GREAT BRAVERY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 127, 31 May 1941, Page 9

GREAT BRAVERY

THE BISMARCK'S FIGHT

EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNTS

NAVY'S RESCUE TASK

INTERRUPTED

LONDON, May 30,

Eye-witness accounts are now coming in of the chase and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck.

Officers and men who took part in the kill state that the Bismarck was pursued relentlessly by British fighting ships and harried by British bombers, but it was not until she was attacked by torpedo bombers that she decided to take any drastic action to escape. The earlier attacks were made by divetorpedo bombers from ships 120 miles away.

Eventually the German battleship started for Brest, and after a chase of about 36 hours the British ships temporarily lost sight of her.

One officer described the all-day search for the Bismarck as messages were received from the Admiralty. Later came a report that the enemy had turned westwards and was putting up a smoke screen. Then came news that she had been hit and her speed reduced to 12 knots, and that she was steaming north-west. Planes from the Ark Royal then sighted her and reported that she had reduced speed. All ships were kept informed, and filially, at dawn on May 27 came the message "enemy in sight."

The final attack was made soon after 9 a.m. The Rodney and the King George V engaged her with their main armaments, and the Bismarck was able to reply, returning the fire almost simultaneously. The first impression was that the Bismarck was partly out of control and steering very wildly, but nevertheless she came right into the attack. Her first salvo fell a thousand yards short, "and her second," said the officer, "straddled us." In the ensuing fight the enemy continued to fire while the British ships fired from all directions. After 25 minutes the Bismarck's gunfire became intermittent, and then she was silenced, but she gave no sign of surrender and her battle-colours were kept flying until the Dorsetshire torpedoed her with eight or nine torpedoes.

British seamen said that the enemy fought with great bravery. Apparently the German officers and men believed to the last that the Bismarck was unsinkable, and expected support from German aircraft, which did not appear.

As she heeled over, hundreds of black dots were seen swarming over her hull —human beings making a last effort to escape. Then the Navy began the difficult task of rescuing survivors. As the rescue work was going on, a report was received that enemy submarines were in the vicinity and that the British ships must get under way. HOOD'S END DESCRIBED. About 80 survivors from the Bismarck were landed at a British port today. The end of the Hood is described as an almost unbelievable nightmare. In the space of minutes one of the greatest disasters of naval history took place. The Hood appeared to be hit just forward of one of her 15-inch gun turrets. A large fire broke out, but she continued to fire and race forward. There was a terrible explosion, and the whole of the vast ship was enveloped in a sheet of flame and smoke which rose high into the air in the shape of a giant mushroom. Sections of the funnel, masts, and other parts were thrown up hundreds of feet, and soon all that remained was a patch' of smoke on the water and some small pieces of wreckage. There are only three survivors.