GERMAN NAYAL MUTINY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 76, 22 December 1917, Page 10

GERMAN NAYAL MUTINY

HOW IT WAS STAMPED OUT

STORY OF JULY 30.

Now York, October 16. The "Evening Sun" has received through the International News Bureau (Incorporated) of Boston an eyewitness's account of a German naval mutiny at Wilhelmshaven on . vly JU. It is a lurid narrative stated to have been written by Second-Lieutenant Hudolph Glatfekler, who after the mutiny escaped to Switxcrlnnn- I}< Neivs Bureau states that Glatfemer i account of tho outbreak was yceiyec in this country a week before Mrana. Canelle's announcement in the Kerenstag that a grave disturbance in _i< Navy had been suppressed, blatieiaei states that 12,000 sailors and marines were involved in the mutiny, «'hicl was not suppressed finally until Au "usl 6. The plans for the upnsinp were made bv the "Centra loirorisl Committee" winch met at Be: lie. A 1 ter various schemes had been discusset ito bring about a revolutionary mo\e ment' in the armies a navalist von, anc 149 emissaries, of whom So ven. wo men, were sent to different centres Giatfelder proceeds. "Wo were divided into 10 group, and each group recognised one ot tin number as dircctor-chnirman. • group was assigned to Willi elms! aven in it thero were seven persons, live o them women. Being an incapacitatcc nava! officer-I lost an eye dnring : naval engagement with a 0 the Russian Fleet in .the Baltic-ant thereforo familiar with our nava centres, I was elected director-;hau-man of our group. It hardly tool two weeks before every one of cur wo men comrades had obtained position! as naval nurses at Wilhelmshaven Im perial Naval Hospital. We relcctei the hospital because it was sitnate< right- in the midst of the most lntensi "It was in connection with 'his hns pital that ugly heart-piercing episode; took place. Originally built before thi war for 2000 patients, the oitlargof hospital to-day treats as many a: 20 000, only about 11,000 being nava patients. Of these, 9000. 11 ilitai; patients are known as .'repulsive cases, 111 ci' who firs more human j>inn&nti still breathing, tho breath of ii<"e. bir begging for death. Theso iepulsivi cases are hidden at Wilhelmshaven be cause tho authorities do not duio t< soirJ them home. The parents, wives sisters, and brothers of these beyond the-pale casualties still think they ari somewhere on our Eastern front. Ou; military authorities do not dare to givi out the. true casualty lists. Thesi victims at Wilhelmshaven, who ari known as repulsive. cases, ari still 611 our active Army lists bccausi they still breathe. As soon as they di< they are given out as casualties, hut 11 reality they were casualties as long as 22 months ago. I am speaking onlj of Wilholmshaven. I am informed thai bovond doubt there nro more than 200,000 repulsive casualties, and thes< cases must be hidden from the sigh! of people. That is.the reason they art crowded into hospitals near harbours for whose strict guarding the authorities have justification.

"The Death Ferry." "The death-rate is out of till propor,ion, and the dead arc buried at sea. ('our ferry-boats—the Deatli Ferry— :ach make two trips a day to tho ocean mrial ground. One of ray comrades iraploycd on the Death Ferry informs no that in 24 hours these four boats tave taken out to sea between 700 and >00 dead from "W'illielmsliaven Imperial S T ava! Hospital. This comrade related a 1110 an 'incident which typifies the ■pal feeling of our sailors and marines, ['his is what he told me: On hoard each >ne of the death ferries there is a jutlieran minister. "When the dentil i.oat arrives at its destination he doivers a funeral oration ending with ;hese words: 'They have given their ives for our Kaiser unci the Fatherand.' On one of these occasions thr nate, who was a good comrade._ had nterrupted the parson several times, ind when the minister said. 'They have riven their lives for our Kaiser, the nate shouted defiantly, 'Not willingly; hey would have damned souls hc'ore offering them to the Kaiser.' "The captain ordered the arrest ol ,he mate, hut the crew hesitated, rhcremion the of the d"atii mat himself att'mnM to arr«sfc l"J": i serious struggle took place, m wind 'our out of sixteen weiiihprs of thr Tew took sides with the rapt-fin am Hi" rest stood bv the mate. .The remit was that the captain and every inc of the crow who sided Tnfcn liut vero thrown overboard and drowned I'lien tlio mutinous crew shot the parson and threw his body into the sea. This took place in the latter part ol June. "On June 24 and 23 the mutinous ;rew was cited before a naval court anc 3xecut,ed. Two/lays earlier I had villained a commission in command head piarters as a clerk, my duty being ti record the names, of all the arrival! md departures in the repulsive stctioi )f the hospital. Tho news of the exe •uiion of the death boat crew mcensw ;ven these -unfortunate victims of tin ivar. At a secret conference called oi Juno 29 in one of tho rooms of th< aospital, in addition to our regular]; issigned comrades, twenty-five ctlie naval comrades took part. Let mi record this nuich proudly: that ever; me of these twenty-five faithful com rades was ranking as a naval cfficei md one of them was a captain on nut,' div board one of our fast armourec iruisers. This heroic young captain'ate is now doubtful, but it is knowi that the ship which lie commanded i: low at the bottom or {Tie sea off Hreni shaven The authorities will rot ad mit this loss, not until the end of tin ivar and then the enemies of the Gov srnmont will have to compel them t< tell the truth." After explaining that a- stem nai been adopted of keeping crews ln bai racks and ordering them on boari twice a day, the lieutenant proceeds ti narrate the events of July 00, whei sarly in the day about 8000 sailors am marines were called to the paradi »rcund. . propaganda Riot, "After the early parade and regula; tlrill the sailors and marines were or rlered to form into a senu-circle. On Df cur comrades who was a labourer n the parade ground hastily came to nn ivith ft- message that the sailors anc marines had just been 'formed an( vvei'O about to to Govornmen propaganda. I hurried to .he farad ground. The .Government orator wa wearing a brilliant naval uniform. H< was one of the discarded •greybeards if the Navy. I haff never roen hin before, and was about to ask /lis nann from one of the naval officers nan* m< ivhon the speaker ended his oratioi ivith a call for cheers Tor 'our belovei Kaiser and Fatherland. • "Tho silence that greeted the ad miral's call for cheers was not orl.v em ban-assing, it was also uncanny. Utlie naval officers who surrounded the ora tor-admiral showed their augei. Oir of them jumped on.the improvised plat [orm, and, shaking his list m shouted words which I could not hear as tlio whole body .of sailors awl so rliers greoted his first few remnrits witl laughter. Just then I notnocl ult harbom commandant standing ver; near me. I glanced at him cevera times, and from his attitude and facia expressions I judged that ho Mas no in sympathy with tho Government pio pnt'iindisK I heard him shout to om of the officers near him, 'They sliouli take them away before there is blood shed.'

"Tlio sailors and marines were crdered to form and march back ;o their barracks, which are in the south of the parade ground. On thoir march the eas-tern Hank of the> line had to pass by the platform on which the crator and his party were still standing. I was told afterwards that the rid admiral made insulting remarks; bvt the men did not answer. But towards the end of the lino one of the marines returned the old admiral's insult with :i sarcastic smile. Immediately ono of the officers on the platform jumped from his stand and struck the offender on the face with his gloved hand. Although 1 did not hear the wouis that led to this incident, I saw blood run down from the man's fate.

"Then ensued a horrible scene. It was not a battle, neither '•vas it a riot It was like 8000 hungry, angry lions, let loose at their cruel keepers. The sailors and marines who until a few minutes before had been listening to the speeches and cutting insults of the Government orators had suddenly turned into wild beasts. I heard groans and shouts like hungry beasts struggling at a piece of meat. Men were fighting each other in these attempts to get at a handful of officers from whom life had already departed. They were tearing at the lifeless bodies of soiuo fifty or so men. This only lasted half an hour. The rioters, or a, big portion of them, proceeded towards the naval home, which is being utilised as one of the administration buildings. this is about half a mile west of the centre of the parado ground. Another group of perhaps 2000 marines and. sailors headed toward the Zeppelin sheds. This group, on reaching the Zeppelin sheds, separated into two parts, and while one portion attacked the sheds and set fire to the hangars, which contained four Zeppelins, the other portion headed towards tho observatory oil the north of tho naval arsenal. "On tho naval observatory were two powerful wireless Btations. I heard afterwards that infuriated marines and sailors put 0110 of tho wireless stations out of uso and damaged tho other one. The main hodv of the rioters nacl ieturned to barracks, mid after having destroyed everything in sight aimlessly proceeded to the parade ground. On learning that two forts on the western side of the railway had opcijed firo into the rebel ranks of a group that had set fire to the Zeppelin sheds the} destroyed tho railway junction that connects a warehousp in the extreme east and south and tlus dockyards and building harbour in tho west.

Battle of Forts. "After thus cutting communication between the forts and warehouses and ;ho arsenal along the railway they pio:eeded towards tho two arsenal loits. I'heso forts lie in two groups in the lorth-west and south-east. The rioters then charged up tho flank or the southern fort, and had ne..rly succeed;d ill reaching it when the third hue oi land coastal forts opened their firo on ihe attackcrs. I had taken a position it an upper window of tho Gatholio Dhurch, which is siuiated in tho south.vesfceru corner of the parade ground. L'he attackcrs suddenly turned from the irsonnl fort and attacked the third line if land forts. They had succeeded in Tettin" between tho first and second wfc from the south when the secondiue land batteries, which lie across tho liitli of the thirrl-lino forts, opened fire. "Then, as if liv magic, the northern irsenal battery suddenly opened a ter'ific indiscriminate firo on all the forts >xcepting the southern third-line land ; orts. For nearly half an hour tho fort's wmbarded each other. And although the rebel fort in the arsenal was .engaged acrainst 11 forts of all the lines t was getting the best of the battle, Decauso the rebel fort was firing its 7uns in the direction of the sea, for ivhich purpose they were built, while tlic local forts wero.at a serious disulvar.tage by having to fire toward the and side, and therefore could not bring into action their larger calibre guns. !)n observing that the northern arsenal fort had declared for thein, the rebels ivithdrew from between tho first anil second chains of southern forts and ivere taking cover behind the railway '.nibankments and preparing for further developments, when tho warehouses facing the fitting-out harbour caught lire. , . , "It was then within a few minutes ot noonday. Meanwhile desperate calls for ■einforcemciits had already been sent out by the commandants Tho Jade sea was echoing and re-echoing with the thunier of guns. I heard terrific gunfire From the north and from tho-batteries across Jade Bay. I judged at once, and afterwards my judgment was verified, that tho authorities had ordered the firing of all the heavy and light naval and land guns to stiilo the thunder of tho guns- that were actually firing at each other. This was done to convey the idea to people near Willielmshaven that a serious Army and Navy target practice was going on. At any rate, two days later the authorities publicly announced that at gun practice in a competition between the Army and Navy the naval gunners had scored.* • "The fire that had started at the warehouse facing the fitting-out harbour had consumed the eastern portion 3t : the Naval Barracks, but at about two o'clock in the afternoon the the was under control. At about 2.J0 p.m. the forts ceased firing, 1 think because tile aggressive rebel lort had run out of Until 3 p.m. solemn silence reigned. Just at this time I decided to leave my place ol observation and try to organise the men scattered around the Zeppelin observation grounds. As I left the churchyard two terrific explosions shooli the ground with such force that it threw me off my feet. Three more explosions followed each as forceful as the first. These came from the direction of the Imperial Dockyard on the western side of which are the docli slips. . "Afterwards I learned that foui large warships had been blown up m the building harbour, but as I did not remain at Wilhelmshaven much longei after the suppression of the naval riot I was unable to learn the names of tnt ships. The pity of it all was that the rebels themselves had no prearrangee plan. They were simply angry and desperate, and in their mad anger they did not consider the consequences. Ar old officer put himself in charge and ordered the rebel crews to their ships i'lic sailors and marines instinctively obeyed. . "As we crossed the battlefield I realised that the rebel casualties were pretty heavy. Crews who belonged tc ships in tho fitting-out"'harbour sueseeded in reaching their ships, which numbered nearly 25, but _ when the others approached tho third entrance i terrific machine-gun fire was suddenly opened upon them. Notwithstanding, the rebels charged and succeeded in capturing a number of machine-guns. Another portion succeeded in setting fire to the easternmost warehouse. About 7 p.m. tho portion under mj 3ommand had taken charge of the first bridgo and was about to cross tho entrance when I received word that all was lost. Loyal troops had alreadj reached tho grounds and large numbers were being landed. On all. sides tho men began to wake up to the seriousness of tho danger, and group after group stole away. After advising the 800 men left with me to do then best in assuming an innocent attitude I urged them to return at _ uiglit to their barracks, most of which had by that time been lmntctl. I got in a train that left Wilhelmshaven at foui o'clock in the morning, and without losing any time reached the Swiss border, of course resorting to a different rlisguiso, which I think is better not divulged just at this time."