numerous hits from the 4in. guns carried by the English destroyers, a fact which leads to the comment that if these ■ vessels had used their torpedoes as well as they seem to hare used their guna, they would have been more dangerous to th© enemy. "COMPLETE ENVELOPMENT. -, Beatty on sighting the German main body altered course to north to draw the enemy on to the battle-fleet. "The four English battle-cruisers ran at full speed. . We could not make more than 25 knots and the Knglish ran easily at 28. ... We did not at the time understand the reason of their manoeuvre. . . . We supposed that it was only a matter of uniting quickly with the enemy main body. . . . As a matter of fact Admiral Beatty had carried out an excellent manoeuvre. He had carried out the 'crossing of the T , in the most complete fashion, he forced us to turn and eventually brought about our complete envelopment by the British battle-fleet and battle-cruisers." Admiral yon Scheer's van and the German 'battle-cruisers continued to engage t'ao four Elizabeths after the disappearance of the English battle-cruisers. But the action was at long range and unsatisfactory. "This action with an enemy numerically inferior, but superior in his means of combat, who was a-ble to I keep ns under fire at a range at which we could not reach him, worked in a certain degree in a faahion extremely depressing, full of torture and exciting to tte nerves. • . . Our only means of defence was sometimes to leave the line when lihe enemy ehot particularly

J& 8.15 it becamerciear to rf&e Germans that they were in the presence of the British Grand Elect. "-All round us it • blazed ant ... As far as I could see roundtho horizon there -were eoemy shipa. A3 I conld: ccc neither beginning nor end of t&B»enemy line, I could not take the 'second eMp from the right' ander -nre, tout chose a. ship -which I could see particularly ,welL v DEATH VXXEA/G'E CXF CRUISERS. In the section to iwhieh Commander Base eigniftcantly giwes the aib-title "The Death Voyage of the Battle Cruisers," it is-easy to discern 'how great ■mas the opportunity which sheer good fortune, coupled witih Beatty's skiiful and daring manoeuvres, had placed in the hands of Lord JeUicoe, and htns desperate -was the situation of the German Meet. A mistake in the enemy's position, and the -wide turning movement made by the British ibatUe-cniisera. resulted iit the German Heet, cut otl from its base, feeing almost entirely encircled by the British battleships. In Ilase's graphic phrase, the Germans were in a. "WiuretkegeelT— a sausage^boiler! A£ around them, were the flashes of the enemy guns, an enemy whoee sheer physical power in guns, and armour,' and ships outweighed them by more than two to one, and whose ships were a good three knots faster to boot. "To free outserres from this unfavourable situation there was only one way. . . . Withdrawal of the whole fleet . . . 'but this manoeuvre must be carried oat unnoticed and undisturbed. The Battlecruisers and torpedo boats must cover the movement of the fleet." At 0.12 p.m. the order iwas given for the entire fleet to reverse ite course, and almost simultaneously the battlecruisers and torpedo vessels were given the order "Ran an den Feind!". (literally "Run at the Enemy."). 13113 in the German signal book indicated that the ships ordered, were to sacrifice themselves ruthlessly, and, if possible, to ram the enemy. In Commander 'Hase's. description of the night fighting there is nothing which calls for special comment. Rather is there interest in the frank confession that, when on the morning of June 1 the Sun rose, a weight fell from his heart, as far and near nothing could be eeen ot enemy. "For with our shattered snip, especially with our decimated artillery, we could not have engaged in any torious action With a fresn enemy 'battleship." The other German battle-cruisers were in no better case. Again, he says, and there is the eidence of Admiral Beatty to confirm him, "It would have been easy foT the English to ibave forced us to an action early that morning." Wily Lord Jellicoe, with a battered, and beaten enemy squadron within a few hours of easy steamifig of his fast battleships, most of which had not fired a shot in action, failed to use the opportunity to scoTe a decisive victory, is- a question which will always remain a puzzle toythf student of naval war.