GERMAN ADMIRAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 123, 26 May 1932, Page 7

GERMAN ADMIRAL.

DEATH OF VON HIPPER Commander of Scarborough Raid In Great War. " FRIGHTFULNESS " RECALLED. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph-—Copyright) (P-eceiTed 11 a.m.) BERLIN, May 25. The death has occurred of Admiral Franz von Hipper, famous during the Great War as a German naval conimander. Admiral Hipper was in command of the warships which carried out the raids on the coastal ports of Yorkshire in 1914 and bombarded Scarborough, Whitby, Hartlepool and West Hartlepool. He was also eommanaer or the cruiser squadrons at Dogger Bank and the Jutland engagement. Admiral Hipper was 09 years of age. Franz Hipper, the German admiral, was born in September, 18G3, at Weilheim, in Upper Bavaria, and entered the Navy as a cadet in 1881. During the war Hipper was in charge oE the reconnoitring forces. His first important engagement was that of the Dogger Bank in January, 1915. He had with him three battle-cruisers, tlie battleship Blucher, six light cruisers and a toipcdo flotilla, and was met by the British battle-cruisers and other craft under Beatty. On the approach of these Hipper turned south-east. The Blucher was sunk, and Beatty's flagship, the Lion, was damaged by a shell and fell behind for a time. During his absence the fight was broken oft' by his second-in-command, arid the German ships got home with a aevere battering.

In May, 1015, when the German High Sea Elect came out and the battle of Jutland was fought, Hipper's battlecruLaers were the first vessels mot by Beatty's force, and they turned to fall back "on their battle licet. An action begun with the German battle-cruisers, but was inconclusive, and they regained the main body. In the subsequent fighting Hipper's battle-cruiser Lutzow was sunk, while his Seydlitz and Derfl'linger were badly crippled. In recognition of his services Hipper received the order Pour le Merite. In Augu.st, 1918, he was promoted full admiral, and given command of the High Sea Elect. After the collapse of Germany he was put ait the disposal of the Secretary of tho Navy, but resigned on December 13, 1918.

WAR-TIME HORROR.

KILLING OF NON-COMBATANTS. An example of German terrorism adopted early in the war was afforded on December 15, 1914, when the porte of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool and West Hartlepool were bombarded by ships of the German Imperial Navy. These towns were unprotected by minefields. At Scarborough the bombing began at about 8 a.m., and about 300 shells were fired. The dead numbered 17, including eight women and four children, while the injured were considerably over 100. Much damage was also done to property. In the various ports 110 were killed, 78 being women and children. The total wounded was 228. The shelling at Scarborough commenced with the battle-cruisers Moltke, and an armoured cruiser coining up in the morning mist and opening fire at close range, the smaller vessel coming to within a quarter of a mile of the beach. The first shell tore up the promenade and foreshore. Then the Grand Hotel and other prominent buildings were struck. The ten-feet walls of the ancient castle were shattered in places. Happily, the military barracks on Castle Hill, at which the Germans continually aimed, were unoccupied. Several churches were shelled. Women, barefooted and scantily clad, ran into the streets, carrying their frightened children in their arms, with the only thought of getting out of the firing zone. A servant giri was killed while cleaning a doorstep, and a postman, about to deliver a letter at the same house, was blown to pieces. The bombardment lasted for about twenty minutes, and at times- 10 shells fell every minute. . This episode of tearfulness earned for the enemy the title of "baby killers." Escape Aided by Dense Fog. The bombardment of Whitby, Hartlepool and West Hartlepool was curried out on much the same plan. Ai the Hartlepools the shelling commenced simultaneously with that at Scarborough, on ii very hazy morning. The enemy waw said to have come in under the British Hag and to have fired first out to sea, the signal that a Gorman squadron was approaching. This was stated at the time to have been a trick of war. which, owing to the sea mist, deceived the forts until the ships opened fire. Three battle-cruisers got within 4000 yds range, but during; the whole of the bombardment little military damage was done. The slaughter of noiicombantants at Hartlepool was serious. Ninety-one children, women and men were killed, while nearly 450 were wounded. Scores of homes were blown to fragments. The British Admiralty at once dispatched ships to engage the raiders, units of the Grand Fleet being detailed, under Beattie, to cut off the retreat of Von Hipper and his ehif.s. The Germans were sandwiched between the first battle-cruiser wing and the second battle-cruiser wing, with eight super-dreadnought battleships ready for instant attack. The second battie squadron suddenly saw the Germans at eight miles' range coining out of a fog bank, and the loaded British guns were ranged on the enemy. Just then, however, when the "open fire" older was about to be given, fog again came down heavily, and entirely blotted out the target'. The only damage that the raider* sustained was as the result of a collision in the fog between the battle-cruiser Von Der Tann and the light cruiser Frauenlob, damaging the bigger vessel badly in the bows as well as half sinking the Frauenlob. It was reported that all 'the officers of the raiding squadron and a number of the men were given the Iron Cross on their return to Wilhelmshaven.