RISE AND FALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 232, 2 October 1933, Page 6

RISE AND FALL.

GERMANY'S NAVY.

A FIGHTING ADMIRAL.

(By E.V.D.)

Thcro is good reason for believing that a prudent German in these days, if he contemplates publishing a book, will sec to it that liis writings arc likely to be pleasing- to the Nazi Government. Tims when Captain von Wakleyer Hartz, formerly of the Imperial German Navy, publishes a biography of ono of his navy's great leaders. * he cannot tell a straightforward story. For example, ho thinks it necessary to account for the circumstance, certainly remarkable, that his hero was born hundreds of miles from the sea, and apparently inherited no seafaring tradition. So he delves into pre-history, and satisfies himself that "the passion for seafaring of various peoples who now boast of their skill . . . did not exist before they had intermarried with Germanic stocks." One cannot help thinking that this would be deemed a "dangerous thought" in Japan. Again, he refers to "the- noble race of the Goths" and to the Vandals, "a proud and powerful race" whose ."brilliant achievements" have been "blackened through wretched, dishonest propaganda." All this, and more, appears in the first twenty pages, and one may feel assured that the Minister of Propaganda and Enlightenment, on opening the book, perhaps suspiciously, soon had pleasure in certifying it fit for pure Nordics to read.

Bavarian Boy's Rise. Admiral von Hipper was the son of a small tradesman in a Bavarian village. As a child he resolved to join the Xavy, although there was then only a Prussian Xavy, with which Bavarians hatl 110 connection. Ho won a cadetship in ISSI, was trained in sail, and specialised in destroyers. At the outbreak of war ho was in command of the scouting forces of the High Seas Fleet, and shortly beforo the war ended ho succeeded Admiral Scheer as Commander-in-Chief. By that time the seeds of sedition were sprouting, and Hipper, a devoted patriot, had to endurs the agony of watching, powerless, the disintegration of his command. Under his direction his -staff worked out a plan which (according to the author) was designed to bring about, under conditions advantageous to tlio Germans, a major action which would have exceeded Jutland in magnitude. But this last bid for victory was never made, because of mutiny and sabotage by the men. Soon afterwards Hipper had to sign the order for the disarming of his ships, for delivery to the British at Scapa Flow. ITo retired almost immediately, and lived in seclusion nntil his death last vear, when Earl Beatty expressed his regret at the passing of "a gallant officer and a great sailor." If it could bo siiorn of its propagandist trappings, this biography, and especially the account included of the building of the Gertnan Navy, would interest many other than Germans. It is clear that tlio German naval officer yielded nothing to any other in patriotism, in genuine lovo of the sea and in devotion to the service, and 110 probably excelled all in his zeal for efficiency. It appears clear, too, that the stay-at-home policy of the naval high command was not supported bv fighting officers like -Hipper and Soli cor. The high command conceived that as .Tellicoe's fleet was larger than the German, the Germans must not risk major engagement except within the Heligoland Bight, where conditions would bo advantageous to them. The fi editing men, as in all navies, wanted a fight. The ruling policy seems to have been a powerful factor in weakening the morale of the crews and so making possible tlio mutinies, which to the last most of the officers regarded as unthinkable. Who Won at Jutland? Hipper was in the thick of all the fighting that there was. Ho commanded the German force at Dogger Bank,- and his flagship the Seydlitz caught-firo. At Jutland he was again in command of tho battle cruisers, which engaged Beatty's, and in tho main action his flagship tho Lutzow was liit (and eventually sank), so that in the midst of the titanic conflict Hipper was on a destroyer looking for another battle-cruiser to which to transfer his flag. A reader of this book wlio has previously read a British account of Jutland will be hard put to it to recognise Hartz's description of it as relating to the same engagement. Jutland (or the Battle of the Skagerrak) was, and is, for the : Germans "a tactical success," a strategic victory for neither side, and as a duel of arms, a decided German victory. It is natural that they should givo full weight to tho fact that British losses ■ wero much heavier than theirs, but they seeni strangely unable to give any weight at all to tho more important fact that on the night after tho battle it was Jellicoe who was looking for Scheer, and it was Scheer who was making for harbour. But it may bo doubted that so long £ as tho Minister of Propaganda and Enlighten- ( ment is active in Germany this point will never bo emphasised. After all, it is not the habit of j any nation to draw attention to its reverses. 'The author of this book frequently testifies ( to the friendly respect with which tho German j Navy regards tho British. Ho deplores tho war c propaganda which derided and abused the German £ Xavy, and affirms that on the part of tho fight- t ing men there was never any desire but for a i; elcan fiirht, and ho concludes: "Let us hope that g in the future Great Britain and Oermany may l; onco more walk hand in hand." Upon which it may be remarked that what British people dis- j trust is not the German fighting man, 'but the motives of the Hitlers who direct them. » "Von Hipper." by Captain von Waldeycr nartz. P (Rich and Cowa.n.) e